Tell me you’ve never asked yourself this question.
Honestly!
I ask it all too often, sometimes I have to double check with my husband whether one of us ACTUALLY washed the kids this week and he will reply, snarky as only he can, “Have we even washed them this month?”
^^ I’ll give it to him, when he responded in that way it WAS technically the beginning of January and, if I didn’t have the full effect of baby-brain mixed with a huge does of mom dumb, I would have retorted smartly … “I can’t even say with authority that we’ve washed them all year!”
That would have been funny.
I’ll know for next year …
But, FOR REALS, I feel like we go through ebbs and flows of remembering to do the simple things with the kids (and – if I’m honest – ourselves) that most people do without thinking.
Like, when was the last t time I washed my hair, or, did I brush my teeth this morning *note, the answer is almost always no, unless I am going somewhere … so if you stop by in the morning, please pardon the bad breath*.
I’d be remiss if I left out that, with the new addition on the way and so many things on the go in our home, we actually WRITE bath day in our planners.
YUP
Both my husband and I schedule in the boys bath time, at LEAST once a week (Saturday’s if you are wondering, so that they are clean and presentable for church).
Here’s how we arrived at this solution, because this space is all about keeping it real, and I have to tell you … I am pretty sure that there was a period of like two weeks AT LEAST where we didn’t bathe the boys because I was ever expanding, our HUGE soaker tub was no longer easy to bathe the boys in given I couldn’t hoist them out … and I was terrified to shower them in our standing shower for fear that one might slip and crack his head open.
I was terrified and just avoiding the situation, I didn’t tell my husband either.
I don’t know WHY exactly, that I didn’t tell my husband I wasn’t able to wash the boys in the tub and that I was afraid of letting them shower … maybe I felt like it was a HUGE failure, that I was (a) so big AGAIN during my pregnancy, and (b) that I was not doing my job as mom … but I tried my darnedest to just let it be.
Stinky, sticky kids and all.
Girl, let me tell you, those wipes … they do a HECK of a lot of cleaning and can even tackle most hair messes … NOT that I would advise that but seriously if you aren’t cleaning your whole house with butt wipes then are you REALLY parenting?
Needless to say, I didn’t have to break the news to my husband that the boys hadn’t been bathed in a while. My five year old son shouted it through the door one day while my husband was showering.
I think it went something like, “DAD!!! Can we come in there with you, we haven’t had a bath in AGES!!!”
*gulp*
Real life ladies! Real LIFE!
Now, there is some hope … because I think we all come to a point in our mom journey where we are afraid of something, of the unknown, of admitting *maybe* that our children are growing up on us and they could possibly be able to do these “big kid” things on their own. Kids will amaze you.
Every.Single.Time
They can do so much more than we give them credit, when given the opportunity.
And, for the most part, they won’t slip, slide, and smash their heads open.
So now, while we schedule in BATH DAYS in our planners (because I don’t want to be the mom who forgets!) the boys are pretty independent. We turn on the shower, they grab a few toys, and the four of them laugh away in the “rain” while they play and clean off.
YES – we stay in the room and help with dispensing the soap etc. but, for all intents and purposes … they get it.
Big boys – as they would say, showering like Daddy.
NOTE: I’ve looked into it, it is OK if you only bathe your kids once or twice a week!
Go figure – some germs and natural oils are GOOD for their skin and development. It helps them to naturally regulate scent etc. and keeps their skin moisturized and away from so many of the harmful chemicals that are in everyday products.
So … I mean, unbeknownst to me … I was actually doing the more “crunchy” mom thing << so we will just roll with that!
