Child Loves Football? 3 Ways To Use This Love To Help Them Improve Their Oral Health

If you are the parent of a child who dreads brushing and flossing their teeth, then you may need to get creative and make oral health more fun for your child. If your child loves football, then take advantage of the arrival of football season and work some aspects of the game into your child's oral-health routine. Here are three ways you can use your child's love of football to help them enjoy brushing and flossing instead of dreading it.

1. Buy Toothpaste in Their Team Colors

Your little football-lover likely has a favorite team, and working their team colors into their brushing routine is easy with today's vast array of toothpastes. You may have to order the paste online, since many strange colors and flavors may not be at your local drugstore.

Many colored toothpastes also come in fun and crazy flavors, but if you don't think your child will enjoy an odd flavor, then don't worry, because a popular manufacturer of colored crayons now makes toothpaste inspired by the bright and vivid colors of crayons.

Let your child apply a little of each team color to their toothbrush before brushing, but make sure they don't use too much or they may end up swallowing a bit, which is bad for their health. If you can only find one color, then don't worry, because you can always pair it with a toothbrush in the team's other color.

2. Have Fun with a Tooth-care "Half-Time"

If you keep a timer in the bathroom to set for two minutes every time your child brushes, then use this timer to help you add some half-time fun to brushing. Tell your child that when as soon as the timer hits dings after two minutes are up, that it is officially tooth brush "half-time," just like in the game.

Work with them to create a fun dance to perform during "half-time," taking inspiration from their favorite player. Once they have performed their half-time dance, it is time for the third quarter of their routine, which is flossing thoroughly. When they are done flossing, announce that fourth quarter has arrived, and it is time for them to rinse with a fluoride-filled mouth wash.

3. Make Football-based Rules to Enforce if They Skip Their Routine

If your child is old enough that he or she performs some oral-care unsupervised or if your young child battles you so much that you must skip part of their oral-care routine one day, then impose penalties for each infraction and its severity. One way you can give a penalty is impose timeouts from watching their favorite team's next game. You can turn the television off in the middle of the game for the predetermined timespan or delay turning on the game when it first starts until all time-outs from the week are served.

If you have to struggle to get your child to brush and floss regularly, then turn oral-care time into game time. Your child and you can have a lot of fun with it now and in many years, when your child is an adult and still enjoying their favorite team, they can look back fondly on the great memories you created. Visit a dentist at http://www.hcdentistry.com/ for more ideas.