Dr. Kami Hoss – How to Get Your Kids More Excited about Looking After Their Teeth
Here in San Diego, California there is an amazing dental community which aims to highlight the need for better dental care. We have programs here which work with young kids in schools and they have really inspired me to think up new ways of getting young kids a little more excited about looking after their gnashers. My kids are notoriously bad for not brushing their teeth or doing a bad job of it, something which our dentist Dr. Kami Hoss has told them about time and time again. We made some changes at home which really seem to have worked, and I wanted to tell you about them in the hope that they may help your kids too.
Family Brushing
Kids love doing things together with the family and so we decided that every night before the kids went to bed and first thing in the morning, that we would all brush our teeth together. I honestly didn’t think that this would have much of an effect on the kids but every night at exactly 730 they are shouting for their mum and dad to come and brush our teeth with them. This has really helped to inspire them to brush regularly.
Timer
It is widely accepted that bruising your teeth should last at least a minute, with a minute and a half being the best time. To inspire the kids to keep going with their brushing and not just wet their mouth and move on, we set up a little timer next to the bathroom sink. This has now turned into something of a competition for the kids, to see who will brush their teeth for the longest time. If your kids are anything like mine then you’ll know that competition between them is the best way to get them stimulated and engaged, and it has even worked with teeth brushing.
Song
My kids love music and so I decided that we would choose a song which we would listen to when brushing our teeth. Originally we were going to make up a song but that plan kind of fell on its face, instead we chose I’m Still Standing by Elton John, a favorite of the kids, and they love putting it on just before we get toothpasted up. So important is this song when brushing our teeth that if the kids hear it at any other time, they will switch it off straight away and save it for toothbrushing time.
The key for me is that we have now got a real routine when it comes to brushing our teeth, we have the same song, we do it at the same time and we have managed to inject a little bit of fun with the timer. This has completely changed the kid’s attitude to oral hygiene and I feel very proud that just a couple of changes has contributed to this.
Boris Dzhingarov graduated UNWE with a major in marketing. He is the founder of ESBO ltd a brand mentioning company. He is also passionate about meditation and healthy living. You can find articles on such topics at his spiritual blog Dzhingarov.com.