To wonder how you can not bath or shower kids every day?

[Kalitall]

I know this ones been done, and I don't think anyone is dirty for not bathing every day and I understand about skin conditions.

I just don't know how everyone gets away with not bathing children each day. Especially little ones.

My two boys seem to get filthy. They both play outside every day and end up muddy. The toddler gets really mucky eating meals, usually ends up with food everywhere even in his hair. Also often ends up with paint over him from nursery. He poos in his nappy every day and even though he's clean up is usually still a bit smelly. In the Summer they both get quite sticky.

I find it easier to run a bath or put him under the shower than to top and tail to clean all the muck off.

Like I said I'm not accusing anyone of being dirty, as an adult I could probably get away with not showering each day as I don't sweat much and don't get mucky.

Do other children just not get in a mess?

It's the same with washing clothes. I reuse my own clothes but I could never not wash the dcs clothes, because they're always covered in food or mud.

Lima1. Yes, that's what our specialist said too, the latest research seems to support that.

Hair washing is a bit more traumatic (girls - long hair), so that's usually only twice a week!

If they find hair washing traumatic, then why don't they have short hair? Depends on age, but I only started to care about what my hair looked like when I was old enough to wash it myself.

My opinion is that children should be washed when/if needed. They don't get body odour like adults, so there's no reason to wash them each day if they're not dirty.
(Once a week is probably advisable, as SayNoToCarrots' story illustrates. )

I cannot fathom why ANYONE wouldn't bathe their kids every evening. It's part of the bedtime routine, and an absolutely essential part of the wind down process before bed IMO. Takes 5 minutes.

Gosh, it must be difficult to suffer from such a lack of imagination Do you find daily life very tough?

DD(3) has never found baths a relaxing experience, or not since she was a tiny baby, anyway - she's gone through phases of really disliking them, tolerating them and (currently) really enjoying them, but as a fun, noisy, splashy afternoon activity. I'm laughing at the thought of trying to get her to 'wind down' by putting her in the bath So we have a different bedtime routine, and are perfectly happy with it.

Fortunately, she's never been a mucky child; she doesn't rub food in her hair or dig in the mud with her hands. She does have play outside at nursery every day but has never come home actually dirty from it.

Some of you on this thread seem to have very limited understanding. It should not come as a surprise to anyone who's thought about it for even a second that some children get over-excited and/or wound up by bathtime rather than winding down.

In terms of hair, I was fortunate that mine did the smearing thing quite early and grew hair quite late. I don't envy those of you who have to wash food out of a full head of hair on a daily basis!

Cross post there...

Also, bathing kids takes 5 minutes? Not in this house!

Yup that's it! I'm lazy(well that's actually true ) noseblind,neglectful,don't have a routine for dd and want her to be filthy and dirty. Think i covered everything. Anything else?

My DD and DS get bathed every day, it's part of our bath/bed routine and after DS has been at school all day coming into contact with goodness knows what I'd feel dirty myself if I didn't bath him! Only takes 15 minutes to get them both done and in PJ's

Do I not like having clean kids?

I can't say it's something I think about a lot. I like having happy, loving, healthy kids. A bit of mud on their knees doesn't seem to affect any of those things.

I suppose I'm quite lazy about that sort of thing and also don't have a great deal of time between getting home from work and DC going to bed, but I do make sure my older DC showers regularly as they're coming up to puberty, getting greasy hair etc. So maybe there's hope for me yet.

I don't get where people have the time for it though. Kills half an hour nicely?! I really wish we had half an hour to kill.

My older dc shower every day. But my younger one, it's just literally not possible. I must be doing something massively wrong.

I have to wonder at the woman who can shower five children in ten minutes. I can't imagine the showers doing more than wetting the children so I can't see what use it would be.

Porky Pandora....But it depends on how old they are doesn't it. Children don't get b o until a certain age. As for teachers being able to tell who isn't bathed daily, that's just rubbish. They may be able to tell who isn't bathed for much longer periods of time, but not those who aren't bathed daily.

My boys are the same as yours Are OP :) the three year old can skip the bath maybe 1-2 a week and the one year old always needs one :)

Because some people are bloody lazy.

You have no idea. Honestly count yourself lucky and take a step back from the judgement.

I do find it a bit eeeuw when people talk about their children not washing/ bathing every day when they go to primary school ( and wearing clothes/ uniform that has been worn at school for several days - but that's another thread...). School toilets are not pleasant at all, even if your child is good at using the loo at age 5 they will probably have sat in someone else's wee...

Teachers have posted on threads like this before saying they can tell which kids are bathed daily and which aren't.

Someone invariably makes this 'argument' on threads like these - that you can always tell who bathes/showers daily by the way they look or smell. I wonder if they realise how completely illogical it makes them sound? In order to know this you would need to have actual confirmation of the washing habits of each person in your 'survey' - so unless you're going around asking everyone how frequently they bathe, then no, you can't tell.

We are taking the "start as you mean to continue" approach. If DD showers every day now then I hope she will continue to do so once she hits puberty as it will just be habit. Also it's a nice part of her bedtime routine, she loves the water.

I have to wonder at the woman who can shower five children in ten minutes.

I bet her chicken lasts a week too.

In terms of hair, I was fortunate that mine did the smearing thing quite early and grew hair quite late.

Same in my house. Any rouge food smearing in the hair was easily dealt with by tucking them under my arm and washing the 3 strands of hair over the sink.

Mine don't get bathed every night as it takes much longer than 5minutes to bath them.

My two year old doesn't put food in her hair. None of my four did beyond babyhood.

They do get muddy. We have a mud kitchen in the garden. We wash their hands and face and wash their clothes! We wipe off paint with baby wipes. None wear nappies any more but even when they did it didn't mean they needed a bath every day. If they were dirty or smelly, I'd wash them.

Porky Pandora.....Sorry to pick on your thread....But curious about your comment about nappies. Generally kids in nappies aren't at school.....Some people may bathe daily when they are in nappies but not necessarily when they are older. What is butt detritus? Do they not wipe their bum? Or use wipes?

My dd is an absolute dirt magnet she only had to look at a speck of dirt and she's wearing it.

we do messy play activities at least 4 times a week at home; mud kitchen, painting, flour play etc as well as what she does in nursery her hobbies also don't make for a clean child either with forest school, trampolining and ballet she needs a shower on a daily basis.

My dd also has a tendency to strip off at home and will do stuff in her pants so regularly gets covered in glitter and paint

I know that but how to people manage to keep their dc from NOT getting dirty?

By not allowing them to play, feed themselves or sit on the floor.

You kids on the other hand seem to have a better childhood and that's not a bad thing at all.

some of my friends dc do definitely have that stale sort of smell though. I have no idea how often they are bathed.

It's easy: instead of putting them in the bath I just stand them on the driveway and aim the hose at them

Teachers have posted on threads like this before saying they can tell which kids are bathed daily and which aren't.

They think they can. Unless they are questioning each child about bathing habits or deliberately marking a child to see if the mark is washed off then they can't tell from looking or even smelling if the child has a bath everyday or every other day.