Helping Your Child Brush: Fun When You Know How
Tips for brushing with your child
By now, your child will probably want to be brushing their teeth on their own. Which is great. But at this age, most children don’t quite have the co-ordination or patience to do the job properly so you’ll need to supervise brushing until they are seven. You’ll probably need to finish off the bits they’ve missed.
Here are some tips for brushing with your 4-6 year old:
- Teach them to clean each tooth with a gentle circular motion, starting at one end of each row and cleaning all the way to the other end.
- Gums are important too so make sure the circular motion includes the gum as well.
- They should clean all surfaces of their teeth: front, back, top and bottom. For more info on the best way to brush, take a look at our Brushing Demo.
- A gentle scrub does the job – don’t use too much force as brushing too hard can damage precious gums.
- Only ever use a soft-bristled toothbrush. Brushes with animal characters on them like the Aquafresh Little Teeth Toothbrush can make brushing more fun for kids of this age too.
- Use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste such as Aquafresh Little Teeth Toothpaste. But if your dentist recommends a toothpaste with less fluoride, like Aquafresh Milk Teeth, you should use that instead.
- Brush for two minutes, twice a day. Two minutes can feel like a long time though, so get them to time themselves if necessary.
- When your child’s finished brushing, you should brush the bits they tend to miss. If they’re a little reluctant, you can let them brush your teeth first.
- After brushing, your child should spit out but not rinse. That way, the fluoride can continue to protect their teeth.
Fun ways to explain the importance of good brushing
It’s much easier to get your child to brush properly if they understand that it’s important. Sometimes, this is a little easier said than done. But even so, there are still plenty of fun things you can do to get them into good brushing habits.
Having a Toothbrushing Star Chart is a really simple and effective way to encourage regular brushing. Each time they brush properly, put a sticker on their chart. And when they’ve got enough stars, give them a reward. Introducing fun games and characters into their brushing routine is another way to help them understand that they need to brush properly every time too. A daily Tooth Fairy Photo or a game of Feed the Plugulp should get them going.
And for simple way to explain about all the different parts of their teeth and how to brush them, take a look at our Brushing Demo.