Bathing The Kids Just Twice a Week
Caveat: Unless they're really gross. 
Summer is officially over. Well, it has been for a while now, but it finally feels over here in Richmond, "hotter than the surface of the sun" Virginia. I know, you desert dwellers out there are laughing at me, but remember - I'm from Northern New York where 45 is considered "shorts and a sweatshirt" weather and you don't wear a coat until your snot freezes.
Geez Louise, I've just started this post and already I'm off on a tangent. What the hell was I supposed to be posting about anyhow?
Oh yeah, fewer baths for the kids. Right.
Anyhow, this cooler weather translates to cleaner kids. Less sweating, a lot less mud to play in, and fewer worms to dig. They don't sparkle or anything, but they don't leave sludge trails either. So, to conserve some more precious H2O, I will be dropping the number of weekly baths for the kiddos from three to two.
It helps that both of them are now officially potty trained and tend to urinate on themselves a lot less these days. Of course, this whole plan gets tossed out the window if one of them rolls in dog crap or vomits on themselves.
And don't go feeling all sorry for them -- they're not huge bath fans anyhow. Ethan has some hydrophobia issues that are cured only by the lure of a plastic submarine and Daphne has her Mommy's white Irish skin that dries out like the Sahara in winter. Trust me, they'll both be happier this way.
Savings:
I fill their tubs up pretty full, so I'd guesstimate it's about 30 gallons of water for each bath. I'm a mean mommy, though and make them bathe together, so that one tubful covers both of them. At 30 gallons per week and the cool weather lasting through till the end of April, I'd say we're looking at a savings of roughly 720 gallons a year.
Now think about this: If the entire "dirty dozen" of Ethan's preschool classmates did this, together we'd save nearly 9,000 gallons of water. And, if the whole preschool joined us, it would be about 78,000 gallons per year. For perspective, that's enough clean water to meet the drinking needs of over 200 people for a full year... from just one preschool.
Difficult Level: 1 out of 5
Another one of those changes that it's real easy to get behind! No more whining, no more soaking wet Mommies, no more unintended floor moppings. Dude, Sign Me Up.
PS... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! :-)
4 comments:
Dude, sign me up too! We usually do 3-4 times a week but will cut back this winter. My husband will be so thrilled - he's always pretending he forgot that they are supposed to take a bath because he hates supervising one, what, with all the splashing and stuff. I do usually save a few buckets of the kids bathwater for flushing toilets, watering ornamentals, etc.
Hahaha, I think your hubby and my hubby went to the same Father Training Academy, as he often pulls the "forgetful" card when it's bath night!
The trick is to now, play up the whole bath reuction thing like you're doing him a HUGE favor and see if you can get a night of cooking in return!
- Erin
Enjoy the shared bath while you can. Sadly, we've had to move to separate bath times for safety purposes (don't ask).
On the upside, Jacob has moved to showers so we get some water savings there and apparently that Irish skin runs in the Wheeler side of the family since my kids have it too.
Love the picture BTW!
I enjoy reading your post. Now I feel kinda bad for my kids - they only get one bath per week during the cooler seasons and more in the summer. I do wipe them down every day though so they don't look like piglets all the time. Truth be told, they have few bath partly because both my husband and I are lazy. Reading books to them before bedtime seems to be a ritual with way more fun. So we opt for the routine that we enjoy more. Interestingly when their pediatrician asked me about their bath habit during one of their regular visits, I was all embarrassed about it. She proceeded to tell me that it was great. It's actually not good for their skin to have too many baths. She said, you give them too many baths, their skin gets dry, then you have to put artificial chemicals (lotion) on them. Not worth it. This is one time that being lazy totally works out!
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