Ways To Drag Your Kid To The Dentist

By Author: Julia Scott
Total Articles: 17
Comment this article

It is absolutely hard to convince children to do what you want them to do. It is like they are programmed to question every word from their parents’ mouths. You tell them to the something, and they do just the opposite. Now, do not get me wrong, I believe there is no trouble with visiting your dentist regularly. That is even healthy. Some children do not mind it at all. But some would rather spend their afternoons glued to their play stations and online games rather than take that ride to the dental clinic. With this, I have a few solutions.

Invoke your right as parent

Yes, and they have nothing to do about it. Call it dictatorial. Call it tyranny. This is your household, and they can’t do anything but to obey your orders. Most children will cower and conform to that kind of discipline. You have millions of references from years of parental life here on earth. These children can’t really blame you. You yourself most likely experienced this kind of parenting when you were a kid. And I am willing to bet that your parents had a hard time convincing you either. It’s just karma, my friend. And your children ...
... will surely learn that eventually.

Classical conditioning

If you have some basics with psychology, then you are familiar with this kind of discipline. Classical conditioning is basically training people to do what you want. Otherwise, they will be punished. Punishment here does not really work like its archaic definition—you know, torture, imprisonment, stoning, death, and the like. This is too much of course. Let’s put things into context shall we? Say, if your kid do not go with you to the dental clinic, you deny him or her a summer getaway. You can also ground them for disregarding your command.

Threat

This is not recommendable. However, you can still use this if your child is being a total brickhead, and you do not have any much of a choice. This performs hand-in-hand with classical conditioning. Of course, this is a more specific kind of discipline. As a responsible parent, you should also be careful to choose your threats very carefully. You should be sure that they do not border to child abuse. You know that harsh and self-depreciating words are also considered as child abuse. Get that example we had in classical conditioning. You can also do that in everyday treats you have inside your house—like a pie, for example, or ice cream on weekends.

Operant conditioning

Now this, my friend, is the polar opposite of classical conditioning. In a nutshell, operant conditioning is bribing people with presents to get them to do what you wish. So basically, you can just bait a new toy or an irresistible meal in exchange to a trip to the dentist. Personally, I prefer this kind of method in disciplining children. It is more positive, and parents will be endeared to their children that way. There is just a small problem though. You might spoil your children too much if you do not know how to handle this method.

Julia Scott is the author of this article on dentist and dental clinic. Know more about Washington DC dentist and dental clinic Washington DC here.