While some young children will quickly take to brushing their teeth and hurry to the bathroom after meals before you ever ask them to do so, others will drag their feet through the entire process. As much as you might occasionally be tempted to have your child learn the hard way by finding out that he or she has cavities at the next dental checkup, it's better to increase your child's engagement about tooth brushing and avoid having to deal with the complication of cavities.

If you're fed up with simply telling your child to brush his or her teeth, here are three other ways to get the message across.

Organize A Friendly Competition

Many children thrive in competitive environments, so it's worth trying this approach with tooth brushing. If you've decided, for example, that your children have to brush their teeth twice per day, set aside 14 small objects per child -- buttons, for example. Each time that either child brushes his or her teeth, you hand over a button. At the end of the week, you count together to see which child has the most buttons. You can then offer a small prize, such as a sheet of stickers, or continue the competition for one month and award a larger prize to the four-week winner at that time.

Perform The Task Together

Some children don't gravitate toward brushing their teeth because they don't enjoy going to the bathroom alone -- often because they feel that they're missing what's going on elsewhere in the home. You can overcome this challenge by joining the children for a family-wide brushing session. If you and your spouse head to the bathroom as well, your children can feel included in this important family activity. To increase the engagement, you can place a digital timer in the bathroom, set it for two to three minutes and everyone can start brushing at the same time.

Use A Smartphone App

Given the widespread challenges that parents face in getting their children to brush their teeth, there are several smartphone and tablet apps that can help this situation. These apps vary from product to product, but some have cartoon videos to watch about tooth brushing, trackers that the child can click upon finishing the task and digital "rewards" for successfully reaching brushing goals. This approach is especially ideal if your child is already used to playing games or watching videos on your smartphone or tablet.

For more information, talk with dentists like Killar Curt DDS.

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