Do you let your four yr olds brush their teeth by themselves

[bigchris]

Or do you give them a going over afterwards?

Ds does it himself in the morning and I give them a really good brush at night.

ds3 is nearly 4 and I give his a going over after he has had a go. I still do with ds2 who is almost 8 a few times a week just to check as he is not very enthusiastic about brushing them

I do it first and then let her have a go.

Made the BIG mistake of letting my other two do it themselves at 3...

Ooh interesting
my six yr old has been doing his by himself for about a year
now my four yr old feels she should be treated the same , lol

We had a talk by the dental person for the schools in our area (she comes to the post natal classes ran by the hv) and she said that children don't have the dexterity in their wrists, to brush the back teeth properly, until they are around 7, so I always give them a brush morning and night.

x

by herself under supervision plus a 'supplemental' brush from us

I was advised by dentist the same as curlybrunette - that they should be around 7.

DD 3.5 does her teeth (i.e eats the toothpaste!) while I brush mine, then I actually brush them. She copies what I do if we've got time so she's learning, but I wouldn't be happy with leaving it at that.

I'll keep on doing it then
thanks for the replies

I still go over my 9 and 7 year old's teeth! Not in the morning and not even every evening - maybe just every 2/3 days. My dentist recommended that children up to 10 or so should be supervised.