Getting kids out of the bath can be more complicated than getting them into one.
They never want to take their bath when it’s time but sure do enjoy it once they are in. It’s funny when you think about it.
Bathtime routines should be consistent and should come with clearly stated responsibilities.
Kids need to learn that, once they are done in the bath, it is their job to leave the room in good shape for the next person who will need it. It is a shared room, after all.
They must know that dirty clothing needs picking up and that wet towels must be hung to dry.
Parents who have defeated the Mess Monster of the Bath use these five tricks.
1. Clean up after a bath training starts early.
Once a child can walk and talk, it’s time to start teaching responsibility. Baths happen multiple times a week, so they provide an excellent opportunity to teach children the importance of picking up after themselves consistently.
Toddlers don’t know how to clean, but they do know how to have fun. After every bath, play the cleanup game.
Some parents even make up a cleanup song that makes the work more enjoyable.
Once the dirty clothes are picked up and put into the hamper, it’s time for a big hug of congratulations. Not only will the kids learn how to take care of themselves during this exercise, but parents also get an opportunity to bond with their children.
As children grow older, they do challenge these expectations. However, establishing the need to clean and setting up expectations start at an early age. The first phase of training is all sweetness and light.
2. Older children may have additional needs.
As children get older, the bath ritual gets more complicated. Razors, lotions, and deodorants make a first appearance in the middle school or high school era.
As personal care becomes more intense, the mess left behind tends to grow. A simple solution is to add one of these bathroom vanities with tops to create more storage space.
Kids with a dedicated drawer or bin have a place to return their items as soon as they finish using them.
Organization skills often develop later on in life, so helping children learn how to organize their things is a step in the right direction.
Once kids don’t have to contend with the mess they create when putting on makeup or coloring their hair, for example, they’ll soon revert to the old standards of picking up dirty clothes after a bath.
The takeaway? Don’t overwhelm them. Make it easy for them to be responsible by selecting one private area for their personal care items.
3. Cheerfully model cleaning up after yourself.
Young children pay attention to everything their parents say and do. That includes how their parents act when they are doing their grownup chores.
If a child hears their parent continually complaining about having to do the dishes or carry out the trash, the result is a child who resists helping out with clean up activities.
Let’s face it, constant complaining is a turn-off. Instead of complaining about doing work, talk about how the result makes everything better.
Of course, part of the modeling must include working side-by-side with a child while they learn a new task. Initially, this companion-type cleaning will be necessary every time.
However, cleaning up and putting clothes away soon becomes second nature. But, many parents find that occasional help reinforces the behavior.
A small investment of time spent helping a young child every once in a while pays big dividends in the future.
4. Put on the music and dance, dance, dance.
This trick works with just about every kid. After the bath, put on a special cleanup song.
If a child has wandered away before they’ve picked up their dirty clothes, this will act as a siren song. It’s especially useful when a dance is added to the mix.
Kids love to wiggle their behinds when they pick things up from the floor. Dancing to the tune that signals clean up time means they get to work off that last burst of energy before bedtime.
Singing and dancing while cleaning changes dreary tasks into the work of a moment. In fact, by breaking the parts of the job down to match the song, children learn how to get the job quickly.
When a job takes forever to accomplish, no one wants to do it, even grownups. Try picking clothes up during the first verse, and tossing them into the hamper on the chorus.
See. It’s just that simple.
5. Establish the rules and list the consequences.
Once children are older, they should be picking up after themselves after the bath without being told to do so. Make sure that the kids understand precisely was is expected of them.
Spell it out: “All clothes must be picked up and put into the laundry basket immediately after your bath.”
The next step is to state the consequences clearly. Those consequences should be reasonable. “If your clothes are not picked up immediately after the bath, you will not get any ice cream on Saturday night.”
It’s okay to remind them occasionally to ensure they don’t suffer those consequences, but daily reminders shouldn’t be necessary once children are bathing on their own. Reasonable expectations help to keep a household running smoothly, and the best way to achieve success is with clarity.
No child will ever get through an entire year without making a mistake.
However, parents are raising their children to become adults, and adults must be able to motivate themselves to complete their grownup life’s daily chores.
By making tasks enjoyable now, and by developing an understanding that chores always need to be done in a young one, the transition to adult responsibility will be much smoother.
Do you still sing a song when you clean up after your bath?