"Kids thrive on routines...maybe worth trying if the flossers lose their charm?"
Totally agree with this. Honestly, as someone who's always been anxious about dental visits (ugh, childhood memories...), establishing a solid routine early on can really help ease that anxiety later. Novelty tricks are fun, but they rarely stick long-term. Making flossing feel as normal as brushing teeth or bedtime stories is probably the best bet for lasting habits. You're definitely on the right track there.
Routines definitely help, but honestly, sometimes mixing things up a bit can keep kids interested too. My daughter got bored with the flossers pretty quickly, so we switched to letting her pick out her own floss at the store—she chose some fruity-flavored stuff and actually got excited about it again. I think giving them a little control or choice in the process can make flossing feel less like a chore and more like something they're involved in. But yeah, totally agree that long-term habits come from consistency rather than novelty alone. Maybe a balance of routine plus occasional fun tweaks could be the sweet spot? Worked for us anyway...at least for now, haha.
That's a great point about giving them some choice—kids definitely respond well when they feel involved. My son went through a similar phase, so we tried a sticker chart to track flossing days. It worked for a while, but eventually he lost interest. I'm thinking of trying flavored floss next...did you find the fruity flavors actually helped long-term, or was it more of a short-lived excitement thing? Curious if anyone else noticed certain flavors or types working better than others.
We tried fruity floss with our daughter too, and honestly it was fun at first but wore off pretty quickly. Have you tried those floss picks shaped like animals or dinosaurs? My youngest loved them because they felt more like toys. Also, maybe let him pick out his own floss flavor at the store—sometimes the choosing itself makes it stick longer. Kids are funny creatures though...what works this week might flop next week, haha. Good luck!
We went through something similar with my nephew. He was excited about the flavored floss at first, but it quickly lost its charm. Weirdly enough, what finally worked was making flossing part of our nightly storytime routine—like, we'd floss while I read him a short story or talked about his day. It became less about the floss itself and more about the bonding moment. Kids really are unpredictable though...you never know what's gonna stick!
