Do your kids brush or fake it? (sponsored post)

28 September, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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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Flexibath – bath time in a small bathroom

26 August, 2012 By 1 Comment

It’s a boat! – JD, 4

If, like us, you have a small bathroom and a small person, then the normal normal baby baths can prove too much of a space hog to be practical .

The Flexibath (RRP £29.95) is a cool solution, offering a decent size bath that collapses and clips near flat. It has a rubber plug which means it can be emptied straight into the bath and high sides so it feels secure once filled.

Disclosure: we were sent a Flexibath free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Encouraging independence in the bathroom

11 October, 2011 By 15 Comments

I’m off to do m’teeth! – JD, 3

At 3 years, 11 months, JD has pretty much achieved independence in his personal hygiene.

Daytime routine

In the day, JD’s got a routine pretty much nailed.

  • He takes off his own shoes and washes his own hands when we come in from town (the bus is grubby) – generally this is without being asked to.
  • He washes his own hands before meals – again generally without being told to.
  • He goes to the loo by himself and knows to ask us if he needs a bit of help. He knows always to wash his hands afterwards.
  • He takes himself off after meals to wash his hands and face – this happens the second he’s finished eating. He just jumps up, announces he’s going to the bathroom and off he goes.

Evening routine

In the evening, JD takes a little more persuading because getting clean is then associated with having to go to bed.

Praise helps, plus the promise of bedtime stories, but one thing that has really helped get him into the bathroom and ready for bed is getting an electric toothbrush.

The Arm & Hammer My Way! Spinbrush

To be honest, it never would have occurred to me to get an electric toothbrush for a child had we not been sent one for review.

JD’s been manually brushing his teeth for a couple of years (with decreasing help), but this little ‘toy’ has improved how well he cleans his teeth (much less ‘grub’ near the gum line), made bedtime fun, and helped move bedtime hygiene into his independent routine.

Some features of the My Way! brush that JD likes:

  • It’s electric and makes a noise – that’s a winner in JD’s book!
  • It feels ‘grown up’ to use.
  • It comes with a load of stickers so JD has personalised it, including putting his name on it.

Only problem in the first few days was explaining that it’s not a toy for cleaning the tiles, floor, sofa…

JD wanted to use it on everything and show it to everyone, so we had a bit of a battle there, but now understands that it stays in the bathroom, he looks forward to the bedtime routine and is happy to do it without us taking the lead.

Job done.

Disclosure: The toothbrush was provided to us free-of-charge for review (RRP £5.99). No payment was received and this post is 100% honest. Please see my review/disclosure policy for more information.

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