Random Kid Queries #1:
Why is it that kids seem to hit a certain age and they seemingly become allergic to taking a bath?
I really don’t get this one. It’s like all of a sudden the laziness meter goes off the charts and taking a bath becomes an activity that requires way too much exertion from their end. I mean when they’re little, that baby – toddler stage, you’d have to drag them out of the tub. I remember there would be times my daughter would step out of the tub with her fingers all pruned up and the water long gone cold. Then all of a sudden it was as if my kid had been swapped with “Pig Pen”, you know the kid from the Peanuts (Charlie Brown) comics with the dust cloud around him. Water had somehow become the enemy. I would send her to go take a bath and she’d go in and sit on the toilet while the water was running playing on her Leap Frog (she got me like this once or twice).
Gratefully, it was a only a temporary phase, but a frustrating one nonetheless. Now, we joke with her occasionally about it whenever she tries to put taking a bath off until late in the evening. We’re playful with her about it, lightly teasing that she’s getting stinky and we’ll all laugh it up and she’ll go shower. For us handling it with an edge of humor provided a way to inform her while at the same time making sure it doesn’t make her feel overly self-concsious or embarrassed. The point is to get them to take a bath not to make them feel like poop.
So have any of you guys gone through this? If so, what do you think was the cause ad what worked for you?
Roz in Focus 