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I was talking with a friend about bathing with DS as he's scared of the bath at the moment and she suggested we would need to stop bathing soon when he was a bit bigger as it 'wouldn't be appropriate'. As he's only 14 months I laughed and said it would be a while off.
Just curious though, at what age did you stop bathing with your children?
ETA - I don't agree with this friend but haven't really considered yet (given DS is so young!) when this lovely time together might end
I've never really thought about when it might become 'inappropriate'. 14 months is still a baby though! DD is 2 years, 8 months and she still has baths with Daddy.
DS just on 5 still showers with me. In saying that I told him yesterday that we won't be showering together any more. He hogs the water
My DDs (aged 2 and 4) still shower with their dad on occasion. They like to ambush him when he gets home from work and heads for the bathroom lol, and have started demanding that they be bathed at 4:30 so that when he gets home, they're already splashing around merrily and he just starts the shower running again without putting up a fight lol :) I figure they'll stop showering with him when they become uncomfortable with it - if we pushed for them to continue sharing showers after they express a dislike for it, I would consider *that* to be inappropriate, but while they're happy to do it I don't see an issue. DH tends to just keep his back turned to them so they don't point and laugh at his junk lol.
:rofl: My DD hasn't seemed to notice the difference going on down there yet! Well she hasn't mentioned it at least.:
I agree, whenever they decide they don't want to anymore. I think they will let us know if they start to feel weird about it or want their privacy etc. DD1 is 2.5 and still has baths with Daddy of course.
My boys shower with either of us most days. DS1 is 3 and DS2 is 20 months.
Wow, never really thought about the inappropriate age thing, particularly at 14 months.... DD is 4 yo and she still showers with DH or I and occassionally baths with us. She did go through a stage when younger where she's point at DH privates, but she is sort of over that now.
I know a lady whos DH refused to shower with his girls unless he had his bathers on, even when they were young - each to their own.
I agree though, when DD has said enough is enough, then I guess for us that will be time to stop sharing baths & showers.
I stopped sharing with my DS's when they were about 3. I'm not a great sharer of showers - I like to relax in there and one can't relax with company so for me it was as much about carving out my own space as appropriateness. They still come into the bathroom while I am in the shower now but not for long and they can't see much anyway.
My son is nearly 3. He still baths with us and loves it. He likes to sit on my lap but thinks my pubes are scratchy so he puts a facecloth under his bum before he sits down. :rofl:
He wants to bath with us, I'm dying to have a bath by myself.
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Jude 07/10/2008 | Lilac 16/06/2011
Oskar is 4 and still on occasion jumps in with me... I'm like a few others though... it's MY shower dammit... have ya own lol.... but meh, he sees me walk between the bedroom and bathroom naked... if he said something, I'd stop, but at the moment, they're little, they don't see it as anything other than exactly what it is. I used to work with a guy where the whole family still just walked between bed/bathrooms in the nuddy... the kids were hmmmm 10 or so? None of them cared cos for them, that was just what they'd always done. Not sure if I'll be able to do it myself then though lol. For me, I would probably stop before that myself!
Glam... hahahah that is funny!!!
Geez, she wouldn't much like that my DS knows where a Mooncup goes and how it gets there! 5yo and still sharing nekkedness.
My BiL&SiL's family is so relaxed about nudity and its very refreshing. They all still bathe together at times, and the eldest two are nearly 14 and nearly 16, the youngest two are 3 and 5. That's how I want us to be.
We're gonna share showers and baths until the kids want their own space. Yes, I'd love my own shower and bath time, and I'll get plenty of that time soon enough - it'll seem like no time at all before they want their own time and space :)
Mind you, atm, we're showering outside while we build on our farm (the first dwelling - the second one isn't even in planning stages, yet!), so if we were in any way prudish about it, we definitely aren't, now!
i still love bathing with my DS whos 3 we have a ball and ill continue to share my bath and shower until they request modesty
my children are learning boys from girls
(DH is very funny when he showers with the older 2 and they get too close to his man parts his going to injure himself one day from jumping :rofl:
I'd love to have a bath with my DS again! Since learning he can sit up in the bath on his own, he's become very independent and doesn't want me in the bath with him! Last time I tried, he stood up next to me, one hand on my back and the other on the side of the bath, and he was literally pushing me out!! And he's only 23 months!
I never would of thought it as inappropriate either :(
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - even though I should be cleaning ;)
i hear you Lise. It is a lovely time, when your bub is so little and you can enjoy that time together, when water and bubbles are so magical to them, plus cuddles with you. 14 months old is awfully young to be worrying about such things, (your friend). Why can't people just let your baby be, and you be, just the way you are right now, instead of worrying YEARS down the track from now. ENjoy the bonding time over splashes and bubbles.:
We are very open about nudity here so the boys still bath/shower with us! Not only does it save water but it also gives us nice skin to skin contact which seems to make my boys calmer and me more in touch with us!
When they tell me they dont want me to be there I will go as too with getting dressed/undressed its their decision. :hug:
with my first son he was 10 mths and my 2nd i never bathed as he had his brother
My girls shower with us and Dd1 will be 3 soon, DP prefers to wash himself without them watching as DD points at his 'doodle' :rofl:
My brother & I used to have a quick shower with my stepmum, we would have been 5+ she will still shower at the pool naked in front of my little brothers who are 8&9 and doesn't shy away from them
Seeing her body, if they don't want to look then they don't.
Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!
I stopped showering with my dad when I could no longer walk between his legs... so about 5 or 6
As a family we have no worries about nudity here. My DS1 and DS2 regularly shower together and also have their younger sisters in with them :) DS1 even got in the shower with me not long ago while I was washing Miss P. I didn't think anything of it. I did it as a kid with my siblings too. One would hop out of the shower and the other would be nude waiting to get in lol. I say "meh" to other peoples hangups about nudity
I have a work mate who told me not long ago her 12 year old son will be in the bath while she is in the other shower, so he sees her naked and they aren't bothered, I think it depends on the child and the parent.
My girls still bath with DP and they are 2.5 and 5.5. As we only have 1 bathroom I don't see that we will be able to avoid seeing each other naked.
I don't really bath with DS (4) anymore. I guess it started because we moved to a caravan so while he can still have a bath type wash, we don't have a normal bath. And now it would feel kind of weird (for me) because there has been a break. I do get dressed in front of him (well in a caravan there's no other option) and we have an outside loo so often go there together so it isn't that nudity is a big deal. But I probably wouldn't do the bath thing anymore.
My DD1 is 8 and my DS is 6. We all still bathe together, nudity is not an issue here at all and no comments are ever made about people's 'bits'. That all passed by the time they were 3 or so! I guess, as PP's have said, it will stop when the kids express a discomfort or a desire not to bathe together (with us or each other). Perhaps I'll feel differently (or DH will) when DD starts puberty?
It's just a nude body, ya know, we've all got one!!
We're pretty open in this house. I don't see the need to hide things just yet and DS is 4. DD and DS were showering with me, but it was getting too cramped and they enjoy showering together so we do that now. Doesn't stop them from barging in when I'm in the shower though. I don't feel like it's anything to hide. :)
Good God 14months? DS is 17months and regularly showers with DF (I keep my showers as my time). I don't think we ever were uncomfortable with it when we were kids, everyone in my family pees with the door open, people walk in & out of the bathroom when ur showering etc. That said, DF family is the complete opposite, very private, lol poor DF took a while to adjust to seeing my mum in her undies etc : rofl:
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We'll stop when the kids start to feel uncomfortable, I imagine that when their own bodies start to change that it will put the kybosch on it. But we don't really shower together anymore much anyway - usually only if they ask which isn't often. There is no right or wrong, just what is right for you family kwim? Everyone has a different idea about this and none of them are wrong or weird or anything
Glad to see so many communal baths and showers happening! I must admit, I was rather surprised by my friend's comments, I hadn't really thought about it but like most things in this house I'll just take my lead from DS. Mind you, he has been taking advantage of the 'swim up bar' and I'm trying to wean at the moment so DH might have to take over for a bit :rofl:
This has been a really interesting read, I'm the only person I know IRL that showers with their child. So now I'm feeling pretty normal :D
To answer the question - I guess we'd stop when DS became uncomfortable with it. He's just turned 2 years old and seems to swing from preferring showers to baths and back again. At the moment he's all about showers and I wouldn't let him have one on his own yet as I don't trust him with the taps. So DH & I take it in turns to shower with him.
My family were always very relaxed about nudity in general, and we've all grown up to be good (clothed) citizens. :D
I still shower with my DS every morning - he's 4.5, and don't plan on stopping until he says he's uncomfortable. It saves time getting ready in the morning, 5 minutes extra sleep means the world to both of us lol
DP has showers with his 5.5 year old DD, but she is starting to become aware of privacy and will not bathe with DS anymore (she attends an all girls school who are teaching her little boys are yucky and mean :rolleyes:)
Well . . DD1 and 2 were in the shower with DH tonight:
DD1: "Daddy what's that?"
DH: "That's Daddy's Pee Pee"
DD1: "Ohhh, Daddy what are they?"
DH: "Those are Daddy's Testes"
DD1 Pulling at her babootzi "I HAVE TESTES TOO!"
Mummy: (Trying not to wet myself laughing but envisaging DD2 in her very loud voice that narrates every little thought past or present in her head at the time yelling that out in the shops) - "Daddy it is time to start wearing speedo's in the shower"
DD1 is 2 years 9 months.
I don't bathe with any of my kids now but only because I shower later lol. But my boys were probably around 6 ish. Although my current 6 yr old I haven't showered with for ages. I see nothing wrong with it
I have never showered or bathed with my kids (I have two boys and one girl)..on saying that, they walk quite freely into our bathroom while I am showering or dressing. I like my shower and bath time..it's a my time kind of thing and one of the few times I get to be selfish and just concentrate on me.
Don't have a problem at all with my kids seeing me nude for as long as they are fine with it..I quite often do a 'nudie' run through the house in the mornings if I have forgotten something at the end of the house. Both DH and I also sleep naked, so if kids wake in the night, what they see is what they get :lol:, they also will sometimes get into bed with us in the night..again, no problem.
I have already had a discussion with the boys about boys v girls as DS1 asked me why I didn't have a penis.
I also like to call anatomy by the correct name so my kids know what is what.