Am I being punked? Kids and brushing teeth question

[pagas]

My kid has brushed her teeth herself for a few years now. She is 7.

She can't tie her shoes.

[joenali]

She should be able to brush her teeth, but at that age, they don't always do a good job. So, you might have to help her when she's done.

[lilafowler]

She can do it but she might need help.

So yes-she's pinking you

[mandymay]

My daughter's 5 and brushes her teeth, but she's not great at it so we do an 'inspection' when she's done and get the teeth she neglected to get.

[scottyderp]

This makes me feel like I was a kid genius. My dad was only adamant about the pea-sized amount of toothpaste, because I wanted to eat it.

[Deleted]

My kid is 4.5 and she does it on her own.

[karinothing]

I heard most dentist recommend 7 or so to brush 100% on their own.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

I still check lucys work at 7. The tell tale sign she didn't do a great job is that her breath still could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon

[bittybomb]

My 7 year old brushes his own teeth and doesn't tie his shoes. But he thinks brushing for like 2 seconds is sufficient, so I always go in and scrub for a bit anyway.

I also let my 5 year old brush hers first but then I will go and brush again for her.

[kevin arnold]

Sucka.

[usm]

They may tell her that so its not a fight and kids that age usually need help getting everywhere. She may have made up that up, mine makes up arbitrary rules all of the time.

[Deleted]

Nov 11, 2015 17:07:20 GMT -5 Que? said:

G is pretty decent at it, but she's a tad obsessive over hygiene things. I think dentists recommend assisting them, but I'm not sure for how long. She should at least be practicing.

Yeah, this is my kid too. She gets mad when I forget her tongue, lol. She does a good job.

[ijack]

our dentist says that kids shouldn't be brushing their teeth themselves until they're at least 8. Obviously they CAN do it, but it's better for their dental hygiene if parents do it.

[Deleted]

Nov 11, 2015 17:11:44 GMT -5 Que? said:

Nov 11, 2015 17:09:41 GMT -5 @ygmg said:

Yeah, this is my kid too. She gets mad when I forget her tongue, lol. She does a good job.

Does she also insist on rinsing her hands for 45 seconds? (Like you're actually supposed to but ffs, it's exhausting).

It sure seems that long! She definitely gets mad when I rush her.

[whitemerlot]

Nov 11, 2015 17:11:44 GMT -5 Que? said:

Nov 11, 2015 17:09:41 GMT -5 @ygmg said:

Yeah, this is my kid too. She gets mad when I forget her tongue, lol. She does a good job.

Does she also insist on rinsing her hands for 45 seconds? (Like you're actually supposed to but ffs, it's exhausting).

This is my kid!

We were told 8 for independent brushing as well.

My son asked for a sonicare toothbrush, new tooth paste and floss for his 6th birthday. Lol!

[lilac05]

My almost 5 year old generally brushes his own teeth...with occasional inspections. My 2 year old attempts to do it himself, too.

My BIL is a dentist & says his official recommendation is that kids shouldn't brush their own teeth until they can tie their own shoes. So she's not making it up...but she can also do most of it on her own. (Though it's possible her parents are helicopter parents in this area and have never made her do it herself.)

I agree with you on the Velcro shoes! I plan to buy them as long as possible!

[Kristinmo]

Nov 11, 2015 17:11:44 GMT -5 Que? said:

Nov 11, 2015 17:09:41 GMT -5 @ygmg said:

Yeah, this is my kid too. She gets mad when I forget her tongue, lol. She does a good job.

Does she also insist on rinsing her hands for 45 seconds? (Like you're actually supposed to but ffs, it's exhausting).

This drives me CRAZY!  We will be in a public bathroom and I'm holding her up to reach and she's singing the ABC's to time it out.  Meanwhile, my arms are going to fall off from holding her at the awkward angle.

[robot]

Nov 11, 2015 17:17:36 GMT -5 ijack said:

our dentist says that kids shouldn't be brushing their teeth themselves until they're at least 8. Obviously they CAN do it, but it's better for their dental hygiene if parents do it.

Yep, this is about what I've heard as well (or 6-8 ish), and the "when you can tie your shoes thing" is a legit statement I've heard as well.  Her dentist may have actually said that.  Sure they *can* do it earlier, but not necessarily well.  My 6 year old is brushing mostly by herself now, but can also tie her shoes  

[sallywalker]

T does hers and she is 4. Usually once a week I will give them a good scrub to make sure they are getting clean.

[jlt19]

Our dentist said around 7 is best.

[jillybean222]

My 8yo and 6yo can handle it now but I brushed their teeth for a looooong time. Like they've only been doing it for a year or so. My 4yo thinks she is 8 so she does it herself but then I have to inspect and make sure she did a good job. They all need help with flossing still. No cavities x3 :-)

[ijack]

Nov 11, 2015 17:22:00 GMT -5 robot said:

Nov 11, 2015 17:17:36 GMT -5 ijack said:

our dentist says that kids shouldn't be brushing their teeth themselves until they're at least 8. Obviously they CAN do it, but it's better for their dental hygiene if parents do it.

Yep, this is about what I've heard as well (or 6-8 ish), and the "when you can tie your shoes thing" is a legit statement I've heard as well.  Her dentist may have actually said that.  Sure they *can* do it earlier, but not necessarily well.  My 6 year old is brushing mostly by herself now, but can also tie her shoes  

My 7.5yo may never tie her shoes. She has no desire to learn

[eb777888]

David does at 7 but if he had a lot of candy that day, I'd get the backs. Hey, still no cavities yet! I haven't done that in a couple years, thouh.

[papie]

Nov 11, 2015 17:23:41 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

Our dentist said around 7 is best.

Yeah Sophia is 5 and does a really shit job. I try to do it for her once a day or so, and let her do it alone the other times.

[jlt19]

Nov 11, 2015 17:31:39 GMT -5 @fkasmace said:

I brush xavier's teeth bc he's horrible at it and we have bad teeth genes. Like. Really bad. I had 3k worth of work done over the summer, none of it elective cosmetic.

Eta: he is 5.

My kids are so screwed. My dad has all fake teeth and that was because after getting 2~3 cavities per tooth throughout his life and then losing about half to decay it was the only option. I thankfully have great teeth, but DH is on the same path as my dad (from his mom's side). So, I may just brush their teeth until they move out...

[textbookcase]

Our dentist said 9, but my girls probably did it fully on their own around 7ish? They would brush on their own from age 3-4, but I would go over them when they were done.

[Dumbledork]

Our dentist recommended that we do the follow up brush (DD brushes and then I do it to make sure it's done right) until she's 10.

[circa1978]

I brush my 4.5 year old's. I admit it. I have a friend whose kid needed $4K of dental work for 11 fucking cavities at the age of four. No thank you. I'm happy to brush his teeth until he can drive to avoid that.

ETA: She's a great mom and he totally brushed his teeth all time. I'm sure it was unavoidable/genes. But OMG, did it spook me. 

[eav2c]

Ehhh, I think they should be able to do it on their own to some extent but also need some help. Our pediatric dentist said most boys need help until age 8 due to dexterity but girls normally handle it on their own a little younger.

[cville]

My kids will be in Velcro until they're 27. I still do the bunny ears to tie my laces.