S/O - Showers and Middle schoolers

[Tanaqui]

Techwife, were you asking all these people from various cultures how often they showered?

[Guest]

Quote

I would actually suspect it's less than 75%.  I think a lot of people SAY they are showering every day, but really just say that because they don't want to hear everyone tell them how gross they are.  

I don’t usually shower daily, but I have been during radiation, because those technicians are intimately close to me, I can’t use deoderant, and I would rather ere on the side of smelling like my lavendar soap in this instance! 😄

 

[Selkie]

I don't care what other people do, as long as I don't have to smell them. 😉 But for me, if I don't start the day off with a shower, I just feel gross. Not smelly, but just not ready for the day - like the same feeling I'd get if I was wearing my pajamas or going barefoot all day. I like to be clean and dressed right from the get-go.🙂

[moonflower]

I do in fact wear my pajamas all day sometimes, and often go barefoot.

[Farrar]

I looked it up. 66% of Americans in a Yougov poll shower daily (or more). So a full third of the people around you are not.

[Scarlett]

The original question was about young kids.  I definitely Bathed him daily.  I am sure some adults could go a day without bathing with no noticeable smell.

But let me say this....I see A Lot Of dirty and smelly kids and adults.  

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Selkie said:

I don't care what other people do, as long as I don't have to smell them. 😉 But for me, if I don't start the day off with a shower, I just feel gross. Not smelly, but just not ready for the day - like the same feeling I'd get if I was wearing my pajamas or going barefoot all day. I like to be clean and dressed right from the get-go.🙂

LOL, I do sometimes like to stay in pajamas, and I'm barefoot almost always. 

1 hour ago, moonflower said:

I do in fact wear my pajamas all day sometimes, and often go barefoot.

Yup. If I have shoes on I am going to a place that requires shoes, or the dog park or something. At home I NEVER wear shoes and usually don't if I'm just in the front or back yard. 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

LOL, I do sometimes like to stay in pajamas, and I'm barefoot almost always. 

Yup. If I have shoes on I am going to a place that requires shoes, or the dog park or something. At home I NEVER wear shoes and usually don't if I'm just in the front or back yard. 

Oh, that’s just because it’s too much bother trying to find a pair of socks in those drawers of yours. 😂

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

The original question was about young kids.  I definitely Bathed him daily.  I am sure some adults could go a day without bathing with no noticeable smell.

But let me say this....I see A Lot Of dirty and smelly kids and adults.  

I agree...those are two different things. A lot of kids, even at young ages, like five or six, stink with any exertion. My son was like this from early on. He would jump on the trampoline, come inside and stink. I enforced daily deoderant, even though he was pre-pubescent. Daily bath or shower from pretty young as well. I am generally on the side of thinking we Americans tend to over-bathe, but I am still not fine with stinky children.

I have come into contact with stinky kids and adults who clearly do not think they are smelly, but they are. 

[TechWife]

3 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

Techwife, were you asking all these people from various cultures how often they showered?

Over the years I've had a few conversations with people I know (not strangers) about cultural differences, yes.

[KungFuPanda]

3 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

I agree with this.  And lets not forget the other smells that mix and mingle together.  From scented lotions to cigarette smoke to fast food cooking oils to whatever else, I think it's dang near impossible to tell over all that which people have showered 5 hrs ago or 15 hrs ago, or 25 hrs ago etc etc.  

I would actually suspect it's less than 75%.  I think a lot of people SAY they are showering every day, but really just say that because they don't want to hear everyone tell them how gross they are.  

75% of my household showers at least daily. It’s a 5 minute commitment most days and when you’re used to it it’s HARD to skip. I can’t imaging getting sweaty from working out and just going to sleep all sticky. I don’t even getvas sweaty as most people but I can feel it. 

If you’re (general you) only bathing once or twice a week do you have to change your sheets more often?

[moonflower]

I don't change my sheets too often.  I also don't, I will admit, exercise to the point of sweating.  I know, I know.

[Scarlett]

10 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

75% of my household showers at least daily. It’s a 5 minute commitment most days and when you’re used to it it’s HARD to skip. I can’t imaging getting sweaty from working out and just going to sleep all sticky. I don’t even getvas sweaty as most people but I can feel it. 

If you’re (general you) only bathing once or twice a week do you have to change your sheets more often?

 

I was wondering this same thing about the sheets.  In this house, all adults, we shower daily.  Dh and ds shower twice daily almost every day.  And we also change our sheets once per week.  My mom never allowed us to get in the bed dirty....she would point out we would dirty the sheets.  

[maize]

12 hours ago, Scarlett said:

The original question was about young kids.  I definitely Bathed him daily.  I am sure some adults could go a day without bathing with no noticeable smell.

But let me say this....I see A Lot Of dirty and smelly kids and adults.  

Climate makes a difference.

Hot, humid Florida summer? Way more sweat, and the humidity makes dirt cling to you. Physical exertion and heat make me want to take a cool shower just to cool off!

Cold dry winter like we have here? It's a lot harder to get dirty and stinky. And I detest the feeling of stepping out of a warm shower into cold air enough to just avoid it.

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I dunno.  I don't have a sheet changing schedule any more than I have a showering schedule lol.  If for some reason I have to send the kids to bed grimy because it's too late or whatever....I just wash the sheets the next morning.  No biggie.  

If something is dirty, clean it.  If it's not dirty, don't clean it.  Works for people and things 🙂 

I agree with this in general, but I did view some things with kids differently. It’s like @EKS said about ease of enforcement: if we made certain things routine, there was no need to go around figuring out if something was dirty enough to require cleaning. Also, if cleaning something was already allotted time, there was no sudden realization that X is filthy and we need to leave for Y in ten minutes. 

For this reason, I had my kids put all clothes in the hamper after wearing. If you wore it, we’re calling it dirty unless I specifically note otherwise. The default is: a kid wore it today, it’s probably in need of washing. That way, I don’t have to rely on them to determine it with their immature assessment skills and we don’t have the scenario of realizing something stinks/has chocolate on it/hasn’t been washed in three months as we’re walking out the door. 

[katilac]

Variations on this thread pop up so often that it's reasonable to assume that many teens don't know when they need a shower, lol. 

[moonflower]

Yeah, I'm definitely not washing something just because someone wore it once.  Maybe if I were a gazillionaire.  Even so.

Now, my 2-5 year olds, yes, if they're done wearing something it is because it has peanut butter or boogers or mud on it.  But the older kids and DH and I can wear a shirt or a pair of pants for a day without getting it dirty or smelly.

[marbel]

40 minutes ago, moonflower said:

Yeah, I'm definitely not washing something just because someone wore it once.  Maybe if I were a gazillionaire.  Even so.

Now, my 2-5 year olds, yes, if they're done wearing something it is because it has peanut butter or boogers or mud on it.  But the older kids and DH and I can wear a shirt or a pair of pants for a day without getting it dirty or smelly.

This is an aside, just riffing off this post. The trousers I wear to work are not dirty by the end of the day, but they are so bagged out and wrinkly it seems there is no solution but to wash them.  I suppose I could run a rinse load, or just get them really wet, and run them through the dryer. But that seems like an extra step and if I'm doing laundry anyway...

I wear "business casual" pants that are a step above jeans, with spandex in them. But still they are a mess by the end of the day; if I wore them again it would seem that I'd slept in them. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, moonflower said:

Yeah, I'm definitely not washing something just because someone wore it once.  Maybe if I were a gazillionaire.  Even so.

Now, my 2-5 year olds, yes, if they're done wearing something it is because it has peanut butter or boogers or mud on it.  But the older kids and DH and I can wear a shirt or a pair of pants for a day without getting it dirty or smelly.

Yes, but I only meant kids, not young adults or older teens (or DH or myself) who are mature enough to correctly assess the difference between wearing a pair of pants a few times when all you did was go to church vs. a kid who probably did get peanut butter or buggers or dog hair or hamster pee or sweat or skid-marks on it merely because kids aren’t that observant a lot of times. 

I wear most of my day clothes a few times before washing. But not my kids (until they were well into teen years and could gauge for themselves).