Parenting
Bath Time Magic For Kids
Bath time is a perfect time for parents and children to get to know each other and spend quality time together.
How you view “bath time” is up to you. Many parents choose to treat it as a chore and dreadful evening. In many households, bath time is about as boring as brushing teeth. But if you want it to turn to special moments, you can do something to make you and your child feel excited about it. For a child, bath time should be a transition between the noisy and busy world of day and the peaceful, cozy world of bed. With very little effort on your part, you can make it a magic time for both of you.
How do you inject some magic into bath time? Make an extra effort for it. Create a schedule for bath time that works perfectly for your daily tasks. It should not be around your busy times as you don’t want your time with your child to be compromised. Phones and mobile gadgets should be off-limits during bath times. If the phone rings, leave the answering machine to pick it up. Clean the house before bath time so you can also prepare yourself for the transition of day and evening. Make sure that you set aside enough time so that you aren’t rushing and nagging your child to hurry.
Now, to make bath time fun! Here are some suggestions for adding magic.
Bubbles:
Essential Oils:
Two drops of lavender or chamomile essential oil (no more!) adding to the bath and stirring it will soothe and calm a fractious child after a long day. For variation, and to be sure that the oil disperses well, you can also add drops to a cup of milk before adding to the bath. We sometimes use an unscented mild bubble bath with the essential oil.
Candlelight for special occasions:
It is the only suitable for well-supervised bath times. Kids would also love the atmosphere of a candlelit bath. You should only lit the candles when your kids are taking a bath. Don’t leave it unattended to avoid accidents.
Warm towels and pajamas:
Children love to get out of the bath into a warmed towel and pajamas! This is true, especially during the winter season. Little touches make all the difference.
Poetry night:
Some households make bath time special by doing poetry night. Choose a day that you can spend the most time with your children. Search for poems in the library or on the internet. Then, you can print it and file it in plastic folders to keep them splash-proof. If possible, try to introduce an interesting variety of poems to the kids. In reality, we read the same favorite poems over and over again!
Bath Toys:
Bath toys are always something interesting to play with! It could be anything from sieves, whisks, measuring cups and jugs. There are times when kids would choose to play with your kitchen equipment. You can find other bath toys at garage sales and dollar stores. Plastic colander doubles would be excellent storage baskets.
Fun foam toys:
You can buy fun foam shapes in buckets, or you can buy the foam at the craft store and cut your own shapes. You can change the shapes to match holidays and seasons. It can be flowers for spring and summer, Christmas trees at Christmas, bunnies, and eggs at Easter. You can also cut pieces to teach colors, shapes, numbers or the alphabet. In this way, they can practice matching, grouping, sorting, ordering and so on.
Shaving foam sculpture:
Squirt a few large blobs of shaving foam onto the side of the bath or into your child’s hands. Warn him to keep it away from his eyes and let his imagination take over!
Music and story tapes:
Bath time is a good opportunity to introduce all kinds of music or to listen to a special story on tape or CD.
Blowing bubbles:
For a special treat, bring some bubble blowing mixture into the bathroom. Make sure that it doesn’t get into anyone’s eyes!
Colorful baths:
A few drops of food coloring will transform the bath into something exotic! Try orange or green at Halloween, red or green at Christmas, red for Valentine’s Day and so on. Keep the bottle well out of children’s reach!
Language night:
Bath time can also be you and your child’s language night. You can teach your kids English by listening to English tapes and singing English songs. You can decorate the room with small colorful posters. It can be made up of old exercise books or printing pages off the net. Laminate it and stick it on the bathroom walls. You can also put a label on the bath toys.
Finally, remember that in a few years your children will be old enough to take a shower or bath on their own. They might be resisting any attempt from you to interfere! Have you noticed how eagerly a grandmother runs her grandchild’s bath and splashes and plays for much longer than necessary? If you asked her, she would tell you to make the most of the bath time while you can. Whatever you do during bath time will be worth it. You and your children can look back happily on those special memories.