Things You'll Need:
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- A little patience
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Step 1
In order to teach your child to have a lifetime of clean, healthy teeth, it's important to get them started early with the tools of the trade! Nowadays with candy flavored toothpaste it's hard to keep our 3 year old OUT of the bathroom. She wants to brush her teeth 10 times a day because it tastes good! That's good to a point, but let's talk about the easy way to train them right.
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Step 2
I've found that standing behind the child and bending at the waist to brush their teeth is the best way of al. It does not require a lot of coordination because it's the same position that we brush our teeth every day! I encourage the child to do as much of the job themselves because the goal is to have them take over completely as soon as it's reasonable for them to do so. I give them verbal instructions as they're brushing, such as "Smile, now brush you front teeth." and "Open, now get the tops and bottoms underneath." Also, don't forget to brush you tongue before you rinse."
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Step 3
Of course, from putting the toothpaste on (usually I assist with putting only a pea-sized drop on the brush)to the completed job, I encourage them with praises of "Good job" all the way through. Once they're finished I say, "Can I help?" and I do the more thorough satisfactory job for them to ensure it's done right. Children love to do things for themselves and this chore is one of them. So it's okay to allow them do it first as long as you follow up with it for them.
