Changing diapers

I suggest focusing on children’s dental cleaning differently from the way you are used to. How have you handled it up until now? Have you had good results? If not, this one is for you.

Sometimes we think that just showing them what they should do from time to time is enough, or we think that standing beside them for the first few weeks they brush their teeth is enough for them to keep going on their own. But in the end, almost all of us discover that this isn’t true.

I suggest looking at this activity as if it were something else you’re an expert at, like changing diapers! Adults always do this, children never do, (it doesn’t matter how many times a day), and it doesn’t ever occur to us to say, “I’ve already been changing their diapers for a year, now they can do it alone.” We know that they can’t do it alone and that we should be the ones responsible for this.

We should recognize that for them to create and learn the habit of brushing their teeth, 2 times a day and for 2 minutes, just showing or teaching them for a short time isn’t enough. It’s not enough to put a song on for them. We must do it ourselves in the beginning and then it’s our responsibility for a few years after that. We should be present, next to them. Present in creating the habit. Don’t expect them to brush their teeth alone like responsible adults. They’re not. They’re children, and they’d go to the end of the world with us just to have fun. This is why they’ll do it: to do something fun with us. It’s their main motivation and one of our most effective secret weapons!