Many different problems are facing the parents of a small child. One of them is how to teach a baby to comply with hygiene rules. Often, children categorically refuse to brush their teeth regularly. Dentist Roberto Ferro, president of the Eadph European Dental Association, tells about small tricks on “how to teach a child to brush your teeth”.
First teeth and first brush
His parents perceive the appearance of the first teeth in the baby with enthusiasm as a transition to a new level of growing up. However, this also means that you need to start to care for the teeth. To very young children, mom has to brush their teeth using special brushes or silicone attacks.
When the child grew up enough to brush his teeth on his own, you need to try to make this procedure not as an unpleasant and, moreover, accompanied by his mother’s abuse or daddy, but as an interesting and important aspect of life.
It’s good to buy the first toothbrush and paste with the baby, giving him the right to choose. You only need to pay attention to the shelves with children’s brushes and help make a choice in accordance with the age. Surely the child will be interested, because modern children’s brushes are bright, colorful, decorated with images of cartoon characters. Thus, the acquisition of a toothbrush will be compared in children’s perception with the purchase of a new toy, and the importance of buying will give an explanation that this item is purely personal and now belongs to the child. The choice of toothpaste can also be partially provided to the baby, letting him try different options for taste.
Proper brushing tooths
To teach the correct movements when brushing your teeth, it’s good to personally show how this is done: to stand opposite the child and brush his teeth with him so that he can see everything in detail and tried to repeat everything. It happens that the baby still refuses this procedure, then you have to resort to more complex tricks, for example, turn the process into a quiz. In no case should you scold or rush a child, it will not become better. You need to gain patience, apply imagination and gradually the skill of daily brushing your teeth will be fixed and will turn into a habit.
Author: Ekaterina Sveshnikova