Turn Your Teeth Brushing Time Into Stories
I hate wasting more than ten seconds entertaining me only with my own thoughts. When I walk three blocks, I listen to a podcast. I read Twitter while I write. What I hate the most is brushing and flossing. I can’t hold my phone, I can’t talk, I can’t admire myself in the mirror, because my mouth is foam. I can’t stand it as an adult, so imagine how hard it is for a child.
If your child gets nervous when brushing their teeth, try a trick I tried myself: read a book to him. My wife and I tried it on each other to squeeze out a little more reading time per day. We went through “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” ten minutes a night for our entire bathroom routine, like an independent book club. If not for this book, I would never floss.
Children’s chapter books are already made for this kind of attention, even for adults. We used the same method with Anne of Green Gables , the Phantom Telephone Booth and Are You God There? It’s me, Margaret . Storybooks work great too. Just stay away from plays; they get confused very quickly.