The other day one of our four year olds managed to escape outside with his toothbrush. His only real intention was to run around with it and to make sure he got all the toothpaste flavour off of the brush. Instead we ended up having a conversation about the importance of good oral hygiene. It went something like this:
Me: You have to brush your teeth very well.
Four year old: I don't want to.
Me: You have to. If you don't, you won't have any teeth.
Four year old: I don't want teeth.
Me: If you don't have teeth, then you can't eat.
At this point, I really have his attention, so I recap "you have to brush your teeth so that you can keep them so that you can continue to eat." All of this convinces him. He decides it is actually worth it to brush and keep your teeth. He spends the next couple minutes brushing first his front teeth and then the rest. It was quite an entertaining exchange.
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