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Brush, Brush, Brush Your Teeth 🎵



Have you ever tried to get a toddler to brush their teeth twice a day, for at least 2 minutes per brushing session? No? Ok so, imagine a very excitable, hungry puppy. Now imagine this puppy crying when you ask it to do something reasonable and over reacting completely because you gave it e.g. food in a yellow bowl instead of in a red one. Now, add another younger puppy to this situation. Both puppies are locked inside a small room with you for what seems to be like eternity. Also, the room is poorly ventilated. You are responsible for getting the job done but you have difficult customers. 


I don’t know about you but brushing times at our place with Little R (4y) and Baby R (almost 2y) are nothing short of drama infused episodes. The husband is in charge of this routine and has all my sympathies . It starts with Little R attempting to put paste on his toothbrush at what can be best described as snail’s pace. Baby R at the same time will be shouting “brush teeth, brush teeth”. Before you get excited about him being cooperative, what he means is that he wants to hold his toothbrush under the tap for the whole duration (and more!). 


So now that Little R has applied paste to his brush, he will strike up random conversations like why he collected stones from his school playground or why is carrot a snack. Daddy will now be polite but firm and ask him to start brushing. Little R will pretend not to hear and continue his conversation which has now become one sided. Baby R is becoming irritable now and funnily enough is imitating his brother by crossing his arms and saying “not fair”. Hats off to Daddy here for managing to keep a straight face.


Daddy is now running on  low patience and he will adopt one of the following strategies for Little R to commence brushing and stop blabbing: 


Sing a famous brush your teeth song - The Cocomelon one is generally a hit with both boys and works 3 out of 5 times (at best). 


Make up a brushing teeth song on the spot - This almost always works as the lyrics end up being hilarious and the boys are able to relate to it. (Well done Daddy!)


Bring into the picture the dentist visit - Explain how disappointed the dentist will be if they find out that the boys aren’t brushing (rarely ever works, to be entirely honest)


Stickers - These used to work but no longer do with Little R. Their effect remains to be tested with Baby R.


So in the hope that at least one strategy has worked, we now enter phase two.


Phase two essentially is the most important because it involves the main act of brushing teeth. Even here, there will be negotiations like  “I will brush for 1minute and 20 seconds”, “I want 2 stickers”, or “Baby R has to brush by himself” and on and on and on. Daddy is trying his best now to still remain calm while negotiating with Little R and brushing Baby R’s teeth. Phew!!!


Little R has finally done meherbaani on his Daddy and now brushes his teeth under strict instructions. 


Finally, both boys have finished the great brushing event and just as Daddy thought he could breathe easy, he’s reminded of breakfast. Now that’s a story for another day!!


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