Boys. Boys. Boys.
I know it is my job to civilize them, but some days that is tough.
Often it appears that they don’t have a willing spirit in favor of civilization.
Every night each boy takes a bath before bed.
Every night I say the same things to each one…
- Wash your hair REALLY well
- Put your clothes in the hamper
- Scrub UNDER YOUR ARMS with soap
Every night after baths I wonder why I don’t just save my breath.
Boys come out of baths with 1/2 dry hair claiming thorough hairwashing.
Boys come out of the bath WITHOUT picking up their dirty clothes.
Boys come out of baths with a stench compounded by non-rinsed soap bubbles.
Putting a car wash-like shower in my laundry room is my only option for solving all three problems.
While we were on vacation, I had a little extra time in the evening
{amazing what time avoiding my email and the internet can create}.
Because they were all skiing and heavily involved in activities throughout the day, I took a bit of that time to supervise baths a bit more closely.
I held hairwashing seminars bathside.
I demonstrated the fine art of dirty clothes transportation.
I observed soap application and encouraged scrubbing…
And that is where I noticed a LARGE problem.
One of my boys
{who shall remain nameless, but might be pictured above} seemed to clean his entire body well, except he avoided his armpit region completely.
I jumped into action lifting his arm and applying soapy washcloth to pit.
He nearly jumped out of the tub in a fit of laughter.
That tickles!
OK, you do it.
He gingerly took the washcloth laden with soap and gently patted the skin near his shoulder…
he nearly jumped out of the tub in a fit of laughter.
That tickles!
This explains so much.
The boy can tickle himself.
No wonder pit scrubbing has been neglected…
now if I can just figure out why the hair and dirty clothes are an issue.
It does get better. My son is a teen now and he’s addicted to showers. Finally!
JDaniel fusses during his baths about my tickling him too. He has taken to rubbing his under arms with a pretend bottle of deodorant. He has told me that is what “big boys” like dad do.
Oh, the smell of boy pits is just unlike any other stank ever. I beg and plead. And maybe once a week do they get truly clean. *sigh*
For what it’s worth, someday your training will pay off.
My son has the same issues with cleaning out his ears. But he knows if he doesn’t do it in the shower with the wet wash cloth, I will come after him with the dreaded Q-tip!