We All Need a Little Help Remembering the Important Stuff

When you’re over nagging, or you simply keep forgetting to remind them, help your kids experience success by putting the onus back on them.

Yes, they are little, but they aren’t stupid.

With our recent stint in ISO and the lack of routine that came with it, coinciding with school holidays, tooth brushing in the morning was something that kind of went out the window. We weren’t going anywhere, and ‘teeth and toilet’ were our usual precursors to leaving.

After a week of me forgetting to remind them and starting to dream their teeth were rotting out of their heads, I decided to make a little system to get them thinking about this habit for themselves.

It’s nothing ingenious – I made four teeth – one for each child.

Aim: to get 20 stickers on their tooth chart (one for each time they remembered/brushed their teeth)

Reward: Grandma would buy them each a new toothbrush, and a new toothpaste (to share)

It’s pretty amazing what a little, relevant reward can do for motivation!

Our biggest kids were most motivated, but I found that they helped keep the little ones on track as they didn’t want them to miss out on the toothbrush surprise!

Even after the reward was obtained, they continued to put stickers on their chart, and the big kids are now in a good habit of tooth-brushing, which flows on (most days) to the little ones… and myself!

If there’s something you keep kicking yourself over forgetting, perhaps find a way to empower your kids by giving them the opportunity to remember for themselves… with a little help from a simple visual prompt/motivator!