How To Get Your Child To Brush And Floss

According to Leslie Garisto Pfaff, from Family Fun Magazine, March 2009 issue, we asked our readers how they got their kids to brush and floss, and they came back with a bunch of bright ideas for maintaining their family smiles.

1. Do it together. The White family from Webster, New York, crowds into their small bathroom, the kids pass out the brushes, and Dad does a thorough tooth check before anyone leaves.

2. Use humor. Leave it to the kids to find humor in pretty much anything, including , as it happens, brushing and flossing. When Jennie Morehead's kids were younger, she created the Gorilla Game, which they still play. There are 'tooth gorillas' hiding between their teeth that can be routed only by proper dental care.

3. Make it musical. To make sure their kids brush long enough (ideally, for at least 2 minutes) lots of the readers used music in one form or another. The Mann family turned on a song and the kids brushed until the song ended.

4. Chart it. When the Jenkin's kids were little they had a chart for brushing and added a sticker to the chart every time they brushed and flossed. Then, when the chart had enough stickers, they went to do something special together.

5. Start a club. When the Terri family girls had braces, they talked to parents of other girls with braces and started an organized "Brush Club". The group of girls got permission from their school to brush and floss together after lunch. The parents made cute little bags to keep their brushing stuff in.