Do You Bathe or Shower With Your Kids?

Now this is my idea of an ideal bath – a glass of wine, candles, bubbles, and no kids in sight

I was having a conversation with a fellow Mom awhile back and she off handily mentioned “I was in the shower with my son the other day, when…”. I have no recollection of the conversation after that phrase was uttered, for I was truly stunned. I even had to rewind the conversation back in my head, “Did she really just say that?”. I couldn’t quite get past my reaction. Yes I am a horrible person, but I was judging the fact she was still having showers with her eight year old son. But I am most definitely a big prude when it comes to these matters, so maybe having a shower with your kids at the age of 8 is a normal thing!?

I have never had a bath with my children. Ever.  The thought of us squeezing into our standard sized tub just doesn’t seem appealing to me. Now maybe if I had the luxury of owning a big soaker tub I might indulge in a family bath now and then. But even then I would probably feel like I should be wearing my bikini, so I highly doubt even a gigantic tub would do the trick.

What’s worse I can hardly even remember the last time I showered with my kids.  I have a vague recollection of trying to hold a slippery baby in the shower with me, and the fear of dropping her turned me off that quest. I did try a few years later when she was older, but as soon as the questions started flying about hair and nipples, I was out. (Yes, I am fully aware I am going to have a hard time with sex education, and it would probably be best if hubby dealt with that  – who, by the way, has no problem walking around naked in front of the kids). So I would assume the last time I had a shower with one of my children was when my daughter was two – and she is now six!

While I could possibly have a few body conscious issues (okay, obviously I do have some body conscious issues), I just don’t particularly enjoy sharing my shower time. I will use the excuse that I don’t get a whole lot of time to myself, so quite frankly the 10 minutes alone I have in the shower each day is precious…. Are you buying this!?

All personal issues aside – I realize that most people do shower with their kids. If I look at it logically it is probably not a bad idea. It conserves water; it would probably take less time for a whole family to shower together than to have 4 (or more) individual showers; the kids might learn how to wash themselves properly (better?) if they have a role model to show them how; and, maybe they wouldn’t grow up with the same self-conscious issues that I have if they see people naked all the time. So I get it, I really do.  Mind you, at this stage of the game I am probably not going to change.

So I have to ask…do you bathe or shower with your kids?

In getting back to the original issue – what I am really trying to find out is at what age do you think it’s appropriate to stop having a bath or shower with your kids (especially those from the opposite sex)?

From my initial critical response above I realize that you probably won’t believe me when I say this…but I promise I am not going to judge you – I am just simply really curious to know what the rest of the world thinks! And also to find out how much of a prude I truly am

(I have inserted this handy-dandy new poll plug-in (that I really hope works). So in case some of you are shy about leaving a comment, all you have to do is click the answer you think most appropriate)