Getting Badger To Brush His Teeth: The Art Of Diversion

By Justine C. Tajonera

Vier and I bought this audio book, Talking To Toddlers, and we learned a lot from it but I had some difficulty putting it into practice, at first, because I was so used to dealing with Badger in a fixed sort of way. However, one night, one of the lessons on diversion really kicked in.

The Dreaded Temper Tantrum
Badger and I had our usual fight over brushing his teeth. I was pretty tense because Vier is usually the one who brushes Badger's teeth. However, that night, it was up to me. I tried cajoling him. I tried giving him options (do you want to brush with your yellow toothbrush or your Ironman toothbrush?), I tried getting mad but nothing worked. He ended up screaming at the top of his lungs (with the vein on his neck popping out). I was about to give up. He was already crying, which I really hate because I start getting soft on him when I see those big tears rolling down his cheeks.

Mommy's Best Actress Skills
And then the idea hit me. Why not use the lesson on diversion? In the audio lesson, it was explained that sometimes logic really won't work with young kids. So, the best thing you can do is divert them so that they don't focus on what they don't like. So, with all my "best actress" skills I exclaimed: "Oh my goodness! Badger! Are those ants in your mouth?" He stopped crying and looked positively shocked. He's scared of cockroaches. And now, ants, after one of them bit him."I think I see ants!" I went on. "Open your mouth wide so that Mommy can check." Immediately, he opened his mouth for inspection. "Ay naku," I said, shaking my head, "looks like there are cockroaches and ants in there.Tsk tsk! We have to take them out."


Finally, Cooperation
By this time, Badger was getting cooperative. "Take out ants," he demanded. "Okay, Mommy needs to brush your teeth to get the ants out, okay?" He nodded and opened his mouth wide. And that was the end of my ordeal. I made a big deal about how we were getting rid of all the ants in his mouth and he was happy to have them out of his mouth. In a way, brushing his teeth really is a way of getting rid of "bugs" and cavity-building plaque from his mouth. So, not only did he get to brush his teeth, we had fun doing it.

The Art Of Diversion In The Grocery
The art of diversion is fascinating. One other miraculous way it helped was when Badger had a temper tantrum in the grocery (the thing that parents absolutely hate). This time, it was Vier who took the lead. Badger insisted on getting a ball from the toy section and we really didn't have time for it. So, Badger started bawling and pulling us back towards the toy section. Vier then asked him, "Do you like that ball?" When Badger said yes, Vier kept asking him to describe the ball (like what color was it?, etc.) and engaged him in a conversation about the ball. By the time we were in another section of the grocery, they were busy exclaiming over blue colored cans (because Badger likes the color blue) and we were off the topic of the ball already. Thank goodness!

(Dec. 16, 2009)

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliedwards/522650932/