My oldest two kids are technically old enough to brush their own teeth now, but they do a crappy job. Our compromise is this: they brush their own teeth in the morning before school (with me calling out from the other room, “Are you getting the BACKS? Get EVERY surface of EVERY tooth please!”), and I brush their teeth for them before bed. And then there are three more kids, so the Toothbrushing Line is a significant chunk of our bedtime routine.
One thing that’s made things easier for me is having the kids LIE DOWN while I brush their teeth. I got this idea from the dentist—not in that he suggested it, but in that I noticed that’s how HE did it. And indeed, it is way superior: the toothpaste doesn’t drizzle down their chins, it’s easier to see the top and back teeth and to get at them, it’s easier for the kids to open their mouths wide, it’s easier to keep their heads still.
A second thing that’s made things easier is cheap electric toothbrushes. I buy the Colgate Motion brushes, which come in a 2-pack at Target for something like $8. Each child has his or her own color. As long as you get an electric toothbrush near the teeth, you don’t have to scrub it around very much: contact = success. I’ve found this extremely useful in navigating the tiny, clamped mouth of a reluctant toddler, or of a baby who doesn’t yet understand he’s supposed to open wide. (This won’t work for all kids: my firstborn was, um, sensitive as a toddler, and would have needed psychotherapy if we’d used a loud, vibrating electric toothbrush on him.)
One problem is that electric toothbrushes don’t fit in standard toothbrush holders. We’re keeping ours in cups right now (except for two with flat bases, which can stand on their own), but I went searching and found this cool page on iVillage GardenWeb where people were leaving tips on how to solve this. I liked the idea about a silverware tray to put the electric toothbrushes in a drawer—but we don’t have a shallow drawer like that in the bathroom, and we have more than 5 toothbrushes. For sheer genius, the idea that catches my eye is to put the toothbrushes in a traditional holder upside-down. I would never have thought of that. Now I have to try it and see if it actually works.
Has anyone tried one of these musical toothbrushes? The one I want plays Survivor by Destiny’s Child (WHAT?), but you can also get them with Queen, Kiss, Black Eyed Peas, Smash Mouth—or, sure, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and Transformers.
This toothbrushing timer (it also times handwashing) is pretty cool, and it has suction cups so you can put it on the wall and not have it cluttering up the counter, but do the kids just stand there with the toothbrush lolling out of their mouths until the time is up? This is a device I might even use myself: I can see hitting the button before starting to brush—although I can also see cheating.
We had a couple of tooth-care themed books such as Does a Lion Brush? (baby-preschool) and How Many Teeth? (ages 4-8) and Open Wide, Tooth School Inside (ages 9-12), but I found they had limited re-read appeal. The kids wanted to hear them once or twice, and then it was about as fun as hearing me say again and again, “EVERY surface of EVERY tooth, please!” This makes them a great library choice.
Spit it out: how do you make kid-toothbrushing less of a pain?
HA! And I thought after the b@thtime discussion you’d never talk about brushing teeth.
We’ve found a two toothbrush method to be helpful with our young toddlers. They have a toothbrush to hold and “use” while Mommy or Daddy “helps” them with another brush. One of our children also enjoyed brushing my teeth with my toothbrush while I brushed hers. (I didn’t put toothpaste on mine, of course. I’m not that crazy.)
Nowheymama | September 2nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
OK, I don’t have kids, so I can’t contribute on that front–but we have the Oral-B Triumph, which is an an expensive, adult electric toothbrush, the kind where the head is removable (so you could invest in one toothbrush and seven heads, and that way actually it might not feel so expensive because you would save a lot of money in toothbrush replacement costs) and put a different color little ring at the bottom of each head to keep them straight (which is what we do, although there are only two of us). It comes with its own little stand, so you don’t have to worry about how to prop it up. And the cool thing (which might help the kids) is that it has a timer that counts up to two minutes on the toothbrush, and every thirty seconds it vibrates, so you know exactly how long to spend on the front and back of each row of teeth (and I just kind of squish a few seconds for the tops of the teeth in when I’m switching from front to back). Maybe that would make the kids more engaged? Or maybe you don’t want to get them anywhere near such an expensive toothbrush. I don’t know. But for us, I love it.
Jess | September 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Heh, heh, “Spit it out:”
v. clever.
My only tip is for little guys, the Bear in the Big Blue House song, “Brush, brush bree, brush, brush broo” is pretty fun and lasts about the right amount of time. (I guess Bear is so “five-minutes-ago,” now, but you can probably still find the CD at Amazon.)
Lee | September 2nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
We use the electric toothbrushes, and I also use the Flat on Back method with my youngest. I do it because he is absurdly ticklish and it’s the only way I can get near his mouth.
Susan | September 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am
Great ideas! I have to admit: Im really bad at enforcing tooth brushing. It becomes such a fight that I often give up. I hate it though because I have horrible teeth and they are a sorce of embarrasement for me. I had my 4 yo at the dentist last week and when he said that my son had beautiful teeth without any staining I was shocked cause that kid is so hard to brush! Im going to try your tips tomorrow.
Cherish | September 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 am
My step-daughter got a toothtunes brush for Christmas in her stocking. She’d been wanting one but at $9, it wasn’t something important that my husband and I just buy her on a whim. Anyways, those things are now banned at our house. We got it because we always have problems with her not brushing for long enough. We’ve even had timers and she just doesn’t use them. The reason that the toothtunes brushes are banned…at first it was all good. She’d start the music and then she’d brush until it was over. Then she started getting tired of the song (which I can understand) and would brush for just a little bit. And we’d hear the song stop early and ask her what the deal was. Eventually (after about 3 months) we finally got her to admit she was sick of the song. Of course her solution was ANOTHER toothtunes brush so that she could listen to a different song for a while. But let’s face it, that is just asking for trouble in the form of too many brushes and having to decide which brush to use. Oh the pain that would’ve caused. So, our solution no more toothtunes.
However, I really like the timer. Currently she is using the kitchen timer which works, but has to be manually set each time.
Jenni | September 3rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I handle it the same way I handle virtually every single parenting challenge, it turns out: I have a song.
To the tune of Frere Jacques (Are You Sleeping?):
Brush those chopper
Brush those choppers
Clean those teeth
Clean those teeth
[child's name]’s gonna have some
[child's name]’s gonna have some
Really clean teeth
Really clean teeth
Once through I’m brushing the insides, Second time I’m brushing the outsides, third time I have the kid clench teeth and I do the fronts and/or I do the tongue.
We have the once-a-day-I-do-it-once-a-day-you-can rule, too, for the older one.
I buy those little plastic flossers for the older one and she lays her head in my lap for me to do that.
Jan | September 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 pm
My parents bought the toothtunes for my children recently. Honestly, I don’t like them at all and have taken to “losing” them when it’s time to brush. The ones we have require the child to press really hard to be able to activate and hear the music. They end up brushing way too hard. I prefer the colgate motion one above.
I’m having a hard time with the toothbrush management too. Only two kids, but they each have the big colgate and then two or three regular toothbrushes. It helps them be more excited about brushing if they can choose which brush they’re using each day. It seems like all of the tooth-brushing gear takes up most of my medicine cabinet!
K | September 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
For toothbrush storage, you should look into the Flipper. It hold my electric toothbrush (which is an Oral B model) up off the counter, and it’s really cute. (I have the lion.) (And I’m 27.)
I think because it uses the neck of the toothbrush, it should probably work for you too, and they have dinosaur eggs for your daughter.
http://www.myflipperusa.com/
BRash | September 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
We count.
I have them brush and then I “check” and we count.
On the baby, the 5 year old counts (used to count in english, now he counts in spanish) to 10 while I brush. I think she is more fasinated that he is standing there talking to her so she holds still!
On the 5 and 10 year old I count- currently from 10-20 in spanish for the 5 year old and by 10’s in spanish from 10-100 for the 10 year old.
It sounds more complex than it is when I type it out.
–Just an extra way to squeeze in some learning.
Deanna | September 7th, 2008 at 11:34 am