I’ve done my teeth and I’m ready for my story! – JD, 4
I’ve spoken before about how JD was keen to establish his independence from an early age. He’s always been keen to take on new challenges and rarely needs to be told to wash his hands or brush his teeth – he knows the routine, and I know I’m lucky!
Letting brushing slip
Apparently, children often avoid brushing, even going so far as to ‘fake it’ by running the tap, wetting the brush, but never actually putting bristle to tooth!
I can see why. Since JD started school, he’s really tired when he gets in, keen to eat his tea, watch Tree Fu Tom and chill out. By the time we send him up to get his PJs on, his eyelids are drooping and he barely makes it through his bedtime story, so he’s not as enthusiastic as he once was to keep things like his hygeine routine on track.
Does it matter?
It seems it really does. According to an Aquafresh survey of mums of children aged 2-12, more than one million under-fives in the UK have at least two fillings. That’s a bit scary – I didn’t even know fillings were possible in milk teeth!
What can you do to help?
Aquafresh have produced this short video with tips on helping make brush time more enjoyable for children.
And if you need convincing…
Here are some more survey stats to put brushing in perspective:
- 17% of mums say their child has at least 3 fillings
- 13% of mums have children who have at least one filling by the time they start school (aged 3)
- 24% of mums say their children only brush their teeth once a day and 2% say they don’t brush at all
- 47% of kids under 12 have been told they have dental decay
- 53% of mothers say getting their kids to brush their teeth is stressful
For more information, or to sign up to The Club for fun tips on how to get kids brushing or for a free sample of Aquafresh Fresh & Minty, you might like to visit http://www.aquafreshclub.co.uk
Disclosure: this is a sponsored post, with stats and video from Aquafresh, but the words and thoughts are my own.
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