Bathing - junior aged boys - how often do they bathe or wash? Honestly!

[roisin]

DS1 is almost 10 and has a script for an assembly on hygeine which talks about the importance of bathing every night.

DS1 enjoys a bath, but he likes a good long soak, relax, and luxuriate. And he doesn't want to 'waste time' like this every night.

He only has a bath once a week
Though he does swim twice a week and has a (quick) shower after.

So far my take on the subject has been that when puberty starts to kick in he will start to sweat more, his friends will tell him he's smelly; and then he will start to shower daily.

Is this irresponsible of me? Do your 10 yr-olds shower daily?

11 year old DS bath/shower every night otherwise he smells - feet mainly but I think that there are other whiffy bits...

I've just come back from a holiday on a narrow boat with family. My nephew (also nearly ten) refused point blank to shower all week - even though there were two showers on the boat, because he "prefers a bath". And I thought it was girls who were fussy!

MY 7 year old only baths/showers when I insist, so maybe twice a week. Am a negligent?

I not a obv!

Nightly baths or showers are the law in this house so I'm not much use to you.
It's been part of there bedtime routine since birth so its accepted (almost) without question.
Face washing/teethcleaning in the morning is more of a problem.
Don't bank on things automatically changing at puberty.Have you ever been in a room of teenaged boys? A spray of Lynx is an acceptable alternative to water it seems.

ds(9) also has one bath and swims/showers twice each week.

*their not there

My DS1, aged 8 has recently started to shower every morning, it was his stinky feet and the fact that he had started not changing his underwear (ie wearing pants and socks to bed and getting up in the morning and putting clean clothes over the dirty pants and sock, yuuuuck), at least if he is made to shower he has to take the underwear off and puts clean stuff on afterwards.

However this is just a recent development and I've always been of the view that until puberty kicks in and they get sweaty armpits and stuff it doesn't really matter.

Just remembered.Ds1 went on a 4 day school trip aged about 9-10, came back in the same socks and underwear.Flannels,towels and toothbrush all bone dry.

My Stepson aged 10 gets a shower twice a week, which he has to be TOLD to do, never voluteers! When he is at home with his mum we don't think she makes him wash at all cause whenever he comes here he (and his hair) stinks!

DD, 8 years, does need telling to get a shower, but doesn't like having her hair washed more than twice a week. Mainly cause it takes so long to dry! Is obsessive about cleaning her teeth though!

Tell her to get a wash in a morning and clean her teeth and she comes back downstairs with breakfast still on her face.

DS, 15 months, does of course get a bath everynight!

DP didn't get a shower before coming to bed last night! I was unimpressed! Especially as he had come from work very sweaty from cycling from the station!

Hmm... Mix of opinions here. I don't want to make it into a big battle ground if it doesn't need to be right now.

He's very tall for his age, so maybe he will start to be sweaty soon, then we'll tackle it head-on.

My ds1, turned 9 last week, has to be practically dragged into the shower. Before last October he probably had one bath a week and a shower after football. However, since last october he has begun to have a very sweaty smell in the armpit region I though this would happen much later, not at 8. So he has a shower every other day. If he has been to football training, cricket or outdoor pe at school he has a shower.
Some days he comes home and smells awful - his friends don't appear to have mentioned it. Things have got slightly better now he's in summer uniform - cooler than a shirt & tie.
When he refuses and he NEEDS a shower, dh gets him to smell his t-shirt ..... that usually works!

(Sugarfree, think my DS was on the same school trip at 9-10, perhaps they weren't allowed to change undies/shower/clean teeth!)
Roisin: we all shower everyday, DS (now 14) went through phase of being a bit reluctant. But now the problem is more getting him OUT of the shower. I think if your DS is bathing once a week and swimming a couple of times, I'd chill until it gets to the point where he really needs it every day. He'll probably make his own mind up by then. He might respond well to being bought some "grown up" men's shower gel - adidas/umbro etc?

We're actually hoping to get a new bathroom in the next year or so ... or when we get round to it: we are a bit hopeless with this sort of thing. So maybe that will encourage him!

They seem to go manky aged 8-11, then hit 12 and want Lynx. My electricity bill is massive thanks to 2 showering teenagers and the extra towels and laundry!