How and when did you transition to showers or at least kid doing all the work in the bath?

[Anonymous]

My kindergartner still loves to play with toys in the bath. No big deal on weekends, but on weeknights, it’s a big struggle to get her to focus on soap, washing hair, etc. I end up doing it all for her while she yells “but I’m still PLAAAAAYING.” Is it too soon to expect her to soap herself up, wash her hair, sit still to be rinsed, etc.

I’d would love tips (but none that tell me to just let her play—I give her lots of time to play but at some point she has to get pjs on and get into bed!). How old were your kids when they took care of everything in the bath? What did you do to encourage that independence?

[Anonymous]

My kids were showering when we were in a hurry by 5. But I would start by no toys in the tub till you're soaped up.

[Anonymous]

We started showers by 3. I have a 2 and a 5 year old girls. If they want bath they are bathing together at the youngest's time. Usually 3 times a week. Rest of time is a quick shower. I still wash everyones hair since that complicated. A shorter washing time is rewarded with lots of book time etc. .

[Anonymous]

I am the poster who replied first. For my kids, the idea that they were "wasting" time was really hard to understand. One thing that helped was making a play list of songs that would give the a sense of time. So, let's say I was allotting 15 minutes for the bath, and so I had 5 songs averaging 3 minutes. I could say "Oh, let's get done with soaping up so you're ready to play by Baby Shark and you can play for 3 whole songs", and they could get that. They might also be able to trade "songs" for "books".

[Anonymous]

We are struggling with this. Ours is 6 and trying to teach her how to wash and properly rinse her hair, then condition is a bear. Unfortunately her hair type isn’t one that works with 2&1. And let’s not get started on detangler and combing. I figure we’ve got another two years of her needing help and then she should be good to go. And sooner for some of it.

[Anonymous]

How do you wash their hair in the shower with them? Trying to figure out the mechanics of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you wash their hair in the shower with them? Trying to figure out the mechanics of this.

Easy if you have a detachable shower head

[Anonymous]

In the winter, we actually do bath right before dinner (kid just turned 6) so there is a time limit. He can wash himself but not his hair (he has ear tubes and his doc doesn’t want his ears wet)…anyway, I think bath independence depends on the kid but you could set a timer and say, you get to play 10 min (or whatever), then wash, then play 2-3 more min after that (again with a timer).

[Anonymous]

DD was 6 when she started showering but we washed her hair for her until probably 7. She's 8 now and I still check for soap residue before gets out.

We recently got a shower timer and it cut her extremely long showers down to about 6 minutes. She has long straight hair and uses shampoo and conditioner.

[Anonymous]

I’d consider showering with a hair cap during the week M-Th, and then letting her do leisurely baths F-Su. And even skip days if she wasn’t playing enough to get dirty.

[Anonymous]

DS has been given a shower every night since he was about 20 months. DH generally does it and it’s faster and easier to shower him than bathe him. For fun he gets to take a bath and play in the tub on Fridays and Saturday nights.

I highly recommend starting nightly showers young. He never screams about getting his face wet or soapy and happily gets his hair washed every night. It’s a fast routine.

He’s a little over three now. I don’t know when he’ll do it on his own,

[Anonymous]

Our oldest started showering by age 4 and our youngest started at age 2. We have a bathroom with a shower right off of our kitchen/main area that they use most days. We also avoid showering right at bedtime... bedtime is enough of a struggle with all of their delay tactics. One of them showers before dinner and the other showers after dinner.

Our oldest has been washing independently since 5/6 and our 4YO still needs help.

I agree with the suggestion of a no-toys-until-you-wash rule.

[Anonymous]

If you can stand, you can shower. We switched to showers by age 2. Baths are for fun, or a time filler.

They shower on their own at age 4, but I rinse hair.

We obviously have a detachable shower head.

[Anonymous]

I think they’re asking about independent showers. Most of us have showered with our kids. When could they do it all start to finish unassisted?

[Anonymous]

My 8-year-old takes about 80% independent showers and has for about a year now. From turning on the water and adjusting the temperature to toweling off and getting into her bathrobe, the only part I help her with is applying the shampoo/conditioner to her hair. And she recently expressed the desire to start doing that on her own so we’ll give that a try.

My 6-year-old still needs 100%.