A question of discipline or do some kids just not learn?

[GoingLoopy]

Any tips on how to stop my dts (3y8m) flooding the bathroom every bathtime!

I don't sit in the bathroom and watch them as I find it extremely boring and a good time to put away clean washing, tidy up upstairs etc.... and tonight I spent a bit of time playing lego with ds1.

We have tried the following to try to stop them flooding the bathroom:

taking the first one to splash straight out of the bath.

No bedtime story for splashing

No baths allowed, only showers (this causes no end of other problems so we went back to bathing)

the splashers have to clean up the wet floor by themselves (this took dts together over 2 hours tonight.... and I managed to completely lose my temper with them).

ANyone got any new ideas we could try.

this seems to me to be an inbility to learn from being disciplined and is typical. One is particulary resistant to anything like time-out, reward chart etc....could this be possible or am I doing something wrong?

Bathe singly?

Also short baths for the purpose of washing only (no toys)

Until they learn to tone it down a bit.

Hmmm.....well we've solved this one but it probably won't work for you because my kids are weird little buggers

Neurofen syringes - you are allowed to squirt any surface except the floor. They tend to shoot them upwards and then get 'rained' on. Seems to have satisfied the need to make water move without causing a big mess.

Focus items on the wall not the edge of the bath - Thomas bath sheds on the wall etc not near the edge.

Best of all though put their towels and jammies on the floor so if they get them soaked they have to get dressed into cold wet clothes.

How about, in addition to what Lion says, a reward chart - a sticker for every time they keep the water in the bath?
Or quickly bathe them yourself one at a time?

Thanks Lion.. I've taken the toys away tonight and am thinking about putting a time limit on although I'm not sure how I am going to enforce it. Bathing singly in theory is a good idea but may not be so easy when I am doing bedtime alone.

Bathe them on alternate nights then? One on one night and one on the next, and give the one who isn't being bathed a quick sponge down? Unless they've got horribly filthy, that is...

LOL WMMC :)! How the hell do you get the dcs to squirt the water only upwards?

Alternate nights is maybe not a bad idea. I tried not bathing them at all (OK, once a week - well that was good enough for our parents!) but they can really wind each other up at bedtimes, get over excited and then impossible to break them out of it and bathtime seems to get them into bedtime mode. Alternate nights could mean that one could be got ready and calmed down alone while the other was in the bath. Only trouble would be how to keep one of them out of the bath.

Ah wel you see if you bash it hard on the floor of the bath it makes a nice eruption - they really like it.

What about putting a story CD on while they bathe? Or download the MP3s of the radio 7 children's stories. They might wallow and listen rather than wallow and splash?

WMMC - great idea.

When does R7 have children's stories on? (haven't lived in UK for a while and didn't even know there was a radio 7 - I love MN it keeps me in touch :o!)

Ummm pass - I get it all online here :)

I think you need to get them to help you tidy up their toys before the bath and then supervise them for a short bath. I can't imagine anything else would make two 3.8 yr olds stop splashing.

Maybe they play up because they know it gets your attention - they probably want to play with you. You might just have to accept that you need to stay with them.

I learned that the hard way FWIW. I think 3.8 is a bit young to leave alone anyway (IMO)

We have a timer - first we get DD's hair/body washed, then we put it on for 10 mins of free play. When it beeps she gets out, but the time is reduced if she is naughty. HTH

Do they just get carried away and excited? I think you stay with them during bath times until they learn how to keep the water in the Bath. Be positive though .... 'oo look how well you are keeping the water in the bath' rather than dwelling on every floor splash. Give them a chocolate button if they manage to keep the floor dryish. And yes they should help clean up the floor if it is wet but do it together quickly and don't make a big issue out of it. Maybe try putting less water in the bath too?

bathing singly has been a real boon to us, we resisted because we thought it would be tough if a parent in sole charge, but in fact they both really benefit from some quiet time playing alone, one in the bath, on downstairs, and not winding each other up.

does it matter?

i tend to give mine a bath as a treat - they shower otherwise. they few times that they have made a mess I have told them that they cant have a bath and will go back to shwoers - the thought of it alone is enough to make them behave - also reduce the water in the bath.

otchayaniye - good question! I have thought about it. First we have tiled floors in bathroom and landing which are dangerously slippery when wet and secondly we have a problem getting out bathroom warm enough so if they soak the walls and floor (and ceiling as it is a low slope over the bath) it just doesn't dry out again.

I guess that they are too young to stay controlled enough not to get over excited when they are together in the bath and they are tough to deal with and discipline anyway.
I'll let you know how separate bathtimes with a limited time and no toys goes tonight :o!

Thanks for tips and advice!