Getting preschoolers to brush their teeth is easier said than done. To get your child to brush longer than the eight seconds she usually does, name all the foods that she ate that day (or the previous day in the case of early morning), and ask her to remove each of these from her teeth. You’ll get a few extra precious brushing moments out of her.

If the two of you brush together, see how many faces the two of you can make as you brush – make a game of it; she’ll end up brushing her teeth for longer. Sneaky, but may work (at least for a while!).

Call out the names of family members, her favorite cartoon characters, her dolls, and ask her to look for these at the back of her mouth with her toothbrush. It might make those much ignored places easier to reach and clean.