As a parent, you may feel as if you are constantly nagging your kids to make healthy choices. One area you may be able to empower your kids to make good choices is with their dental health. Giving your kids the encouragement to keep their teeth in good shape can take the pressure off you by giving your kids an appreciation for oral hygiene. Here are four ways you can help your kids become engaged in their own dental health.
1. Encourage Independence at the Dentist's Office
Find a family dentist that will interact with your children directly, explain what they are doing, and why. This can engage your children and make them more interested in their oral health overall. While you will need to be involved in follow up appointments and understanding ongoing dental issues, make sure to find a dentist who includes your child as part of the process.
2. Set up Reward Systems
While rewarding your child for brushing and flossing might seem like you are too involved, this is a much more positive practice than nagging them. Have a calendar in the bathroom to check off brushing and flossing daily. You can surprise your child for rewards when they complete an entire week or month of consistent dental habits. This can be a quiet way to acknowledge good behavior here and there.
3. Keep Consistency Yourself
If you are practicing daily dental care that your children can see, they will see these as daily habits that everyone practices. You will be hard pressed to get your child to go to the dentist if you haven't been in years. If you can practice brushing and flossing together as a family, this will just be way of life and not a constant struggle.
4. Keep Fun Products Around
If you can make ongoing dental routines fun for your kids, they will keep up the hard work. Be sure to incorporate new items such as interesting toothpaste flavors, electric toothbrushes, and on-the-go flossers into your child's stash of dental products. If there is always something new to try, your child will always be curious when it comes to brushing and flossing. Check with your dentist when it comes to kid-friendly options that they have found success with as well.
Oral health should be an important part of one's overall lifestyle, but you won't be there forever to ensure that your child to keeps up on good habits. If you can get them in the routine of actively caring about their own dental needs at a young age, they can carry this with them into adulthood. The hope is your child will be set to have good dental hygiene habits throughout their life. Contact a dentist, such as Howley & Basara Family Dentistry PC for more information.
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