What about when your child carries on and refuses to co-operate with this task ? We try to make it fun but my 13mth old terror clamps his mouth shut when I try to brush and will start to cry if I persist. He is happy to chew on it himself and play with the brush but I'm worried that his teeth are not getting brushed at all. He has 8 big (dirty!) teeth. Should I leave it and continue to be gentle and fun (without really brushing) or force it a bit and put up with him resisting? I am worrired that he will have negative associations with teeth brushing OR have unbrushed teeth!!!.