Toothbrushing!

Try getting them a toothbrush that plays music or lights up. I bought a toothbrush at 99c store that plays the Indiana Jones theme while you brush, and my son loves it. It also gets him to brush for the full time needed.

have you tried the tooth brushes that play a song or blink for 2 mins?
The ones that play music play it so you can hear it if its in their mouthes.

Tough situation. Try experimenting with different toothpastes---they even have a vanilla flavor now! Sometimes it is the toothpaste that turns them off of it.
You could try playing a song for them and they can dance and brush until the song is over.

BTW, I read recently that a study indicated that cavities are less likely if there is a protein based item (like milk or cheese) along with the sugar that is consumed.

I use the blinking firefly toothbrushes. Also I'll brush my teeth after brushing my boys and they're playing with the brushes. There is also a lot of 'say ahhh' and 'say eeee' and signing 'this is the ways we brush your teeth' when I receive little cooperation. Also you could choose how long you'll brush a section. Lower back section 10 sec and count it out and come back for a second 10 sec count to rinse the mouth, that'll give you 2 minutes total. Then the boys will know when you're ready to move to the next section. Around 4 I let my son brush for the second minute.

They are still young and kids that age don't like to brush. Definitely keep telling them how important it is to brush - it will eventually sink in. However, If you make it into a game or a contest they may be more inclined to do it. Say,"Whoever brushes his teeth fastest gets to pick the book we read..." or something like that - contests always get my son motivated. Since you have 2 boys it's easy to make little games. You can also use the mouthwash that leaves their teeth blue if they missed a spot. They will love that.. Be creative.... then when they go to the Dentist he can explain to them again how important brushing is. My son had one terrible check up and that did the trick to get him motivated too.

Good luck! Hope this helps!

My eldest also used to fight me with this , I had 2 brushes , 1 for them to brush with themselves and 1 for me to brush their teeth , I let them do it first and then I brushed....it worked most of the time but on the occasions it didn't I have to admit that I had to be forceful (i.e lie them down and brush)

Try making a game out of it. Brush your teeth at the same time and see can create more suds in their mouth brushing. That person becomes the winner!!!! I babysit kids, and this game always works.

you should probably have a song ready to play and do it with them, you guys can have "teeth time"..............just an idea, my daughters love it ever since i got them both electric ones

Hi E.,

Kids your sons' ages aren't going to care how important something is. They're too young to understand long-term consequences. When my kids were little, tooth brushing was another sticker on the chore chart. It didn't take them long to figure out that those stickers collected faster if they brushed their teeth, which meant they got to their sticker quota needed for whatever the reward was faster.

One trick I used whenever I needed to break or build a new habit that the kids were resistant to, was to give them 10 pennies (or nickels, dimes, and quarters as they got older). The coins served as a tangible, jingly reminder that they needed to do something. Every time they didn't do what they were supposed to (or did what they weren't supposed to), I made them give me back one coin. At the end of the day, or whatever the reasonable time period was, they got to keep whatever coins they had left and start with new coins for the next time period. I always started with one day as the time period, then gradually lengthened the required time to keep the coins to 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, until the habit was ingrained and the tangible reminder was no longer needed. For tooth brushing, you could work it as 3 coins/day (one for after each meal), which they only get to keep if they don't fight you. Later on, this can morph into them getting to keep the coins if they tell you to help them brush their teeth, then when they go independently to do it themselves. You don't have to use coins for this, BTW, especially for the 2 year old, if he still puts things in his mouth. You can use something large, like duplos, instead.

yes i like katie h doing i still have promblems with my 8 yr old doing as well so good luck

For DS I bought that kids mouthwash that turns all the plaque blue and told him we needed to brush all the yuckt blue stuff off his teeth.

For my DD...man it took a lot to find a way to brush her teeth. I gtried every trick in the book...finally I bought one of those Zooth spin brushes, the battery run kind with the characters on it. Pretty expensive at $6 each, but I guess in the long run worth it because as soon as I brought it out (disney princess), she opened up and let me brush her teeth. She also doesn't like the taste of tooth paste, even the kids one, so it took awhile to find one that she will tolerate. And half the time I just brush without toothpaste on her. But she will let me floss her teeth without problems...weird huh?

Try the automatic toothbrushes with timer. Both Soniccare and OralB has good kids toothbrushes with timers. Reward them with an extra storybook at bedtime or whatever that works for your kids. Try to get the pedodontist involve as well. Many will be willing to schedule short visits to get them used to it. Youtube has bunch of videos on the topic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf0EOKmpNyE has good rating, although I haven't check it out. Every once awhile my son, who's two-1/2, will not wanting to brush either, I give him the options of 1) let me brush now or 2) have time-out first then let me brush. He usually makes the choice of (1).

hi E.!
i didnt think my kids really needed to brush or go to the dentist until they were older, so with my older two kids we took them at the same time.
my 5yr old didnt have a single cavity and had totally healthy teeth. my 2yr old had over 9 cavities and almost had to have 2 root canals!!!
so with our younger two, we make them brush every day starting when they begin to eat food other than breastmilk (as long as they have teeth by then) and all the kids have to brush their teeth every day and we see the dentist every 6 months (or try to anyway)
my 5yr old was convinced easily but my 2yr oldl wasnt, so i had to tell her that we will have to go back to the dentist to get her teeth drilled if she didnt brush every single day. sometimes i would tell her that the "sugar bugs" will try to eat her teeth away!
i even showed my kids pictures of other children who had tooth rot. i told them that is what happens when you eat sugar and dont brush your teeth. they ran to brush their teeth after i told them that!!!
i think scaring them into good habits is a good thing, especially in the long run and they will thank you for it later.

My boys see Dr Kelly DDS in Upland. They both love him, and listened to what he says. I bought some character books before we went to the dentist to prepare them. Maybe your boys need a trip to the Dentist to inspire them.

I don't have that problem yet and I hope I dont. Before bedtime, I tell my 20 month old twins its tme to brush their teeth and I say it like in a song and be playful about it. I also buy them toothbrushes with their favorite character which is Dora for my daughter and Diego for my son. I also buy fruit, safe to swallow toothpaste. When I say time to brush their teeth, they both run to their bathroom and one pulls out the stool and they actually fight for it. I say one goes first and I brush for them first and they always want to do it themselves so I let them and they like that, I then rinse their toothbrush, wash their hands (they love washing their hands too!), and wash their face. Maybe if you try to make it fun! Do you allow them to brush their own teeth after you brush them? That way they are learning how to do it themselves too. I also read them books about brushing their teeth and they see it on the Yo Gabba Gabba tv show on Nick Jr.
Good luck, k? :)

Thanks for this post, it's always great to hear how others deal with situations like these. I hadn't thought about the colored mouthwash idea. For our son, we have 3 (yes 3) different toothbrushes. One is a mechanical one that lights up, one is a small one with the cookie monster on it and the other is a regular one we got free from our dentist. Each night after bath time, we let him pick which toothbrush he wants to use, then he gets to brush, brush, brush (make the brushing sound) and then it's our turn to brush his teeth. I ask him to smile when brushing the front and that helps to get him to not bite it (he just likes to suck the water and toothpaste off) and then we scrub, scrub, scrub the back.

Next on our list is to get the same ritual into our morning routine - not as easy since we can't ply him with book reading time, etc.

Thanks again everyone for good ideas!
S.

T5ry to make it a game who can do it faster who can do it slower prize for the winner a hug or whatever good luck A. raised 4 and now hae 7 graind children

Updated

T5RY TO MAKE IT A GAME WHO CAN DO IT FASTER WHO CAN DO IT SLOWER PRIZE FOR THE WINNER A HUG OR WHATEVER GOOD LUCK A. RAISED 4 AND NOW HAE 7 GRAIND CHILDREN

Hi E.,

I don't know if this will help, but I used to pretend that my daughter's favorite TV characters from Sesame Street and Dora, were hiding on her teeth and I'd have to get them out. I'd take the toothbrush and tell he we had to go looking for Elmo, Big Bird, etc then would proceed to announce, "There you are, Elmo! Get out of there!" before brushing them away. She did well with this little trick. I hope it works for your little guys too. Good luck!

L.

I'm not sure what flavor of toothpaste you're using, but I've been using a strawberry flavored one for my 2-yr old for over a year and he loves it. My nephew, who is 3 1/2 has NEVER willingly brushed his teeth. When he was visiting, I showed my sister what my son used and she bought some of the same & that night she told me that my nephew actually brushed his teeth willingly. He hated the "minty" or "peppermint" flavor of other toothpastes.

Tooth brushing is a non-negotiable. As the parent, that is your only option. Make it a family affair. You all brush your teeth together. Forget toothpaste (especially the fluoride kind) and just brush with water. Please don't put any more "additives" on the teeth (anything with colour is additives) the whole point of brushing the teeth is to clean them...that is like putting another log on the fire and THEN putting more water on it to put it out. Stickers might work - but them what happens if they don't "like the stickers you picked"? Pennies and other "jingly things" might work, but what happens when they get bored of those? Do they get to stop brushing their teeth?

It is simple (it may not be easy, but it is simple). NOT brushing teeth is NOT an option. Period. It is what you do. Period. You do not need to explain, they won't fully comprehend anyways. You just need to get them in habit. Be with them. Show them how it is done. Brush your own at the same time. Say "this is what we do in this family, we brush our teeth. Are you part of this family? Great, then we brush our teeth." No consequence, just fact. We brush our teeth. NO bribery, we brush our teeth, no begging, pleading, crying etc, we simply brush our teeth.

B.
Family Success Coach

My experience: My 2 and half y/o son likes to brush his teeth because he's getting the bugs out of his mouth! I used to have to tell him "mommy has to brush those bugs out" and he didn't like bugs and so he let me and now I don't have to use that to get him to brush. We brush together so he sees me do it. We brush as soon as we get up and before we go to bed. Now, sometimes he'll see his toothbrush and want to brush during the day and I let him.