Benefits of Bathing with Your Child

            Let's start this post with a funny, but somewhat stupid, story. Back when Myka was still little, probably between 3-6 months old, I posted something on my personal Facebook page. To be honest, I have no idea what I wrote, but evidently it was something to do with where/how to bathe Myka. She was getting too big for her little baby tub thing we used in the sink, but I wasn't comfortable with bathing her in the bath by herself. One of my friends on there said that when her kids were younger she just took baths with them. Duh. Why had that thought never crossed my mind?! It was so obvious it was stupid!
             We take a lot of baths in our house. Oddly enough, it's more my husband than me. So it made sense for us to put Myka in with us. All but a handful of times, this is how we've been bathing her ever since. I got to thinking the other day, there are actually some really nice perks of taking a bath with your kids.

            First of all, think of the money you are saving on your water bill. I don't have any quantitative proof of how much you could save, but just think about it. It makes sense. Obviously your households bathing habits and number of people living in your house are going to affect the numbers as well. Think about this scenario and be as appalled as I am by the amount of water waste: Say you are a family of 3 and have a baby that's under one year of age. You are in the habit of bathing him every night because you think it helps to calm him down before bed. You bathe him in your bathtub, but he is the only one in it. Think about how many gallons of water you are wasting just in a week!
            Before I go on, some of you may be thinking, "But the water isn't being wasted exactly if it's being used to clean the baby." I somewhat see your point, but I also firmly believe that children under a certain age do NOT need a bath every single day of the week, unless they've been doing dirty things like playing in the dirt/mud, sweating, etc. You can read more about why you shouldn't bathe your baby every day HERE.
            Moving on! Another obvious benefit of bathing with your child is that you get to spend extra time with them! Finding and making quality time is especially important for working parents. Instead of looking at bath-time as a chore, view it as an opportunity to hang out with your kids. Who knows? They may just behave better too! I know my daughter does! Plus, if you have REALLY little ones who are unable to sit up or do much of anything for themselves yet, extra skin to skin time is always a bonus! Plus it would probably help calm baby down if they are still unaccustomed to bath-time.
            To tie in to the quality/bonding time theme, bathing with your child can be an excellent opportunity to have some extra fun or unwind together. Play with your kids bath toys with them or use some bathtub safe paint or crayons to draw pictures together. The opportunities are endless. (Well, maybe not ENDLESS, but you get the idea. ;) ) Many people like giving their kids bath right before bedtime to help calm them down. Why not join them in the tub and spend some extra snuggle time? ...AND get clean! It's a win-win!
            What do you do for bath-time at your house?