Friday, September 30, 2011

Should I Really Have To Time My Child Showering?


Morning routines at our house are usually pretty calm.  I have my one beautiful daughter, Grace who is 7 and will turn 8 in November.  She starts school every morning at 9:05 and the bus picks her up at 8:40.  This means we go out to the bus stop at about 8:30.  This gives us time to talk with the other kids, moms and enjoy the weather.

I say usually calm because we do run into the problem with showering.  Grace is to the point where she enjoys to take a shower and does a good job on her own.  She has pretty long hair so it took awhile before she "mastered" getting her hair completely cleaned and rinsed.  Now we are dealing with the problem of time.  If Grace could, I bet she would stay in that shower until every last bit of hot water was squeezed out.  Luckily we have not tried that yet!  I can not get that girl to take a shower under 20 or 25 minutes.  It is so frustrating.

Reasons why it frustrates me:

  1. The money it is wasting.
  2. The time she is spending.
  3. The pure fact she has been told at least 100 times to take shorter showers.
I know Grace does not do it on purpose, obviously.  She is simply a kid who is having fun singing, laughing and really just having fun while getting clean.  The problem that occurs is it making her late in the morning.  The is no reason to take showers over 25 minutes. And she has been timed and told to take shorter ones and still has problems.  

We have even tried taking showers at night.  This helped solve the problems of running late in the morning and  once or twice she took shorter shower, but usually they were still super long.  

I am asking everyone...Do you struggle with something similar in your home?  Maybe not having to do with showering, but maybe something with time management.  

I do appreciate any suggestions.  I have mentioned it to a few people and they have just looked at me like it isn't a big deal.  Trust me, it is in our house.  After 6 months to 1 year of your child consistently showering on their own.  You then notice a major increase in the water bill.  We don't have a pool, no toilet issues nothing else that would cause a spike in the bill.  You then know that this is just wasted money basically going down the drain!!
On the other hand there is this part of you that is super proud of your child for showering on their own.  I don't want to make a huge issue out of it because she is so awesome.  If only she would get in it out.  lol  

Thanks so much for reading!
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5 comments:

  1. Hi this is Nicole from Colie’s Kitchen I just discovered your blog and wanted to drop by and say hi. I am now a new follower. I would love to have you stop by Colie’s Kitchen if you get a chance. www.colieskitchen.com

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  2. Oh yes, I have that same issue. My 11 year old likes about 20 minute showers while my son will go longer than that. I have been working with them but I would definitely turn on a timer if they didn't listen to me.

    Good luck. Thank for linking up with us for the TFC.

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  3. Fortunately, my kids are grown, :) but it's probably just a phase and I wouldn't worry about it. Thanks so much for stopping by and for following. I'm now following you back!

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  4. We do our showers at night. My son fights, argues and cries that he doesn't want to go in and then he stays in forever too. Who wouldn't want to stand under the warm water forever? But, it is expensive and wasteful! You might have to set a timer and maybe keep tabs on which point she's at in the shower. ??? Maybe get her a waterproof timer and tell her she has 5 minutes for body and 5 minutes for hair? Good Luck!

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  5. We don't have children at home any more. Our problem with the teen grands is with towels. A towel to stand on, to wrap their hair with and to dry with all thrown into the hamper when done. They all take quick showers. I enjoyed your blog. Doylene

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