Bath Time Bothers

This week on Who’s The Expert we’re tackling some of the issue’s parents experience with bath time.
 
Luckily, most kids love getting in the bath, splashing around and playing with their bath toys.

Unfortunately, though many children do not love the parts that involve having themselves or their hair washed.
 
I was having a chat with one of our parenting contributors, Victoria from Lylia Rose recently, and she mentioned that her little girl wasn’t always a fan of having her hair washed, which triggered some memories for me too!

I had forgotten all about it until the topic of hair washing came up, but then I specifically remembered hating having my hair washed as a child. My Mum would try all sorts of things to encourage me to let her wash my hair, but it would always end in tears with me insisting she had deliberately gotten soap in my eyes (LOL!)
 
Eventually, my Mum got me this round cap that had a hole in the middle of it, so I could put the cap over my head while she washed my hair, so the soap and water couldn’t get anywhere near my eyes.

It seemed to work pretty effectively (I just did a quick google too and it looks like these things still exist, check out this link if you’re interested in picturing what I’m on about).
 
But, I digress, I’m sure you’re probably keen to hear more about what our parent contributors had to say about their experiences with bath time, so I’ll start with sharing the whole contribution from Victoria and move on to share a couple of strategies from the Oh Beehave! library.
 
Victoria from Lylia Rose
Professional lifestyle blogger shared her experiences dealing with bath time:

 Luckily both my children love bath time.  We make it fun with lots of colourful bath toys and save the empty bottles from our toiletries for them to fill up and pour out.  Usuall, we have to pick them up out of the bath or else they will stay in there forever! 
 
My eldest doesn’t like her hair being washed so this usually caused screaming and upset, but now she’s a bit older she’s good at looking up so the water doesn’t run into her eyes, making bath time enjoyable again.

 
To finish up, a couple of strategies from the Oh Beehave! Library:
 
Comfort Item
If your child displays a fear associated with washing, let them take something of comfort with them.
 
For example, take a doll or action figure with them to the bath to “wash”. You can gently wash your child while they “wash” their doll or action figure.
 
This can help reduce their anxiety around bath time!
 
Play
If your child becomes anxious or upset at bath time, have a few toys or bubbles for your child to play with while they are in the bath.

Let them get settled and have some free time to play before you start to wash them. Taking this time to settle can help reduce your child’s anxiety over bath time.

If you’re looking for more strategies to help with little one’s who aren’t a fan of bath time, head over to our strategies section.

Until next time, we would love to hear your tips on how you plan and manage bath time too. Let us know in the comments below (if you have a website, feel free to include the link) 😊

If you have a topic you would like us to include, a tip you want to share, or you would like to feature as a contributor on “Who’s The Expert” get in touch (let us know if you would like to receive email alerts!) or join our facebook group!