Coaching practices for When Should You Start Brushing Your Child's Teeth

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For When Should You Start Brushing Your Child's Teeth, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • My kid has started hiding mistakes and bracing like they’re in trouble before I’ve even said anything, and I think it’s because my first reaction to a spill or a broken thing is always the accusation
  • I only ever speak up to my kid when something’s wrong
  • Even when I sit down to play with my kid I catch myself steering it
  • There are certain moments
  • I only ever realize I’ve been picking (or pulling, or biting) after it’s already done

Practices that may help

  1. Cultivate a "yes brain": curiosity, courage, and resilience over reactivity
    Respond to the child’s world with curiosity and openness rather than threat and control.
    The Whole-Brain Child (Siegel & Bryson)
  2. Deliver active recognition of ordinary positive moments
    Narrate what the child is doing right in real time, even when it is unremarkable.
    The Nurtured Heart Approach (Howard Glasser)
  3. Follow the child’s lead completely during special time
    Let the child decide what you do, how long you stay, and when you move on.
    Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
  4. Recognize what is not happening with proactive recognition
    Catch the child not misbehaving and name the success explicitly.
    The Nurtured Heart Approach (Howard Glasser)
  5. Build precise awareness of when and how the habit occurs
    You can’t interrupt what you can’t detect — map the habit sequence in granular detail.
    Habit Reversal Training, Made Practical
  6. Engage the upstairs brain through curiosity and play
    Ask questions that require the child to think, imagine, or consider another perspective.
    The Whole-Brain Child (Siegel & Bryson)
  7. Say yes to bids for connection before enforcing limits
    A child’s capacity to accept limits depends on how connected they feel to the person setting them.
    Authoritative Parenting (Diana Baumrind)
  8. Connect before you correct
    A child who feels connected to you is far more receptive to your guidance than one who feels attacked.
    Positive Discipline (Jane Nelsen)
  9. Recognize the premonitory urge — the signal before the signal
    Most repetitive habits are preceded by a distinct physical sensation; learning to feel it gives you the earliest possible intervention point.
    Habit Reversal Training, Made Practical
  10. Spend quality one-on-one time with your child
    Fifteen minutes of child-led, uninterrupted attention per day builds the relationship that discipline depends on.
    Triple P Parenting (Matthew Sanders)

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