Toothbrushing Tips for a 3 Year Old????

My kids think it is SO fun to pretend they are at the dentists office. They are both reluctant brushers (my son was a fighter at age three too), but this brings them running to the bathroom every time!
I sit on the toilet seat and they (one at a time) sit across my lap. They lean back and open wide and I brush while making a sound like the electric brush at the dentists office. I also ask questions like a dentist would, like "have you been brushing twice a day? these teeth look great! I'll give you some floss to take home with you today, tell you mommy I'm very proud of you! Can't wait to see you back at my office tonight :)"
My kids are really into make believe and they just think this is so funny that I pretend I am a dentist. Some nights I am not in the mood, but really I prefer to do this because I make sure to get all their back teeth and am able to do an inspection of my son's two capped teeth (due to bacteria not getting brushed well enough when he was three) BTW, they are 3 and 6 years old.

We've been lucky with our very strong-willed 3 year old daughter, because she is really great with teeth brushing. Some of the things we do might help you, at least I hope so!

First, we give E her own toothbrush so she can brush her teeth first, and then hold on to the tooth brush while we take a turn with another toothbrush. She also likes having the choice of which toothbrush she gets to use. So we always have two or three toothbrushes to choose from. We also use the toddler training toothpaste which has a yummy taste.

I also sing the ABC song while I am brushing E's teeth and then for the last part (Now I know my ABC's...)I make something silly up to sing instead and she loves it. And finally, she "earns" her fluoride tablet, which she loves, if she is good with brushing that night (we have to use fluoride tablets because our water is unfluoridated.) And since she is always good, she almost always gets the tablet. (She has missed it a half dozen times in the last two years, so not too big of a deal...)

The other thing we do is that she has to earn storytime by getting into her jammies and brushing her teeth nicely and without tantrumming. This almost always works as an incentive, and we rarely have to send her to bed with out stories.

I hope these ideas help! Best of luck!

Yes it's normal. It's a way for her to exert her independence. My daughter does it too. My BIL is our dentist and he says it's totally normal and he hears about it all the time. I still brush my daughter's teeth. At three, she cannot do it herself. She does not have the dexterity or skill it takes to properly brush her teeth. So, we have found a compromise. I buy the firefly toothbrush. They are cheap - $1 (? I think?) for a package of 2 of them. When you press the bottom, they light up. They blink for one minute. It's supposed to help kids know how long to brush. Since you are supposed to brush for at least two minutes, we split the job. SHE gets to turn it on and make it blink and then I brush her teeth. I make silly comments to..."Ohhh there's a kitty cat in here, I am going to chase it with the toothbrush". "Oh my Strawberry Shortcake just bumped into your toothbrush". It's quite stupid really, but she likes it and it seems to work. She let's me brush. Then it's her turn to do the job while I watch her. ((I wish these brushes had an on/off switch, so I could turn it off when she is being uncooperative, but they don't.) We also make sure to make a big deal about pretty, clean teeth. "Go show Daddy what a great job you did!". Giving her a chance to do it "by herself" helps stave off some of the fighting in this house.

I have a special "toothbrushing" song that I sing while I brush my 3 year old and 15 month old daughters' teeth. The effect of the song started to wear off for my 3 year old a few months ago and doesn't work all the time now, but she has found new interest in brushing her teeth now that I purchased her one of those Thomas the Train and Dora and Diego vibrating toothbrushes from Target. Also, it really helps that she has fun toothpaste like the Disney Princess tubes and the Dora tubes of toothpaste. Good luck! :0)

I have a 2 and 4 year old. At times they have fought me during teeth-brushing time, but I just force their mouth open as best I can and quickly get the job done...after a while, I think they realize that it's sooo much easier for them if they just relax and let me do it. Currently, teeth-brushing is a breeze. :) I try to teach them about cavities and stuff...they are very receptive to stuff like that and after eating a lollipop my 4 year old will run up to me and beg me to brush his teeth RIGHT AWAY because he doesn't want to get cavities and have his teeth fall out. :)

Both of my kids have cute little disney character plastic cups and they really enjoy going to the dentist. So they actually use the toothbrushes the dentist sends home as freebies.. I have always let them brush their teeth first and then go back and re-brush them for them. Never had an issue with them not-wanting to brush. But we do also have a game for the leapster explorer called sugar bugs, the kids brush the germs off of the teeth to win the game :) GL

You said that you brush her teeth because she won't do it properly. What I'm wondering is, would it be so terrible to just have her do what she can, even if it means mostly playing with the brush, for a while? If her teeth are basically sound it seems like it might be better to keep up the routine without worrying as much about how well the teeth actually get brushed. That will keep up the habit without perhaps causing her to rebel long-term against brushing her teeth. I would think several months of just taking it easy with the process would see her back ready to do a better job of actual brushing again.