A 5 year old can and some do smell. Unwashed hair etc.

Do your kids not go outside? Run around and sweat?

By the time all of the necessary parts are washed they might as well have a quick shower imo.

To all the parents that are too lazy to give daily baths/showers - teach your kids to do it themselves. My 4 year old can hop in the shower once I turn the water on, put shower gel on a pouf and do a decent job of washing himself. A few times a week, I help him wash his hair.

Anonymous wrote:DD takes baths for fun maybe once a week. Every night she has to wash her bottom with soap and water, wash hands, feet, face and teeth. I think that's plenty clean, esp considering how much water a bath uses.

You may as well stick her in the shower.

DD takes baths for fun maybe once a week. Every night she has to wash her bottom with soap and water, wash hands, feet, face and teeth. I think that's plenty clean, esp considering how much water a bath uses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:7-10 days is just lazy...and dare I say, borderline neglectful.

Yuck. Seriously, it takes 10 minutes.

if your bath takes 10 minutes no wonder you do it every day.

If your kid took one at least a few times a week, instead of every ten days, it would only take 10 minutes because he wouldn't be so filthy.

I don't count 10 min showers as baths sorry.

Depends on what you do during those 10 mins. Soaping that washcloth up and fully lathering up every inch of a kid and rinsing em off can certainly be handled in 10 mins. And it can certainly be done daily.
Personally, I prefer daily baths for my kids (and so do they). But a thorough daily shower would work as well with a bath once a week.

Yeah me too. Mine is a toddler and she certainly needs her butt washed every day Andrew then I may as well put her in the tub if I will be washing butt, hands and face after dinner and before bed. Takes 10 min. We use some soap and wash hair every other day unless there's food in it. She like she it and it's a. Ice wind down time. In the summer with sunscreen and big spray and checking for ticks I can't imagine not doing a quick bath every day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not fair to your kids to bathe them so infrequently, as they have no choice in the matter. When they get older they will likely be made fun of in school, and good luck getting them to practice good hygiene once they get to middle school and have to deal with body odor. You seriously can't take 5 minutes to dip them in the bathtub and wash them up?

This is not at all what happened with my kids. They also only took one or two baths a week up until puberty. Once they hit middle school they went from showering once or twice a week to showering once or twice a day, without me reminding them. It just happens -- by the end of middle school they wanted to look and feel good. (This also extended to their wardrobes which went from 100% athletic wear to real clothes.)

It really is okay to let younger kids not shower every day and it is probably better for them. It doesn't mean that they won't have good hygiene as young adults.

My mom sounded exactly like your mom. And yes, once I hit middle school I started showering a lot more often. You know why? Because I started to become horrendously bullied about my appearance and lack of hygiene (which I didn't know I was supposed to have). A kind fellow middle-schooler pulled me aside and told me that I shouldn't have dirt under my fingernails and that I probably needed to wash my hair more frequently. I had to start learning the basics of hygiene myself. I also started asking for "real" clothes because my little-girl, age-inappropriate wardrobe was the subject of significant teasing as well.

So yeah. You're probably right that they "naturally" started on their own -- because their unforgiving peers have pointed out to them that they don't know the basics. Kids are cruel about these things.

I have taught my kids good hygiene habits from the start. They will never go through what I did.

I just don't get all these posters. What happens in summer ? What happens when they come back from summer camp having been outside all day? Are your kids not bathing after being sweaty all day? If you use sunblock on your kids don't they. A the at night to get all the gunk off????

Anonymous wrote:My elementary school daughter bathes weekly. Maybe more if she's dirty or wants to play in the bath.


She sleeps without underwear to "air out"

So gross.

Some parents are plain lazy.

Anonymous wrote:The dirt, pollen, whatever doesn't bother me. It's the butt.

+1.

Anonymous wrote:My elementary school daughter bathes weekly. Maybe more if she's dirty or wants to play in the bath.


She sleeps without underwear to "air out"

I think children should be forming better habits at this point.

My elementary school daughter bathes weekly. Maybe more if she's dirty or wants to play in the bath.


She sleeps without underwear to "air out"

Anonymous wrote:She's 5. I'm kind of ashamed, but I feel kind of free at the same time.

Disgusting and a good way for her to get a UTI. You are lazy and a disgraceful parent.

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Anonymous wrote:this is a little gross to me because children this age cannot wipe themselves correctly yet and gunk is just building up. DS had his foreskin get "stuck" due to not pulling it far enough back to be cleaned and all that sweat and skin made it like super glue.

Just FYI you aren't supposed to pull a foreskin back to clean it until it has fully separated. clean it like a pencil!

What the hell does that mean?

You're supposed to give your pencils a 10 minute bath at least every other day. What kind of unclean pencil are you writing with?

Our toddler and preschoolers get pretty dirty outside and eating so every other day. Swim class shower counts as one of those...

By age 4 they can practically give themselves a bath or shower and do the shampooing and soap stuff..

Really comes down to if they are dirty or smell like urine.