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Chalk this one up to "one of those things you can laugh about with your kids later." Like WAAAY later.
My husband, Larry, and I were just thinking of a creative way to get our kids to brush their teeth for two minutes. We had tried it all; toothbrushes that play "High School Musical" songs, cute little timers, threats, and, the old standard, blatant bribes.
Then we thought, "What about scaring the living daylights out of them?"
Kidding. We didn't plan on doing that, but that's what happened.
One night last week after the usual hassle / battle at the basin, Larry decided to show the kids what will happen if they don't brush their teeth twice a day for two minutes — implementing the scare 'em straight method. Where did he go for this kind of propaganda? Why YouTube, of course.
He found this lovely video of the foulest teeth you'll ever see, ever.
So we plopped them down in front of my computer and let them watch this video (right before bed, mind you). I am warning you, this is D.isgusting with a capital "D."
I know! It's like the dental version of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Gross, right? Yea, our kids thought so too. Mission accomplished. They scurried to the bathroom practically tripping over each other to get to their toothbrushes. But when we went to put them to bed, Emily, our eight-year-old, was crying, obviously traumatized by the whole thing.
We both took turns sitting up and talking with her until she fell asleep. Larry and I both kept shooting each other the "Oops" look as we passed each other in the hallway, switching shifts.
The next morning Emily asked that we never speak of "that video" again. Done. It's in the vault…but, she has brushed her teeth for two minutes ever since.
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This is the video I remember from the '70s Saturday morning cartoon era.
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This was something I wrote for MomCrush, but never posted here. I'm home with a sick kid today, so thought it would be a good day for repost. But, just as a follow-up, Emily saw I was coping this post and said, "Mommy! You promised! Never again!"
I’m going to go floss now…
Brilliant! I am going to make my older boys watch this one… and maybe my husband, too. (hee hee) I think the 4 year old can wait, though, especially since he’s already missing three bottom teeth from a spill he took when he was one year old. He’s freaked enough about teeth as it is.
EEEEWWWWW!!!! That makes my teeth hurt!!! GAH!
This really gets the message across. Yikes!
And thanks so much for reminding me of Timer :-> I still sing “Hanker For A Hunk of Cheese”. I’ve got to show these to my girls.
Gonna show this to my Little T!
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I c an t r ea lly t ype thi s goo d ca us e I am fl os si ng my tee t h.
ugghhh. You promised. Love that Emily.
i couldn’t even watch the video. emily’s tougher than me.
HAHA! I read this on Mom Blog before, but hadn’t seen the video. Hilarious… you’re the best writer of stories. And I too am off to brusha, brusha, brusha!
The boys and I watched this last night and joked about the bad dreams and wouldn’t you know, I dreamed that I discovered one, two, three, then four rotten teeth in the front of my mouth, including one that just…popped out – I was trying to call for a dental appointment and worrying about how much it was gonna cost me and wondering how this all happened so suddenly!!!
this is a riot. I’m curious to see if the video has made a lasting impression (?) in the good way or the “I’m gonna cry” way. Teaching kids to brush teeth is ongoing – actually i think I should show this to my teens… I feel like an idiot telling them to brush now. I hear myself say it and cringe.
Okay. I am going back to my toothbrush right now.
Soo funny. No one tells a story like you.
Gah! Eeek! Ick! But it worked 🙂
Now I really want some Snickers…NOT!
I didn’t watch. I was too afraid of being completely grossed out. I am all over the teeth brushing thing and have tried the ‘scaring them straight’ technique as well. Ben doesn’t care, but Annie is constantly saying how her teeth could fall out and have a mouth full of fillings if she doesn’t her brush her teeth until they are sparkling. Whatever works, I say.