My Kid Got Hit By a Car. I Wasn’t Expecting One Consequence in Particular.

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. For a while she would let me brush a little, but one day she shook her head, like, “Nuh uh,” and since then she’s refused. —Cutting Teeth Dear Teeth, My inclination was to say “Let her chew on her toothbrush, she’ll be fine!” but I thought maybe I should consult a professional, so I called Dr. Meghan Bastin, a pediatric dentist and a professor at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry. She said that she’s had parents of reluctant young patients find success by brushing teeth while a child is in the bath—“Sometimes the problem is that they don’t like the wet feel of a toothbrush, but if they’re already wet they don’t notice.” She’s Yes, this is brushing their teeth without their consent. Since he was born nine years ago, he’s learned lots of important kid stuff around sharing, compromising, and not always having adult attention.