It can be a nightmare getting kids to clean their teeth – do you remember your parents tearing their hair out trying to get you to clean yours?

Parents need a hand in trying to encourage kids to look after their teeth, which is why Harrogate’s Woodlands Day Nursery has signed up to the national ‘Stop the Rot’ campaign, a fun way of teaching children about eating healthily and of encouraging them to clean their teeth throughout the day to help fight tooth decay.

According to Stop the Rot founder Graham Wilding, nearly half of the UK’s five year-olds suffer from tooth decay, with the majority of these problems caused by refined sugar (sucrose) found in so many foods and by children’s reluctance to clean their teeth. So, in line with the Stop the Rot campaign, Woodlands Day Nursery has committed to:

1)    Sack the sugar
2)    Beat the sweets
3)    Let’s get brushing

Sack the sugar

Quite often, if food and drinks packaging says ‘carbohydrates’ then the chances are it contains sucrose. So, Woodlands Day Nursery are trying to limit the children’s sugar intake by selecting foods with the least sucrose content, and making those foods fun. Deputy Manager Amanda Hadley says: “It’s easy to make healthy tooth-friendly foods fun. By including children in activities about different foods, we encourage them to try things they would normally turn their nose up at. Our message to parents and carers would be to keep trying with new foods - our children at nursery eat really healthy balanced meals every day and they love it!”

Beat the sweets

We once gave one of our cats catnip as a way of rewarding him for being such nice, gentle chap – big mistake! Not sure where that nice, gentle chap got to during the 5 minutes that he had the catnip in his clutches, but he absolutely nailed us when we tried to take it off him! 10 minutes later, once he’d recovered from the effects of the catnip, he was back to his old unique self again, sitting peaceably with the birds and saving moths and butterflies from danger.

It can be that way with children and sweets sometimes. Children become addicted to sweets not just because they taste sweet but also because they are associated with comfort and reward. They also get addicted to the “high” of the energy rush that can cause disruptive behavioural problems. So, again, the staff at Woodlands Day Nursery are very careful in regards to the number of sweets children are given and when they get them.

Let’s get brushing

The earlier good brushing habits can be put in place the better, so Woodlands Day Nursery have created games and play themes around toothbrushes and toothpaste, whilst each child attending Woodlands Day Nursery has been bringing in their own tooth brush and having a go at brushing every day after their lunch.

By implementing these 3 key things as part of the Stop the Rot campaign, Woodlands Day Nursery are assisting parents and carers in what can be the very difficult task of getting children into the habit of looking after their teeth from an early age in the hope that they won’t have problems with their teeth later. By working together, Woodlands Day Nursery, parents, carers and, above all, the children can Stop the Rot and enjoy a lifetime free from dental issues.