AIBU to think that bathing your kids once a week is not 'neglect'.

in the 70s I used to visit London from a small market town in the midlands - i'd wash my hair once a week over the bath and the water would run pretty much just a dull dish water colour, each time after the London trip the water would be black - it was truly disgusting

Reminds me of when I visited London last year. I was using a moisturiser cream to combat eczema and when I rubbed it in, the dirt rolled off my skin like eraser shavings. I was showering every evening!

Times have changed since then, our homes and bathrooms are more modern with hot water on tap (pun intended).

When I was small, I was bathed once or twice a week (sometimes sharing with my sibling when we were very little). And this was in the 90s / 2000s. Hot water may be on tap these days, but it doesn't mean every family can afford the energy bill - especially if there's only a bathtub, no shower installed.

If I go back to visit my childhood home, I have to be mindful of this and not take a bath every day.

hmm for me personally it’s not a case of ‘oh well they don’t produce body odour so they only need one wash a week.’

Just the idea of being in the outside world, outside play, pollution, interacting with things, and sorry to be grim but a weeks worth of going to the loo. I also just know how much better I feel after I’ve had a shower.

I only have a baby so I might feel different when they grow up!

Are they having showers in between? If it's just one bath a week and nothing else, apart from washing their hands and face occasionally, then that's minging, and borderline neglect. (In my opinion.)

And I don't care what happened back in days of old. I think it's minging. It's cruel too, as other children will tease them for being the 'stinky one.'

Can't believe 6 out of 10 posters think YANBU! God help us all!

I don't know how you do it. We would have sore bottoms, endless sticky bits, terrible odours and stinking hair if I did this. Plus a higher chance of infections as their toilet hygiene is just not amazing. My children are not self cleaning. They are committed to getting moss/puddles/mud/glitter/hay/centipedes/lasagne in every orifice and in their hair on a daily basis.

I think if someone has a severe skin condition it is obviously a very different situation but water on basic eczema and similar won't cause skin to 'break down'.

A gp saying dc shouldn't be bathed more than twice a week is talking bollocks, but they often do so take it with a pinch of salt.

DD used to be bathed 1-2 times a week and then washed in between.

She's 11 now and baths/showers at least every other day, but usually more as she's very active.

Sorry I see I’m repeating PP.

I voted YANBU but my view is that one bath a week is ok as long as there’s washing happening meanwhile. Bums and private parts are going to get smelly/sore if left unwashed for a week… and strip washing is a lot more of a faff than a quick shower or bath. So YABU if no bum washing is occurring.

The point is she said they got washed once a week, not that they got bathed once a week.
We all knew the stinky kids at school and no one wanted to play with them, sit with them or be friends with them. We certainly didn't want to go to their houses.

''Kids do smell musty.''

They do!
It's a kind of organic, yeasty funk.

Probably the parent/s can't smell it as they are used to it.

Guaranteed other children will be able to smell it.

I was bathed once a week as a small kid, always on a Sunday before the new school week began. As I got on older it became more often and then we had a shower fitted and it was daily. I think it depends how grubby the child gets. I don’t think it’s neglect to only bath them once a week.

Theoretically I know that once daily isn’t recommended but I honestly couldn’t envision my child being clean enough to skip the daily bath regularly. He needs it daily otherwise he would smell musty.

I don't think it's neglect on it's own, ie home, clothes etc all clean and the child is well fed and looked after.
I do think it's slovenly though and the kids do smell musty.
Mine were bathed every day and now have a daily shower as teens.

once a week unless smelly, dirty or have been swimming for us initially, I think by about yr 2 it went to twice a week.

Hair in London needs daily washing..especially if one travels on the Tube.
The rinse water indeed is discoloured after a day.

The air in the Tube smells bad. {District Line above ground not so heinous}

Goodness knows what happened to lungs..

Ewww - even these days, I feel like I need a shower straight away when I get back from visiting a big city for the day 😅

Mine are definitely the filthy and need some sort of bath or shower every day sort.

Today for example: sun creamed him which all got in his hair. Spilt milk all down his top during breakfast. 11am had taken his shoes off and played in the sandpit at the farm and then ran through the one puddle there. Lunch, somehow managed to smear butter in his hair from his sandwich. Collected rocks and sticks on the walk in the afternoon and tried to eat a leaf. Then spaghetti for tea which is probably self explanatory.

No it's not. Dd was advised by gp to not have more than two baths a week....her skin breaks down if more. Gp said children shouldn't be bathed more than twice a week...

Totally agree - theres a dirt line around the bath after one day out in the summer from sun cream/dirt from playing outside and my bathroom is always clean. I cant imagine the look of the water/bath from a weeks worth of dirt/sweat/suncream - the water would be brown!

in the 70s I used to visit London from a small market town in the midlands - i'd wash my hair once a week over the bath and the water would run pretty much just a dull dish water colour, each time after the London trip the water would be black - it was truly disgusting

This...The children who smelled of pee.
Probably bedwetters, but a couple of children at Junior school smelled bad enough for them to be effectively ostracised by the other children.

Really sad and unfair, it's the parent/s job to make sure their children don't smell of wee , or that oddly fusty smell that comes from stale clothing and less than fresh bedding.

Totally agree - theres a dirt line around the bath after one day out in the summer from sun cream/dirt from playing outside and my bathroom is always clean. I cant imagine the look of the water/bath from a weeks worth of dirt/sweat/suncream - the water would be brown! 😩

I can’t imagine not giving a small child a bath at least every other day, especially those still in nappies/pull ups. Even older ones, I think they need more than one bath a week. It seems the thing on here to come up with the ‘too much washing is bad for their skin’ excuse. Yes, back in the day, we bathed less, I was born in the 60’s and clearly remember the Sunday night bath and the Wednesday night wash in the kitchen sink. Times have changed since then, our homes and bathrooms are more modern with hot water on tap (pun intended). Those that think nobody can tell if your wain hasn’t had a bath or shampoo in a week (or three weeks!), you’re kidding yourself.

when I went to my grandmothers, she didn't have a bathroom and only an outside loo. I bathed there a couple of times and it was in a tin bath in front of the Rayburn.

I don't think you can say it is or it isn't with absolute certainty.

It may be a sign of neglect is probably the more accurate statement.

I used to strip wash as a child and this was done before school. I had a bath and hair wash once a week - it was normal when I was growing up.