5 WAYS TO DEAL WITH YOUR KIDS’ REFUSAL TO SHOWER

Not every toddler appreciates those bubble baths. It’s more likely that your little precious will do their best to avoid any contact with water, almost in the same manner a cat would. It’s an activity that will test every parent’s patience, so they’d better be armed with some tricks up in their sleeves to combat their kids’ excuses.

Excuse 1: “But I took one last night”

Deal with it: The comparison method will do the trick for this one. You can start a conversation with your kid that could go like this “So, you also had lunch yesterday. You also had breakfast and dinner. Does this mean you’re not going to have any today?” or “You slept last night, does this mean you’re not sleeping tonight?”. By giving examples of an everyday routine, your kid will associate bathing with basic needs such as sleeping and eating.

Additionally, your argument will be reinforced even further, if you explain in detail the importance of personal hygiene:

• for health reasons, to avoid microbial infections and irritations
• for social reasons, since it is not appropriate for our body to have a strange odor when we are socializing other people
• for reasons of elegance, as clean skin means well-groomed, neat, good looks.

Excuse 2: They’re busy playing their toys

Deal with it: Explain to your child, that they don’t have to stop playing their toy. They can continue in the bathtub. The younger ones can bring their plastic duckies or the toys they’re playing at the given moment. If, however, your child is too old for plastic duckies, you may try some improvisation games. For example, while washing his/her hair you can sculpt their hair into funny shapes (such as Mohican or spiky hair) while laughing and taking selfies.

Excuse 3: “Mommy it stings the eyes”

Deal with it: Look him/her in the eyes and say: “No, they don’t”. This might have struck him/her as a nasty experience of the past with a certain shampoo that wasn’t suitable for the delicate skin of kids.

However, you’ve been armed now with a shampoo that is especially formulated to gently care for sensitive and irritated skin without stinging the eyes. You’ve also added to your armory, a moisturizing body shower for children that is specially formulated to not irritate the eyes. So, there you go! Sting free shower baths here we come!

Excuse 4: “The bath tab will suck me!” aka the fear of getting sucked into the drain.

Deal with it: So, this might sound as an exaggeration, but you know what it’s like with the vivid imagination of our little ones’. What may seem as a simple siphon, your kid may see it as a black hole.

What can you do about it? Have a glorious bath instead of just a quick shower.

Fill the bathtub with water and add a shower bath that will create those lovely bubbles that will camouflage the view of the “black hole”. Just remember to not drain the bathtub with your child still in it. Or the “black hole” view will hunt them again.

Excuse 5: I don’t want to take a shower, because I’ll have to sleep afterwards.

Deal with it: It’s better to meet halfway on this one. Tell him/her that it’s better get into the bed after a shower, so that the body can relax fully, but they won’t have to sleep immediately. You may read to them some fairy tales or tell funny stories.

Is your child now more cooperative or…perhaps not?