How do you teach a child to blow it's nose?

[Tinker]

My daughter is a complete snot factory but she can't blow her nose. I've tried to tell her to imagine blowing a candle out with her nose and keeping her mouth shut but she still sniffs it all back up - sorry! She's 4. When do kids get to grips with this and how can I get her to try?

Tinker, dh has managed to teach our almost three years old ds to close his mouth and blow his nose by trying to make a "hhhhmmhhhsh!" noise - it is a bit tricky to convey accurately in writing but I hope it helps!

Tinker, just a thought - if you think about how a child normally blows out candles (eg on a Birthday cake), they tend to take a large breath IN before blowing out. This may explain why she sniffs in.

Perhaps you could try asking her to imagine blowing a feather gently along at first, so that she concentrates on blowing OUT.

I began to teach my son how to blow his nose when he was about two. I put a handkerchief up to his nose and explained what he must do. Not at once but soon he understood everything. By the way before this I had blown my nose several times in front of him. He watched it and I think it helped me to teach him. Now he is 5 and he knows that when I come to him with a handkerchief I am going to blow his nose. I say 'blow' and he blows. I still hold a handkerchief for him. When he becomes older he will do it without my help but I think that now I do it better than he would do it himself.

hi,

I taught my DD to blow her nose when she was three. She did not get it right the first few times but was soon good at it. I went by asking her to close her mouth and say 'hmpf' faster and faster for a few times. That automatically makes them blow through the nose.

Hope it helps.

Yeah, providing an example of a noisy nose blowing is usually effective. I unfortunately sound like I'm playing the trumpet when I blow my nose, but it was rather useful to get my kids to blow properly. Making the "hmpf" noise is a good tip.

My nanny taught my DD1 aged 18months to blow her nose. When I asked how on earth she simply said "I showed her". Glad I wasn't around for the visuals.
It was tricky because as soon as you said to blow her nose, she did. You had to be there ready and waiting with a hankerchief!

Isn't it odd - 7yo DD1 still can't blow her own nose yet her 2 yo sister can and I have no memory of having shown her how. Just as well as DD2 is one of those children with a snot river when she has a cold whereas DD1 never did.

Just be sure you teach her to wait for a tissue/hanky before blowing pls. My nephew learnt how to blow his from 2yo and he just ends up with rivers of green snot which he has proudly produced

My auntie taught me to laugh with my mouth shut.

My 12 yo still insists she hasn't mastered the art of nose blowing

She also can't spit so she was taught a long time ago about cleaning the sink!

My son is one and copy's his dad, so that's how that one come about

how funny! we taught dd1 at 10 months when she got a cold. she just copied us and we praised when she blew.

maybe we are on to something with the early effort and it is our competitive parenting win.