My niece did the exact same thing—her stickers ended up everywhere except the chart. I think you’re onto something with it being more about the shared time than just a prize. We started pretending her stuffed animals needed flossing lessons, and she’d “teach” them first, then show me how she could do it herself. Honestly, it got a lot more giggles than nagging ever did.
One thing that helped was making up a goofy song about “flossing away the sugar bugs.” Seriously, the sillier I acted, the more interested she was. The reward almost became secondary to the routine (and my embarrassing dance moves). I wouldn’t say it works every night, but it’s way less of a battle now.
I’m not sure every kid buys into the game thing, but if you lean into the ridiculous, sometimes they surprise you.
I get the appeal of the goofy song-and-dance routine—kids really do love when adults act ridiculous. But I’ll admit, my patience (and, honestly, my dignity) only stretches so far after a long day at work. Tried the puppet thing once, but I just couldn’t keep up the enthusiasm every single night. My son caught on pretty quick and started negotiating for extra stories or more screen time instead of just going along with the game.
Maybe it’s just my kid, but he seems totally immune to sticker charts, songs, and even my best “sugar bug” voices. The only thing that’s worked for us is making flossing part of our nightly wind-down. We brush and floss together in the bathroom—no fanfare, just side-by-side like it’s as normal as putting on pajamas. Sometimes we’ll chat about our day or what we’re doing tomorrow. It’s not exactly fun, but it’s consistent and he doesn’t fight it as much anymore.
Honestly, I think some kids are just less into the whole reward or game angle. And with the price of all those sticker charts and cutesy flossers adding up (seriously, have you seen how much those animal-shaped flossers cost?), I’d rather not buy into every trend if I don’t have to. Maybe I’m missing out on some laughs, but at least bedtime doesn’t turn into a circus every night... unless you count me trying to wrangle him into bed.
Curious if anyone else has found that just keeping things low-key works better for their kids? Or maybe mine’s just a little old man trapped in a six-year-old’s body.
That sounds pretty familiar, actually. I’ve got braces right now, so flossing is a whole production for me, and honestly I wish I’d just learned to treat it like any other routine when I was a kid. Do you ever worry that making it “fun” just sets up more resistance later, when the novelty wears off? Or is it just about getting them started any way you can?
Honestly, I’ve wondered about that too. My youngest would do anything for a sticker or a song when she was little, but now that she’s older, the “fun” part is definitely not enough to get her to floss. I think at some point, you just have to make it non-negotiable—like brushing.
That said, getting them started is half the battle. If making it fun gets them used to the idea, maybe it’s worth it, even if the novelty wears off later. I didn’t really learn to floss regularly until my dentist basically guilt-tripped me in high school… not the best approach, but it worked for me.
Now I’m dealing with a kid in braces, and honestly, it’s a circus. We use those little floss threaders, but they’re fiddly and take forever. Some nights we just call it good with a water flosser and hope for the best. Not perfect, but better than nothing, right?
I get the whole “make it non-negotiable” thing, but honestly, that’s never worked in my house. My kid just digs in her heels harder. What actually helped us was letting her pick her own flossers (the neon dinosaur ones, of course) and then timing it with a silly song. Yeah, she’s older now, but somehow picking out the weirdest flossers at the store still gives her some sense of control. Water flosser is our backup too—sometimes you just gotta accept “good enough.”