How to Teach Kids Good Oral Health Habits + Free Printable

I’m sharing my tips to teach kids good oral health habits with LISTERINE® Smart Rinse, as part of a sponsored post for Socialstars #LISTERINE

Teaching your kids good oral health habits can be difficult. But it is even harder to face the dentist bill after they haven’t done what they should! Trust me, we just had to remind the boys why it’s important. And had to reteach them proper oral health habits because apparently they forgot and our bank account is much lighter.

Teaching Kids Oral Health Habits

It’s much better to instill good oral health habits early. It’s almost like potty training. You need to have all the supplies, a good routine and rewards.

Supplies include:

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• LISTERINE® Smart Rinse

It is so important that kids use LISTERINE® Smart Rinse to ensure they can clean in the areas where the toothbrush cannot reach. And LISTERINE® has made it fun with new LISTERINE® Smart Rinse Frozen®  and LISTERINE® Smart Rinse Avengers® bottles! It really helps make the kids excited to use the smart rinse!

LISTERINE®  Smart Rinse strengthens teeth 99% better than brushing alone and provides 12 Hour Cavity Protection. Not to mention that teeth retain 2.4x more fluoride with LISTERINE® SMART RINSE vs. Act Kids.

We make sure we always have a great supply of  LISTERINE® Smart Rinse on hand to help the kids swish to ensure proper oral health!

Now that we have the right supplies on hand we need to establish the right routine of using them!

A good routine develops with implementing and tracking. You can use this fun printable to help your kids learn to brush morning and night. Especially at night! Each time they complete the tasks they get a sticker! Yeah for stickers! What kid doesn’t love to earn stickers on a reward chart?

 

Then comes the reward. Unlike potty training you don’t want to use little treats. I mean you just brushed and swished! You don’t want to mess that up by letting them eat candy right after!

Instead track the stickers. Set up rewards your child will want after they earn the required number of sticker.

Like 14 sticker for a trip to the park. 28 stickers for a craft or movie party. 42 stickers and maybe they can earn a new book or small toy! The printable is set up for a full week of brushing, flossing and swishing twice a day. So I set up the rewards to be at 3 intervals of success with the prize getting slightly better each time  to really encourage the kids to keep going and develop good oral health habits.

This will get kids excited to brush and help get them into the habit. And there is no more important time to begin than now, especially with all the holidays coming up. You know darn well you won’t be refusing the holiday treats. So it’s extra important to be sure your kids are practicing good dental hygiene.

Lastly enforce! Help teach your child the importance of brushing, flossing and swishing each morning and night.

Be there with them and guide them through each step. This way you can also help direct them to brush correctly each tooth and for the right amount of time.

Help count for your child as they swish to make sure they 1. don’t swallow and 2. so they swish long enough to be effective.

Then cheer your child on! Tell them how proud you are of them for doing such a great job with their oral health habits.

And don’t forget to reward with the sticker! This will help your child stay on track and stay excited to earn the cool rewards you have set up for them.

Learn more by checking out this fun LISTERINE® Smart Rinse Video. And be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

How do you encourage good Oral Health Habits with your child?