About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
I never thought too deeply about my bathing routine before I had kids. I think it began and stopped at "wash your hair every other day." Now I relish that magical hour each evening, when I lovingly fill our antique claw foot with the perfect temperature of water, bust out the bamboo wash cloths, add the bubbles and the toys. Then I peel away their mini, sandy, blueberry-stained clothes and encourage some "nakey time."
The thing about the nightly bath ritual is that it forces you to be still and concentrate on your children for a fixed period of time. There's an air of innocence, giggles and playfulness to it that can't be duplicated by any other parenting task. Plus, there's something about their beautiful bodies and their utter lack of self-consciousness that reminds us all to appreciate what we've got, no matter the shape.
Books and experts often encourage dads to take on the bath ritual to enforce bonding. I think it's a great idea and gives new moms a chance to catch up on rest (or blogs). But as my children get older, I find we fight over who gets to do "bath" (hey, the alternative is the dirty dinner dishes). In fact you'll often find all four of us squeezed into our teensy bathroom, laughing our heads off.
Sometimes, I even jump in with them. (Although now that they're getting older, they spend the whole bath poking my breasts while saying, "Boobies!" and erupting into giggle fits.) The complete contrast of their personalities is highlighted by the experience. My daughter can spend an hour filling up a cup and pouring water into another item (pinched from our recycling bin). Eventually she turns her efforts into pouring water on our heads, which makes my son (who detests water on the head) scream, "I NEED A TOWEL!"
But my favourite part is the end: Wrapping them up in a warm towel and settling down for a snuggle. Admiring their little toes peaking out from underneath, knowing that next week those toes will be just a bit bigger... trying to capture something of these moments and seer them into my brain so I don't ever forget.
Bathtime Giveaway!
Our lovely MySweetBaby sponsors, JOHNSON’S® Baby, sent us a bathtime basket that we'd like to give away as a thank you to one of our lucky commenters. The basket includes:
All you have to do is tell me your favourite thing about bathtime in the comments below. A random reader will be selected in a week's time. Click here to read the full rules.
