Brushing teeth is not for the faint of heart. It is, quite frankly, one of my least favorite moments of the day.
I can't say that I have great fun with it myself, but brushing my kids' teeth is much less fun than that. Basically the problem (at least with Rebecca--age 2) is that we have two different purposes for brushing.
What I want is to clean Rebecca's teeth. What Becca wants to do is suck every last bit of the yummy, yummy toothpaste off of the toothbrush. Thus, my goal is to move the toothbrush lightly across her teeth while her goal is to open her mouth, clamp down, and keep the toothbrush in one spot.
Abby, by contrast, is slightly older than three and has more sophisticated desires. For Abby, brushing her teeth is part of the on-going project summarized in the phrase, "I do it myself!' Any attempt to brush her teeth for her can and will be met with resistance in the form of crying/curling up in a ball on the floor.
She has realized the cold, unbearable truth that she does not control the universe. I
have revealed this to her--I and my irrational desire to be on time for work for once. Therefore, I must pay.
Why would I risk brushing her teeth? Abby, left to herself, will only brush the left side of the teeth on her lower jaw. She will also vary between running the water at full blast (taking every last molecule of toothpaste off the brush) or running it so very slowly that it may possibly get wet sometime in the next presidential administration.
I do try to entertain her and keep her mind off of the fact that her sense of control has been violated ("Abby, do you want me to brush your nose?" "No!" "How about your knee?" "No!"), but this is getting old.
Someday soon Abby and Becca will be able to brush their own teeth. I may feel some sense of loss when that happens, but not much.
Posted by jim at June 22, 2004 10:30 PM