How To Get Your Kids to Floss – Everyday!

A critical part of the oral health routine of any child should be flossing. The best way to extract food and plaque that can not penetrate toothbrushes is to use dental floss or flossers. It should be daily practice to floss between teeth, and it should begin as soon as two teeth meet each other.

It is just as necessary to get young children into the habit of flossing as it is to motivate them to brush their teeth. Learning to stick to a flossing regimen while young can place them in a good spot for the future.

Here are a few ideas to get young kids to floss.

• Make a flossing game with your kids. Find ways out of flossing to make a game. Between parents and children, or between two siblings, you might award points and keep a score. It is an age-old trick to transform flossing into a game that may not work for every child, but will work for some. You can tie the game “winning” to a prize or award, just make sure you let your children win!

• Reward your children for having flossed. It is very difficult, especially for children, to stick to flossing over long periods of time. With the ways you have incentivized flossing, they can be quickly distracted or bored and return to fussing about it nightly. There’s one sure way to make it seem worth their time, and when they do as you ask, that’s giving them everything they want. Giving them a small flossing reward every day of the week and a bigger flossing prize every month for a certain number of days.⠀

• Show your children what happens when they miss flossing. Showing your children what can happen to their teeth will go a long way towards convincing them to floss if they don’t take care of them. There are plenty of child-friendly online instructional videos that can help illustrate how teeth can be damaged by avoiding flossing. On their visit, you may also ask your family dentist to explain the value of flossing to them. Dentists have had a lot of experience communicating to children these concepts and will be able to do a better job as parents than we can.

• Let your children choose the flossing product. When they play a part in selecting the supplies they need, children are more relaxed. Bring them along the next time you go to the store for dental supplies and let them choose their own. They will be more likely to follow through when it’s time to floss by making them a part of the preparation of everyday flossing.

• Floss with each other as a family. Doing challenging stuff with other people is much more enjoyable and motivational. If you want your kid to see how important flossing is, make sure they see you flossing as often as possible. Whenever they floss, you should floss with them. This will not only make them less likely to challenge you for flossing, but it will also help you improve your own dental health.