My kids like to brush their teeth. They actually REALLY like brushing their teeth. I like to pat myself on the back for my few parenting wins, so I think I deserve some credit. I attribute this success to what I call the blinding bright teeth trick. It seems to work, since most nights my kids remind me they need to brush. In other words I’m not pulling teeth getting them to clean their teeth (winning!).
How the blinding bright teeth trick works
After my kids are done brushing, they run up to me with huge little smiles. This is when I employ the blinding bright teeth trick. As soon as I see their smiles, I scream and close my eyes. I really get into it too. It gets them to laugh hysterically. The only problem is they want me to see the great job they’ve done. So, unfortunately they usually all try to force my eyes open (painfully). It’s basically a win-win if you don’t mind little paws trying to force claw open your eyes… to blind you.
Okay in retrospect that doesn’t sound so great, but it’s basically all in good fun (I think). I’m pretty sure my kids don’t actually want me to go blind anyway. However, now that I’m thinking about it, it’s hard to not get a little concerned.
This article was supposed to tie in how cool I thought it was to solve the puzzle of getting my kids to not hate brushing their teeth. Now maybe I’m just a little scared. I may need to reboot this plan…
I do totally believe being conscientious and developing the web for everyone (regardless of sight, sound, mobility, etc.) is the exact same thing as good web design/development (there’s a developer bomb!). So, I’d strive to keep building content for the web that even the blind version of me could easily use. I’m also pretty sure it would be a lot harder to keep doing it, if my kids really do blind me (little stinkers).
So yeah, maybe this isn’t the best trick after all. You’re kids will love it though.