Toddlers do not refuse to brush their teeth because they dislike clean teeth. They refuse because the moment is boring, sudden or out of their control. A song fixes all three: it tells them how long it lasts, it makes the moment theirs, and it is the same every time. Here is how we use ours.
Tidying up
Play or sing Toys Go Home! (print the lyrics, PDF) when the last five minutes of playtime begin, not when they are over. The song gives every toy a “home”: a shelf, a box, a basket. Children tidy faster when they are not tidying “the room” but taking one toy home at a time.
Washing hands
Any of our songs works as a timer: one chorus is about the twenty seconds hands need. Sing it at the sink, with the water running only at the end. Bubble, Bubble, Scrub-a-Dub! (print the lyrics, PDF) was written for exactly this moment.
Make it the same every time
Same song, same order, same words. The routine becomes the song, and the song becomes something the child does rather than something done to them.
