As a single mum time poor is one of the words that describes me perfectly and never more so then when I have a toothbrush in hand trying my darndest to get the little one to agree to open her mouth and have her teeth brushed. So far I have had my fingers chomped on, water spat at me, a crying child who has banged her head on the basin in her mad attempt to clamber away from the dreaded toothbrush. I've bought Wiggles, Dora and Deigo toothbrushes and even showered her with stickers and rewards charts, but to no avail. I've played the "you brush mummy's teeth and I'll brush your teeth" game, brushed the dolls teeth, sung the songs and even, at one of my lowest points, played the small except from Grease at Marty's pajama party where Jan sings along to the Ipana toothpaste commercial- it didn't catch on, I've never been much of a trend setter! I've read just about every book known to man on the myriad ways that can be adopted to help 'teach' your toddler to brush their teeth with enthusiasm, I even forked out a whole $5 to send her to the singing dentist show at day care, hoping it would be enough of a persuasion to end the wars that often ensue around teeth brushing time. Who was I kidding? I should have kept my money for the holiday jar that is looking ever so bare. I'll definately need a holiday with all the tantrums this one throws!
Tonight was like no other, the sulking started this time included was intermittent little yelps of "nope" in between the spasmodic sounding high pitched whining. So in my frustration at her sullen attitude and in a desperate attempt to find s.o.m.e.t.h.i.n.g that engaged her long enough for her to open her mouth I told her to scream at me. First we screamed "aaaahhh" together so I could brush right at the back and then we screamed "eeeee" together so I could concentrate on the front of her teeth and it worked! I couldn't believe it! We ended our teeth brushing session laughing at all the different types of noises we could come up with and what shape our mouths are in when we make them.
My realisation tonight was that I obviously still take some of the more mundane activities of life far too seriously, my baby was simple telling me in her on special way to "lighten up, Mum!" And so, as per her request, I'll definately be using this method from now on, however noisy it may be. As for the neighbours, well the last two nights I've had to endure their son fussing for up to 2 hours about goodness only knows, probably another child who needs a little convincing to brush his teeth, I think they can put up with two minutes of, as she likes to call them, 'noisy teeth'. Who knows, if it turns out his little episodes are about brushing teeth, I might just share my little secret!
No one could ever convince me that parenting is a dull job!
Until next time,
Soul Mum
RSS Feed