Teeth Brushing Charts
I've
failed as many young mothers with mistakes here and mistakes there. One
category of my mistakes was in the dental care category. I should have
started George right away from infancy with teeth brushing, but I did
not. George's teeth were actually fine till around age 2 1/2 without any
brushing whatsoever. We didn't have him eat candy or drink soda, but
once we started letting him have a sip here and a sip there and then
some candy, his no teeth brushing started becoming a problem, and we
just started tackling it last month (but his teeth were fine before then with not a spec of plague!).
Now, in case you had no idea, but starting a teeth brushing routine is
no easy task with a toddler! My brushing habits are a little shabby too,
and I'm the mom! After scheduling a dentist appointment though, I got
to work with showing George some "first dentist visit" and
"instructional toothbrushing" videos for kids, and we now even have the
Berenstain Bears dentist visit book (don't recommend it for preparing for a first visit, but the stickers in the book gave me an idea!)
and getting a brushing routine down. Getting geared up for the dentist,
I really wanted George's teeth to get in as good as shape as possible
before we went, so I made brushing mandatory. His teeth are
looking better already with daily brushing and only letting him have
water in his bottle for bed time. I'd also like to report that George,
Emilie and I have now been brushing our teeth twice a day with our new
routine and that it's working out rather well.
For the chart in the pic above, the stickers in the Berenstain Bears book gave me the idea of having a sticker reward chart. It's a major reward system (and penalty system) I threw together. If I've learned anything through this whole process though, it's that scolding and punishments don't get you too far with a two year old. You can kick a goat and it still won't leave the hay, but if you put grain in front of it's nose and take away the distraction, it will follow you to the lock up pen! The same theoretically with a two year old. Reward, reward, reward! Every time George brushes his teeth, he gets two stickers: one for his chart and one for his hand. The one for his chart is for a week long goal and the reward at the end is a $1 Hot Wheels car. The chart will change weekly, depending on when we go down to Target (hence why it starts on Tuesday). The sticker on his hand provides an immediate reward! The sticker on his hand also qualifies him for his story time at night, and being able to drink milk and diluted juice and have a desert during the day. Sadly, left to his own devices, he will still not choose to brush his teeth, so I really have to lay down the law ("it's not an option, but these are the consequences if you didn't do them... it's not an option!"), and just praise him after forcing him to make the right choice. Example... "Let me see your sticker! -Oooo, now we can have story time because you brushed your teeth and you have your sticker!". Hmmm, I guess I don't need to have the "these are the consequences if you weren't to obey," I guess the threatening is for for me than for him... I would love to give him the option to obey or disobey and face the consequences, but I feel it's my duty to not let him cause himself bodily harm, even if he wants too. Ah, the dilemmas of being a mom. :)
George has passed his first week and has already earned his first car. I am so very proud of him, and he really likes his car. Bring on the Hot Wheels collection.
For the chart in the pic above, the stickers in the Berenstain Bears book gave me the idea of having a sticker reward chart. It's a major reward system (and penalty system) I threw together. If I've learned anything through this whole process though, it's that scolding and punishments don't get you too far with a two year old. You can kick a goat and it still won't leave the hay, but if you put grain in front of it's nose and take away the distraction, it will follow you to the lock up pen! The same theoretically with a two year old. Reward, reward, reward! Every time George brushes his teeth, he gets two stickers: one for his chart and one for his hand. The one for his chart is for a week long goal and the reward at the end is a $1 Hot Wheels car. The chart will change weekly, depending on when we go down to Target (hence why it starts on Tuesday). The sticker on his hand provides an immediate reward! The sticker on his hand also qualifies him for his story time at night, and being able to drink milk and diluted juice and have a desert during the day. Sadly, left to his own devices, he will still not choose to brush his teeth, so I really have to lay down the law ("it's not an option, but these are the consequences if you didn't do them... it's not an option!"), and just praise him after forcing him to make the right choice. Example... "Let me see your sticker! -Oooo, now we can have story time because you brushed your teeth and you have your sticker!". Hmmm, I guess I don't need to have the "these are the consequences if you weren't to obey," I guess the threatening is for for me than for him... I would love to give him the option to obey or disobey and face the consequences, but I feel it's my duty to not let him cause himself bodily harm, even if he wants too. Ah, the dilemmas of being a mom. :)
George has passed his first week and has already earned his first car. I am so very proud of him, and he really likes his car. Bring on the Hot Wheels collection.
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