How often do your kids bathe?

[Garga]

My sons are 5 and 8. They bathe when they've played hard outside and become sweaty. We bathe them after swimming...

 

...but in the cooler months, when they're not getting sweaty, we only bathe them once or twice a week.

 

Is that normal?!?

[Elm in NJ]

My kids have a bath everyday.

[lionfamily1999]

Our habits vary too. I'm not worried about it, because my sister is a very different parent than I am on most things, but bathing........ she's just like me ;)

 

My youngest may get a few showers in one day, depending on what he's gotten into. Then, he may only get one in a week, because there was no reason to give him another.

 

The same goes for my older two, although dd (now 13) has reached an age where she may be moving into the bathroom until further notice :glare:

[mom2denj]

My 13 and 17 well everyday of course usually twice. My 4 yr old dd gets one every other day unless she gets sweaty and dirty outside.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

My boys (ages 6 to 13.5) get showers or baths nearly every night.

[HollyB]

It depends on the day. My older daughter has really dry skin, so she gets a bath a couple of time a week, depending how hard she plays. My two year old sometimes needs up to three baths a day (that's her record so far)! :)

[Medieval Mom]

My sons are 5 and 8. They bathe when they've played hard outside and become sweaty. We bathe them after swimming...

 

...but in the cooler months, when they're not getting sweaty, we only bathe them once or twice a week.

 

Is that normal?!?

 

We're the same (for the kids). But we live in the north and all have sensitive skin which does best with about 2 full baths a week. My doc said that was ideal for us. Of course, we wash a significant percentage every day several times a day: faces, feet, hands, behind the ears, etc., and the little one's diaper area dozens of times a day.

 

I take a bath 2 times per week (without washing my waist-length hair), and a shower twice a week (washing hair, too). So, for me, about every other day.

 

Dh, however, is a daily guy. I imagine the dc will be as they grow older and hit puberty.

[Peela]

At that age- they dont get sweaty and smelly so much so I wouldnt worry about it.

You will know...when you have a boy, and he starts perspiring....you kind of have to force them into the shower once, even twice a day. The girls though. you cant get them OUT of the shower. But thats a few years away for you yet :) I say, enjoy your low hot water bills while you can :)

[mjpeter]

DS 12 takes a shower every day.

 

DS 10 and 7 whenever needed...maybe 4 times a week?

[Melinda S in TX]

If I could get away with it I would bathe the children less, but we live on a farm and several of us have allergies. My children get from 1-3 "baths" per day. On all baths the stinky parts are washed, but the other stuff varies. Hair is washed as needed, usually every 2-3 days. Anyone out in the tall grass, messing with hay, etc has a water bath. No soap, just a rinse to get pollen and hay off. If you hugged the calves or goats, you get a good scrubbing. Our tub gets a workout.

 

Blessings,

Melinda

[Country Mouse]

DS 9 showers daily, unless we get home late or have some other conflict. Routine is very important in our household, especially at bedtime, and that is part of the routine.

[Pink Fairy]

13yodd - every day

11yodd - 5 times per week

10yods, 8yods - 4 times per week

3yods - 2 or 3 times per week

Me and dh - every day

 

More when needed, but rarely less.

[MamaT]

My kids are at the age where they have to bathe every day, especially since most of them are involved in activities where they get sweaty. Sometimes they bathe more than once a day.

[Whereneverever]

I voted 5+ times a week, but it's a little misleading. I bathe the 6 month old daily (he's a sweaty, messy little guy), the 3 year old bathes 4-5 times a week, and the 6 year old bathes 3-4 times a week.

 

All the kids get extra baths when they want or are dirty.

[amy g.]

not often enough

[Mrs Mungo]

Whenever they stink. If they've been in the house all day, they might not need a shower. If they've been running around outside and/or out doing activities, then they usually need a shower.

[MaMa2005]

DS takes a shower every night. To combat any skin issues, I grease him up like a pig with Cetaphil after his shower. He has beautiful skin and we are always ready to go quickly in the morning without worrying about being dirty.

 

(:tongue_smilie:I have to admit I'm a little OCD when it comes to personal hygiene.)

[Sara in AZ]

For my 8 yr old, 5 yr old, 2 yr old the bath schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday nights. More often if needed. My SIL bathes her 8 yr old about once or twice a week.

[rookie]

Why isn't EVERY DAY one of the options?

 

My dc shower at least once every day, sometimes twice.

 

If ever there is a stage in your life when you need regular bathing, it's childhood ... running, jumping, puddles, bugs, mud, markers, "accidents", rolling, schmearing... by the end of a day they're covered in dirt, sweat, and who knows what else.

[Tree House Academy]

My 11 year old takes a shower daily (or nightly...however it goes). 7 year old takes a shower about 3-4 days a week. It really just depends on what we have been doing that day. 3-4 days a week is the minimum.

[Lawana]

We have dry skin in our family, so we try to only bathe when necessary. But with kids in puberty, that is at least every other day. When they were younger, and assuming they weren't actually dirty, such as the during the winter when they weren't playing outside, they bathed twice a week, at most.

ETA To answer your question directly─I think it is normal to bathe as you describe. We're in a hyperclean society that seems to think daily baths are necessary, no matter what. But for most of history, and for most of the world, daily bathing with soap is *not* the norm.

Edited September 15, 2010 by Lawana

[Scarlett]

My sons are 5 and 8. They bathe when they've played hard outside and become sweaty. We bathe them after swimming...

 

...but in the cooler months, when they're not getting sweaty, we only bathe them once or twice a week.

 

Is that normal?!?

 

You didn't have 'every day' as an option.

 

Every day. With very few rare exceptions. Kids do not crawl into beds in my house without being clean.

 

Every day. Since he was born.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

It depends on if she needs it.

 

On soccer days, park days, playing outside with friends... we take a bath that night.

On Tuesdays she takes a bath after lunch to get ready for dance.

On Saturdays and Sundays she almost always takes a shower with me in the morning to get ready to go out. (We usually always are doing things on Saturday, and then Church on Sunday.)

 

I put her in the bath less during the winter. But she LOVES taking a bath, so when she asks, I let her get in to play. So sometimes 4 a week, sometimes 9-10 a week. lol.

[rookie]

You didn't have 'every day' as an option.

 

Every day. With very few rare exceptions. Kids do not crawl into beds in my house without being clean.

 

Every day. Since he was born.

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

I feel rather strongly about this. :D

[AngieW in Texas]

When my kids were the ages of your kids, 1-2x/week was the norm unless they got filthy.

 

Now nobody ever skips more than one day and skipping even one day is pretty rare.

[Heatherwith4]

I had to put other. The boys bathe almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. However, I only bathe the baby a couple of times a week.

[Scarlett]

[/b]

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

I feel rather strongly about this. :D

 

Thank you. :) I heart you.

[Melissa in Australia]

my children 10 and under get a bath every few days, usually 3-4 times a week. All teens have a shower every day.

[jenniferlee]

oh my goodness, I guess I'm seriously in the minority here:001_smile: My younger kids only bathe once a week at the most more like every 7-10 days. I guess we're dirty hippies.:D

my 12yo daughter showers a couple or three times/week. I shower 2x/week

 

Jen

[Mimm]

I shower daily, but my kids argue when I ask them to clean up. This summer I told Imogen to take a shower and she said, in this completely offended voice, "But it's summer!" Um, yeah! She's getting to an age where she's going to have no choice, she'll have to shower every day or close to it.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Until recently, dd10 only bathed twice a week. Now those hormones are requiring a little more frequent bathing - every other day. My boys surprisingly only need to bath every other day (unless they've gone to Karate.)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Totally depends on time of the year and activities. In the winter, their skin is so dry, usually only a couple of baths per week. When they are running around and getting sweaty, it is more often. Summer 3-5 times per week, maybe.

[Carrie12345]

Mostly as needed, which could be once a week or every day, depending on what they're up to. My 12yo is usually every other day.

 

While I'm not a fan of stinkiness, I'm also not a fan of sloughing off important body oils when your *not* stinky or dirty.

 

I'm actually a bit nervous about scheduling showers once the majority of the kids are older and stinkier. Between showers, laundry, dishes, and miscellaneous other things, I'm just crossing my fingers that my well can keep up. Not to mention my septic!

[Meriwether]

1-2 times/ week in winter (they have dry skin)

 

as needed in the summer when they are outside more

[WiseOwlKnits]

My kids get a bath every day. Even if we stay home in pjs all day, they're getting a bath before they get in bed.

[Jen in PA]

Daily here. My kids are grime magnets. They play outside daily and revel in doing messy art stuff indoors. DD has long hair that she prefers to wear down, so that usually needs to be tended to. We will very rarely skip a day, usually if one of them has a fever or falls asleep really early. Even once a day doesn't always seem like enough -- we keep a nail brush by the bathroom sink which gets quite a workout, and they grab washcloths for wiping themselves up throughout the day.

[Mergath]

My dd is two, and I shower her about every other day, sometimes a bit less. I'm one of those who thinks that daily bathing is unhealthy for anybody. Dries out your skin, completely wrecks your hair, and kills off all the good bacteria on your skin. My hair and skin have been much healthier since I switched to showering every other day. Of course, I'm not an overly-stinky person by nature, either.

[Mergath]

I'm just glad to know I'm not the only dirty hippy!

 

I wish I could be a dirtier hippy than I am, but I have hair that tends towards oily. To put it mildly. I tried only washing it a couple times a week once, and... it wasn't pretty. And I gave it a good month. One of these days I'm going to try nopooing. (Isn't that what it's called?)

[Guest]

DD adored water when she was younger, and bathtime was a favorite part of the day. She actually would sit there musing on things like number patterns, or make up songs for plastic animals to sing -- it was never quiet, and I'd sit outside the door listening to her stories and chatter so as not to interrupt. It could go on for well over an hour.

 

These days dd, now 14, still loves her bath and often doesn't want to get out of it.

[Ellie]

Mine bathe every day. When they were little and still taking baths instead of showers, we put Amway's LOC in the water, and they got clean as they played. We washed their hair every day, too.

[Dobela]

Dd3 bathes 2 or 3 times a week. Unless she is certifiably dirty. Ds10, Mr. Prepuberty has to bathe daily, sometimes twice, so we can stand the arm odor since he can't seem to remember to wear deodorant.:glare:

[EKS]

Why isn't EVERY DAY one of the options?

 

My dc shower at least once every day, sometimes twice.

 

If ever there is a stage in your life when you need regular bathing, it's childhood ... running, jumping, puddles, bugs, mud, markers, "accidents", rolling, schmearing... by the end of a day they're covered in dirt, sweat, and who knows what else.

 

See, this is what I think.

[6packofun]

It varies. Most of us shower/bathe every other day, but sometimes there are 2 days between. I dunno...if someone seems unusually greasy, especially in the summer, we might take a shower/bath every day for several days in a row. Depends on our activity level, the season, how lazy we are. :)

[DarlaS]

6 yo - about twice a week. He just doesn't stink, so I run him a bath when his hair starts to look a little scruffy.

 

10 yo - 3-4 times a week. She's starting to get the greasies, so I am aiming for at least every other day now. She still needs a lot of coaxing. :glare:

 

13 yo 3-4 times a week (This one now REALLY needs to be daily :tongue_smilie:)

 

16 yo - daily. I haven't had to remind him to wash in years. Now if I could just get him to keep up with his laundry we'd be all set. :D

[FO4UR]

I was in the "everyday" camp until I had a baby with severe eczema...and then it was every other day.

 

After having 3 babies within 3.5 years, my dc got baths whenever Daddy was home to help. I never did figure out what to do with the nb while bathing the 1yo and 3yo...or how to contain the 1yo and 3yo while bathing the nb...

 

Anyway, we settled in at about 3x per week. I do spot cleaning when needed.

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

I clicked "other" cause I couldn't see the option of "Not Enough". My problem is bath time is end of day kind of thing around here. And it's always the first thing to "go". When it's been a long day and I'm tired I will plow through those book picks, teeth brushing, ... even give each boy a bit of private conversation and snuggle. But that bath, I admit is first to go. :blush:

 

"Not Enough" here as well.

 

:leaving:

[Parrothead]

Like most everything for us it is seasona. In the fall, dd will be required to bathe every Tuesday morning. (Karate is Monday evening until 8p.) She also has to bathe when she stinks, which depends on how active outside she is. Sometimes one other day during the week. Other times every day.

 

The Tuesday morning rule is year 'round. In the winter when we are indoors most of the time she takes a bath when we think about it or to warm up from being outside in the snow for a long period of time. She takes cocoa in with her.

 

Spring is like fall but more often since it gets progressively warmer.

 

Summer is just about every single day.

[DarlaS]

"Not Enough" here as well.

 

:leaving:

 

I have definitely had weeks where the youngest (who doesn't seem to get dirty really...) is lucky to get one bath.

 

His teeth get brushed and flossed every night no matter what, but I am just not going to obsess about a little dirt and some germs on our skin.

 

You can be too clean you know. Science backs this!

[ChristusG]

My girls are not the messy and dirty type LOL. So they do not get baths every day. Now, if they go outside to play, the do get a bath....we are down here in FL and it gets hot. But because it gets so hot, we don't play outside a lot during the summer because it is miserable. So if they have just played inside and gone swimming for a while, no bath. If they've played outside, then a bath. I'd say maybe two times a week.....could be more depending on our activities though.

[Rosie_0801]

When they are particularly grotty and when I don't want to talk to them for a while.

 

Rosie