The Attached Mother

My four year old son hates taking a bath.  He used to love it but now he argues every night about taking a bath.  Help! I’m tired of this fight.

First make sure that it’s absolutely necessary that he bathes every single day.  During the summer months, my boys need a daily bath or two, even.  In the winter, not so much.  My oldest is a bit sensitive to touch and texture and claims that water makes him itchy.  We’ve had to be creative when it comes to getting him to bath when necessary.

If your child has no issues with artificial colors, try adding food coloring to his bath water. A nice blue-green relaxes my boys and they pretend that they are in the ocean.

Of course, fun bath toys always help, too.  Check out this site.

The one thing that will keep Bug busy in the tub forever without even a hint of ‘itchiness’ is a container of bath crayons.  They are magic, I tell ya!

If your son doesn’t like the bath tub, what about showers? Maybe a hand held shower in the tub that he can control himself would encourage him.

If all else fails, wipe him down.  My mother used to give me wipe downs at the sink when I was too fussy for a bath.  I’ve pulled out the baby wipes on more than one occasion when  one of the boys simply didn’t want to take a bath.