Showers versus baths - How are your kids getting clean?
Categories: Toddlers, Preschoolers, Health & safety, Childcare, Chores
My kid takes showers. He is sixteen months old. I took showers as a kid, but spent most of my time in the bath, surrounded by various toys and lots of suds. When our children are first born we barely bathe them, then move them into the little plastic tubs, then eventually into the tub for big kids. I don't even know when the technical transition from bath to shower begins.
I got the idea to put my child in the shower from a friend who always took her three girls into the shower with her (not all at once). The concept was that mom was in the shower and wet already anyway. Showers also use a lot less water than baths, and they're faster. Baths are tough in our apartment as the bathroom is small and the bathtub is awkwardly placed.
So, my husband and I tried taking our son, who was able to stand very comfortably on his own, into the shower a few times with decent results. Over time he became less intimidated by the water and now enjoys splashing around in it. He still plays with his toys and we all get clean relatively quickly. Still, I wonder if there's any reason to go back to baths, or to only do baths. There will come a point when our son is too old to be in the shower with us, for obvious reasons. There will also need to be a time when he lathers himself up instead of having a parent do it. I'm not wild about leaving him alone in the bath or the shower, and I wonder if either is really "safer."
Do you do showers or baths for your kids? At what age did you settle on a routine?
Pic by Don Nunn.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Windex 8-23-2008 @ 10:28AM
My 22 month old always gets a bath. My 5 year-old daughter often picks a shower over bath. My 3 yearl old son usually prefers a bath but will take a shower if we are rushed.
We went with what they liked or how dirty they are....If they have been playing in the sandbox for hours than a shower just does not cut it. They need to soak in the tub to get their hands and feet cleaned. If it is just an average day than they shower (by themselves in the shower with us standing in the bathroom. My 22 month old can be showered but he hates the spray...so it is usually more work.
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ninainindia 8-23-2008 @ 11:03AM
I don't think there is anything wrong with not taking baths, many people don't even have a bath! By the time your son is too old to be washed by you or your husband you will be comfortable with it. Of course I don't believe your child will be too old for that anywhere in the near future, but I know some people think differently about that.
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Karen 8-23-2008 @ 11:08AM
My children have always used a shower. Even as a small infant, rarely did I put them in a baby tub. I usually put them in the regular tub (propped up in a small laundry basket actually) but used a shower like attachment to bathe them.
As soon as they could sit on their own, they went into the shower with me daily. I had a very large walk in until recently and my daughter showered with me before school until she was in 3rd grade.
I stopped showering with my son a lot earlier, but he showers on his own. I used to come in to check that he rinsed his hair well, but he has been doing it long enough now that he can do it on his own.
I've always considered baths a big waste. Who wants to sit in nasty water? Bath toys are disgusting. I've seen mold/soap yuck on most people's bath toys in their tubs. And washing hair in the bath is a pain. On the rare occasions that my children have taken a bath, they have showered before leaving the tub so they can actually get clean. At an early age they were given a nail brush. I think a shower is MUCH cleaner than soaking in dirty bathwater.
My kids swim almost daily, so maybe that gives them their bath fix, but I've never seen the appeal in giving kids a bath.
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mamaloo 8-23-2008 @ 11:10AM
We don't have a bathtub in our apartment. So, when my elder son was too big for the kitchen sink, he came into the shower with me or my husband. He has a stool her brought in with him to make the height differential a little smaller, making it easier for us to clean him in a small shower stall.
Since he was three (he is 5.5 yrs now), he had solo showers and now showers solo exclusively. The way we do it: get the water right and in goes the kid with a few toys. He gets five minutes to play while I clean a toilet or brush my teeth or something (I will walk out of the room for five minutes, sometimes, it's an apartment so I can hear every little bump against the wall and feel confident that if my son were to fall I could be with him in seconds). Then I point the spray against the wall and open the door. I lather up the boy and then rinse him and he gets to turn off the water.
I often get splashed a little, and sometimes I actually let my son do all the hair and body washing (unless he's quite dirty), but it works for us.
Funnily, since he grew up coming in the shower in our arms, his first actual bathtub bath, at my mother's on his first birthday (for obvious reasons), he went hysterical as he was being lowered into the bubbles. He had no idea what was going on, being wholly unfamiliar with what a bathtub actually was!
My 1 yr old hasn't had many showers yet, but he'll soon be outgrowing the sink. I guess we'd better start schlepping him in soon.
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vicky 8-23-2008 @ 2:03PM
to mamaloo
to the shower thing homedepo have a shower head that streches down so it can come lower for your child my husband uses it for our 7 and 3 year old and the 3 year old loves it cause she can be in there alone with me standing in the bathroom just to wash her hair but her feeling that she can take a shower by her self makes her feel ike a big girl so if your little one wants to try it or if you want to let them try to feel like a big kid its a really good feeling the first time they do it o there own. have a good day
SKL 8-23-2008 @ 11:34AM
My kids take baths for several reasons. (They are both between 1.5 and 2.)
1) They have a nice daily water play with the tub toys and learn a lot in the process. This is enjoyable and relaxing for them.
2) My older daughter hates having water sprayed on her. Younger one doesn't mind it, but they bathe together.
3) One bath is easier (and doesn't use much more water) than two showers.
4) I like taking my shower by myself!
They will transition to a shower once they are old enough to take one on their own, and want to.
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mamaloo 8-23-2008 @ 2:05PM
Update: Took the baby into the shower and he screamed hysterically until he was out of it and in his dad's arms.
**note to self: take baby in shower more often
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pbhj 8-23-2008 @ 7:51PM
Lol.
Our J didn't like to get the water on his head in the shower - I think perhaps when he was younger he'd not shut his eyes after we'd been at the pool and were washing.
It's taken a long time (he'd squeal when it came to head rinsing) going swimming every 2 weeks for him to be calm about it.
Just appreciate the "it makes him scream, must do it more to get him used to it" sentiment.
Joy 8-23-2008 @ 4:36PM
My boys also took baths. They loved to play in there. My husband never would have taken them in the shower. This was 30 years ago and it just wasn’t done then and mothers certainly didn't do that with boys. Things have really changed there. I also wanted my shower to be MY shower. Like SKL, we did the one bath and they played and got clean together. It was just part of our bedtime routine. I felt they slept better after a bath too. Once they wanted and needed privacy, my oldest liked showers but my youngest loved to soak in the tub. I guess we all have our preferences.
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markycf 8-23-2008 @ 11:26PM
When I was little I took baths and pretty much all the kids in my family took baths until a certain age. My cousin's children sometimes take baths and sometimes take showers depending on where they are going.
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Heza Hekele 8-24-2008 @ 2:01AM
When my son was an infant, I found it easier to bring him into the bathtub with me, rather than lean over the tub and bathe him separately. As a toddler, he showered with me, simply because it was the only way to keep track of him while I showered! I stopped letting him shower with me once he was toilet trained (and thus aware of his unique body parts), that seemed like a reasonable "cut-off" to me. He went back to baths for a couple of years, by preference, and now showers 90% if the time, by preference. He is six.
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Tamyu 8-24-2008 @ 3:59AM
I`ve both showered and bathed my son since he was a newborn. (Or rather, since he came home from the hospital.) The norm here is to wash using the shower, then soak in the bath after you`re clean.
We had a baby bath, I think I used it about 3 times and found it more of a hassle than anything else. We bathe every night before bed, and I`ve been using the shower to wash him pretty much since the very beginning. I would turn it down a bit when he was tiny, so that it was a very gentle shower - but now, at 4, he is completely comfortable with the exact same settings as I use. He bathes with either me or his father.
He`s never had a problem with water on his head or face, (Well, he hated water altogether when he was tiny tiny) and I figure it`s probably because it`s something that we`ve been doing since the very beginning.
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