How Often Does Your Kid Bathe/ Shower?

My son has one bath per day. He is 5 and I still only leave him a minute or two here and there while he is in the tub. Please don't consider leaving a 2 1/2 year old in the tub alone.

There is really no wrong or right answer. I think it depends on a lot of factors but I do think that twice a day is too much for anyone unless they do hard physical labor on a daily basis.

My boys both inherited my predisposition to dry skin and eczema, so I try to keep to mostly showers and every other day. Sometimes they are especially dirty and need an extra wash, but we try to go light on the soap if that happens to prevent drying. If they bathed twice a day they would be flakier than croissants :)

Certainly not twice a day!! That seems like an enormous waste to me.

My son typically takes one every day, because he is pretty rough and tumble. He gets really dirty. There are days where he is just too tired and goes straight to bed. I don't push a bath on those days.

I wouldn't even consider leaving a 2.5 year old alone for a bath. I think that's entirely too young. Many might disagree with me, but I would never do it. I stay in with my son. (He is 4.) I just don't think he's old enough. Although he is great in the water and we have taught him survival techniques....it's just one of those things. I can't know for sure if he wouldn't panic, and it takes seconds. I'd rather be a little overprotective in this area, then have regrets for the rest of my life. I'm quite laid back, but bathing alone is one area I hold the reigns pretty tightly. I'd say next year (around kindergarten age) I will loosen up a bit.

I can understand the bath at night as part of a relaxing routine, but the showering in the morning on top of it is unnecessary, IMHO. If they are not playing outside every day, they just don't get that dirty. Too much bathing can dry out their skin, too.

Our daughter gets a bath/shower twice a week at a minimum, but of course it depends on how dirty she actually gets - it's more often if she's gotten dirty/sweaty enough to justify getting cleaned up, which means with warmer weather and more outdoor play now, it will be as needed, but still probably not every night. I didn't start leaving her unsupervised in the bath until she was 4 and even then (and still now) I am right outside the door (we have a second-floor loft area and that's where the computer is, and the bedrooms and bathroom is right there too). She'll be 6 by the end of the summer and for the most part can shampoo her own hair and wash herself up, though she still sometimes needs my help making sure her hair is all rinsed out.

I never worried about her drowning so much as I worry about her getting water outside the tub and making a huge mess!

Every 2-3 days.

And supervision tapers off as they age. A minute or two alone at 4-5, and more and more as they get bigger. Scrubbing on their own....that was mostly me when they were little, and then I'd give them a pouf and let them help...and then I started giving verbal directions at about age 4-5. At age 6 or so, they started showering on their own with me standing outside giving directions. Once they started needing less direction, I began to pretty much let them have-at.

They do go through stages of wanting to play in the shower, or not wanting to wash hair...and you deal with that stuff as it comes.

They're 10 and 12 now. Not much supervision going on anymore. Just "go take a shower." Frequency increases during the summer due to sweat, and will further increase when they hit puberty. Then it will be every day.

We used to do daily, but now with homework every night and limited time, etc., we do every other day. (You are right, 2.5 is too young to be in the tub unsupervised.)

We started letting our daughter begin to slowly handle her showers at 5, I believe. It still involved quite a bit of checking and urgings to "hurry it up!" because our daughter is a big dawdler in the shower. Now at age 8, I still have to help her with her hair because she was blessed with a TON of it and still needs assistance getting all the soap out. But she's almost to the point where I don't have to do this anymore, but *still* have to keep urging "hurry it up!"

Our kids typically bathe or shower (usually shower) every other night. Anything more often than that and their scalp and skin get really, really dry. Both have developed exzema and cradle cap in the past due to dry skin, and I prefer not to deal with that again.

Our son can be unsupevised in the bath, and we can leave either of them for some time alone in the shower. They both wash and rinse on their own (3 1/2 and 5), and have been for well over a year, although I do need to sometimes help with my daughters hair.

Usually showering happens pretty quickly - and they both have preferred that to a bath since they were each about 2 years old. It is much faster for us, and since they take them in our master bath shower we don't have to worry about drowning, as there is no way to plug the drain. The temp control is also out of their reach, so it isn't an issue.

Good Luck! :)

He's 10.
Showers every day. Shampoo EOD.
Occasionally (if not visibly in need) he'll skip a day on the weekend.
Pretty much independent action at this stage of the game.

He's pretty compliant because he likes showering, so it's not a battle.

Twice a day is a LOT! Make sure he uses lotion.
And he's still too young for unsupervised bathing.

We wash them when they are dirty, but at least twice a week.

We do nightly baths or showers.

My older kids do their own showers (age 6 & 4). My 2 yr old likes showers now too, so I help him.

I don't let them put the plug down in the tub, unless they keep the door open so I can talk to them and hear them.

My kids rarely bathe. My seven-year old is starting to more now that her hair will get oily, but as toddlers? they were never dirty!....maybe once a week? Unless they get muddy or sweaty...they bathe more in summer. Bathing three kids is just so hard for me at the end of a busy day (single mom). I'd rather spend the time reading books or letting them play while I clean the kitchen and get the bedrooms ready etc. I console myself with the reports that say it's good for kid's skin to bathe less...and I look at it as conserving water :) I only took a bath once a week as a kid too. I didn't bathe daily until teen years.

My kids take a bath every 2-3 days. I didn't start allowing them to be alone in the bathroom until at least 4. I also teach them to scrub themselves around that age but still help with washing their hair. My oldest is 7 and it has been in the last 8 months that she takes a shower all on her own and does all the washing including hair by herself.

We bathe our 3 year old every night... most nights there's no soap, just a quick rinse and a nice way to slow down for the evening. I would still never leave my daughter alone in the bathtub. It's not that I think she would willingly do something unsafe (which is entirely possible) but rather that she could slip and bang her head or be unable to regain her footing. Please don't leave him alone yet. He's way too little.

My six year old girls get baths twice a week, more if they're terribly dirty. We used to do baths three or four times a week but life just got too busy. At age four I started leaving them unsupervised in the bath when I was down the hall.

Their skin would never stand up to twice a day showers/baths.

DD takes a bath most nights, to decompress, to get the pollen off her face, and to condition her hair so it's not a rat's nest.

She still needs direction in bathing effectively. We started leaving her alone for a few minutes with the door open sometimes between 3.5 and 4 but I don't totally leave her to bathe alone yet at 4 because she gets lonely and she still needs help with her hair.

When the girls were little we would have them bath every 2 to 3 days. Of course, this would depend on the weather and their daily activities. Of course in the hot humid weather or after playing in the sandbox it would be necessary. I was told by a dermotoligist you should not shower/bath daily (unless it's necessary) as it's very bad for your skin.

We live where is is hot and humid.. so we bathed our child every night, we washed her hair every other say, unless it was super dirty or smell.. Again in the summer, that may need to be washed every night. She would be so sweaty in the afternoons and the daycare playground was dusty..

Even in elementary school they ran track 5 days a week and the playground was all pebbles so again.. dusty.

I did not leave her in the tub alone until she started school, kindergarten.
Then she would totally bathe herself, but needed help with her hair till about 3rd grade. she has tons of thick curly hair and she could not get it as clean as we could. I also would make sure to wipe her neck ears, and bottom, just to make sure they were really clean.

I think it depends on the child and situation.

13 yo- mostly every night
11 yo- every single night
7 year old-whenever I can wrestle him under the faucet for 5 minutes (once, maybe twice a week, unless I SEE dirt, or SMELL yuck on him, then we do it right then!)
3 yo-bathtime/playtime a couple times a week
baby-when he smells funky in his neck rolls and/or when I can't remember when he last was bathed. :)

ETA: Aaahhh, I, too, remember when I had just one little tot, and bathtime was every night for him.....Life was simpler then, and apparently we were cleaner, too......

2-4 times per week, depending on her activities and how dirty she is. My daughter could scrub herself with directions at 3, but I think every child is probably different. As for supervision, it's really important to keep an eye on a kid in a tub - the consequences are too severe. My daughter (age 4 now) sings and makes her tub toys "talk" nonstop, so as long as I can hear her from the next room she can be in there by herself. But as soon as I hear 10 seconds of silence, I'm in there checking on her.

Hope that is helpful!

ETA: I shower twice a day due to allergies...I get the pollen off of me before I go to bed so I can sleep better.
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My kids were in Kindergarten when they started showering/bathing by themselves.

My daughter bathed 2x a day - like me.
My boys? My oldest prefers to bathe in the AM. My youngest in the PM.

During the summer? It's hard to get them in their since they are in the pool so much and they say the pool cleaned them....urgh!!! But since I'm the mommy - they do as they are told!

Our almost 12-year old showers almost every night because she has sporty activities during the day and sweats.

If I left it up to her, she'd bathe once a week.

She's gone up to 4 days without showering (at her mom's) and she smelled TERRIBLE when she got back. I'm hoping next year she'll not want to stink for her friends!

In the winter usually every other night. In the summer we try to do every night because they play so hard. It gets hard in the summer though because it's so light out and they want to stay out later. 5 year old can take showers and clean completely on his own but he likes to take baths and play a little. 2 yr old still pretty much takes baths and needs help cleaning. I take him in the shower every now and then.

We toss them in three times a week unless they are dirty. It's not really necessary for them to bathe more often because they do not sweat.

My son is 5 and takes an unsupervised shower... has for the last year. Before that, I would let him play and wash while I put away laundry in our Master.

The odds are good that he would be fine but maybe wait a while longer before leaving him unattended in the water!

I still take care of both of my kids' bathing needs. My daughter is 7 and my son is 4. I tried teaching my daughter to shower on her own, but she is still having a hard time with the shampoo/conditioner so she still needs help. She's still happy with me helping her so I'll continue to do it until she starts to "develop" at which case I'll push the responsibility to her.

I have a hand held shower head that I use to wash them. Sometimes they'll take a bubble bath for fun though.

They usually bathe every other day, but in the summer its usually everyday (after we are in for the night) with outdoor play and sunscreen - they get much more dirty than in the cold weather.

We give our 6 year old a shower every morning since he still wets every night. He gets a shower at night if he gets out and plays in the mud.

He can take a bath with bubble bath but it's not for getting clean, it's for play.

My granddaughter is 9 and she takes her own shower or bath when she feels like it. She does an okay job.

My son has been taking unsupervised baths/showers since around 3. He's a very independent private child and didn't want mommy in there. And being a boy he needs a shower everyday! He always takes one at night and also in the morning sometimes to help wake up

bath or shower every 2nd or 3rd day. baths are done in the evening.. very very rarely - we will give then a shower in the am..

at 6 and 7 I still wash their hair and make sure they get clean. I left them at about 4 . but I was listening all the time..

I guess we're the weird ones, but I truly thought all parents bathed their kids everyday... I'm in shock here reading the responses - I cant imagine my kids picking up all the "cooties" in school bathrooms and coming in contact with other little petri dishes(aka kids) and not bathing them, plus its part of our routine.... All three of my kids bathe every evening and anytime we finish swimming(those pool chemicals are WAY more harsh when not washed off than soap). Depending on what time of day we swim, they may end up with more than one bath during summer months.

I usually bathe my lil buddy (who is 4) about ever other day or so. We usually do "wash-ups" which are usually standing showers with the faucet running, but when he does take baths I occassionally leave him unattended.

Considering I, too, and fearful of bath accidents, I'm usually not too far and don't leave him unattended very long, but as an extra precaution I try not to fill the tub terribly high. And whenever things get tooo quite I always shout after him, almost like a Marco-Polo, to make sure he's doing alright.

I hope this helps!

Mine's 6, we're working on getting her into showers. I still wash her hair for her. She's be independently washing for a year or two. The door is open at all times and I'm never too far away. She washes every weekday and Sun, Wed and Fri nights we wash her hair

My 7 month old, get a wash up Sun, Tues and Thurs.

My son is turning 6 this week and my daughter is 2.5. They take a bath every night. We never do twice a day and we might skip a day once every week or once every two weeks if we're out too late or something.

A 2.5 year old is MUCH too young to be left alone while in the bathtub. Letting him do the scrubbing is fine if he can handle it, but you can't leave the room. Kids do stupid things because they don't know any better. He could so easily jump around or slip, hit his head and go under.

My boys shower about three times a week. They are nearly 9 and 11. Any more than that is too drying on the skin and hair.

At around 3 1/2 I was comfortable leaving them in the tub alone with the bathroom door open and me in the adjacent room. As long as I could hear them chattering away they were fine. (My kids were constant chatterers.)

Twice a week, generally. They also swim on the weekends, so they have to rinse off.

My 6yo still has trouble with her hair, so she still gets help.

10 yr old, takes shower everyday. 3 yr old takes shower & scrubs himself but is never left alone on Sunday, Tuesday, & Thursday nights ( unless he gets super-dirty).

Not often enough, in my opinion. And now with the pool opening this weekend? Forget about it. We'll be hanging out there every single day until the end of the summer. Once in awhile during the summer I'll ask my girls, "When is the last time you took a shower?" I usually get a blank stare. To me, that probably means at least a week. But I guess the chlorine is bleaching them so...

At your son's age, I put toddlers in the bath every night. No soap, just my homemade bath salts, unless they needed their hair washed. And just like you we used the time to chat, learn to pour, play with motorboats and foamy letters and shaving cream.

At 14 years of age, he is supposed to shower every day....and he's not :(

Every day. They get just as sweaty and dirty as anyone else.

My kids shower everynight to help rinse off the days allegens, but only use soap a couple times a week and wash hair is every other day or every couple of days. The shower is mostly just to rinse off.

I bath my baby every other day and give my 5 year old daughter a shower every other day unless she was swimming or particularly dirty from an outside activity. I would recommend not leaving your child in the tub alone until they are much older 7 or 8. Older toddlers tend to do more risky things because they are able to ( ex standing up or getting in and out of tub for something) and they can fall hit their head and possibly drown. I even have to keep an eye on my 5 year old in the shower because she tends to want to dance and play games in there once I get out! :)

My son bathed everynight since he was born and is now 14yro. He still showers everynight. I think he was around 2 or 3 when he washed himself. I sat in the bathroom with him until around 6yro. Here me out first. I know that's aweful old for me to be still sitting there. I wanted to let him be on his own a lot sooner, but he wanted me in the bathroom with him. Why? It was our little sanctuary where he felt comfortable telling anything and everything that happened that day without DH and MIL listening in. It was his social outlet time with Mommy. I made bathtimes fun by letting him play in the tub and by asking him how his day went.

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My son bathed everynight since he was born and is now 14yro. He still showers everynight. I think he was around 2 or 3 when he washed himself. I sat in the bathroom with him until around 6yro. Here me out first. I know that's aweful old for me to be still sitting there. I wanted to let him be on his own a lot sooner, but he wanted me in the bathroom with him. Why? It was our little sanctuary where he felt comfortable telling anything and everything that happened that day without DH and MIL listening in. It was his social outlet time with Mommy. I made bathtimes fun by letting him play in the tub and by asking him how his day went.