I hope this doesnt come off as a weird question. I was curious to know what the norm is to stop showering with your children. I have a 3 year old boy and an almost 2 year old girl. My son is starting to ask questions about why mommy is different like "mommy what are those?" Pointing to my chest. My daughter is so excited that she learned what a pee pee is that she grabs at my husband and myself in the shower and says "I see pee pee" Like I said I'm just looking to get some feed back on this topic. Thank you for listening and I appriciate any feedback.
You need to have your daughter and her dad not shower together.
At this time in this world, if she says that out in public, it can
get many thinking she is being sexually abused. I would be
afraid if she said that in the wrong place what would others
proceed to do, besides turning life into chaos.
So it is time for only the girls to shower and start her
with bathing *splash time**prepare for wet floor* on own.
I used to belong to an Early Childhood PTA group when my daughter was very young and one of the speakers we had was a child psychologist. I don't remember her exact specialty but I do remember there was a lot of talk and questions about how to deal with kids and their curiosity about their and other people's bodies. One of the parents asked about when to stop bathing with the kids during this session. The speaker recommended transitioning them to bathing by themselves by the age of 6. I can't remember her exact response but it had something to do with that's when it's more than just curiousness about the appearance of differences in our bodies and it becomes more cognitive for them. She also said that kids talk more about their experiences at home with other people outside of the home at that age too so something very innocent could be misconstrued as something sordid depending on who they were talking to and what they said.
Like mentioned by other moms, she also talked about being honest but not overly descriptive when children ask questions, to use proper names for body parts and teaching kids about parts of their, and other's, bodies no one else should touch.
It was a very informative session and she was one of the most popular speakers I believe.
ALthough I don't shower with my kids, I am a breast feeding mom and I get a lot of the same questions from my 3 1/2 year old boy. I always answer his questions honestly. At first he wanted to touch when he pointed to my breasts and I explained that people have private parts and that no one is allowed to touch other people's private parts. I figured that since he is curious that now would be a good time to start teaching him that there are places that people shouldn't touch. When we visited our pedi and I asked him if I was doing the right thing and he said that now was a great time to teach him about private parts and explaining that no one should touch you in your "bathing suit areas". I think it is a normal part of growing up and as long as you are honest with them about it and are willing to explain things that you are fine. Good luck - sometimes the things our children say and do really make you go hmmmmmm!
My son is 19 months, and I still throw him in the shower with me sometimes, it's such a timesaver!
But, I'm thinking it's about time to stop and my hubby definately thinks he getting too old. We don't want our kids to remember showering with us, and I remember a lot from when I was 2 years old, so I don't want to take any chances.
I think bathing with siblings can be done for a couple more years, but not with parents.
