When you first have a baby your main responsibilities involve keeping them fed, relatively clean, giving them a safe place to sleep and of course lots of love. As they grow so many other little things start to creep in that you never think about in those first few months. One of these is teeth-brushing – as soon as those tiny teeth arrive we started brushing Lucas’ teeth. Over the years this has had varying levels of success – including a brief spell when he would be so unhappy about it we used the moments he was crying in disgust to get to his teeth! Luckily as he has grown it has got a lot easier but it was still something he would huff and puff about having to do.
I happily agreed to get us involved in Brush Up On Brushing with Oasis Dental Care. They sent Lucas a fantastic box with a Philips Sonicare electric toothbrush, a timer, and a reward chart for the month with star stickers for each time he remembered to brush his teeth morning and night. I have to say that having the reward chart has not only helped Lucas remember to brush his teeth but it has helped me to remember and each morning all three of the the boys line up at the sink while I load up the toothbrushes with the toothpaste. I must admit that in the past their have been some evenings I put them to bed then realise I forgot to brush their teeth! This has hardly happened since we got the chart and I’m surprised how much it has helped add teeth-brushing into our daily routine. Lucas will do his on his own and now turns over the timer and makes sure he brushes until the sand has emptied. I was really impressed with this and he just thinks it’s great fun. Once he is done I have to lift him up so he can grin into the mirror and check those ‘shiny teeth’. He’s also keen to get his little brothers involved and as soon as I say ‘time to brush teeth’ they head off to the bathroom and grab their toothbrushes.
The great things about the kids Sonicare is that it is set to brush for two minutes and then switches off. Even better it plays a little chime when it’s time to switch where you are brushing, so once Lucas hears the beep he knows to move to the top of his mouth or to the back teeth. Right at the end there is a little tune and the toothbrush switches off. I was maybe more excited by this feature than Lucas, I just love that it makes it so easy for him to know that he has brushed for long enough. He was more impressed with the sticker that you can add to the front to personalise it!
Now Lucas has completed his month for Brush Up On Brushing he deserves his reward so we are using the cinema voucher sent in our box to take him to watch The Good Dinosaur, that seems like a treat for me too! I’m so glad that this has given us the push to make sure that brushing the boys teeth is firmly set into our daily routine.
4 Comments
I love the idea of a timer, Z could definitely do with one of those. I might look at getting one for him. He loves anything gadgety!
November 26, 2015 at 3:17 pmThats a snazzy toothbrush! I think if you can make it fun it totally encourages them to do it and good dental hygiene is so important from a young age.
November 26, 2015 at 3:45 pmOh bless Lucas!! He looks like he loves his new toothbrush. My two have been poorly so I find it harder to get them to brush. have been using the reward box recently which works most of the time. Xxx
November 26, 2015 at 7:59 pmThis is fantastic, teeth brushing has been the bane of my life over the years. As the boys have grown older I feel I really need to police them to make sure they are doing it properly grrr x
November 27, 2015 at 12:11 pm