Bathtime can be dangerous business.  Kids are literally as slippery as an eel in the bath.
They sit, they stand, they sit again.  It gets especially worse when it comes to the hair-washing part.  Few children enjoy having their hair washed.  It’s one of those tasks which requires them to stay still for a while, otherwise shampoo will get into their eyes.  It’s not fun when it does, and it happens often; at least for us.
Today during Nina’s bathtime, I had a brainwave.  Something so simple which I had overlooked for years, with both of my children!

Here goes my one simple tip to avoid getting shampoo in your child’s eyes:

When washing your child, have them sit down in the bath or shower.  Sit them down facing a shelf or a window ledge if possible.  Put something interesting on the shelf, window ledge, or anywhere else you can use.  Just make sure that wherever you use, it should be above your child’s eye level when they are sitting down in the bath.
The trick is to ask your son or daughter to throw their head back and have him or her hold the position by making witty conversation and asking questions about the item on the shelf, ledge or wall.

Here’s how I managed to keep Nina so still, not a drop of water touched her forehead:

Me: ‘Nina what do we have on that shelf?
Nina: Towels!
Me: What colour are the towels?
Nina: Pink
Me: No!
Nina: Orange!
Me: No
Nina: Blue!
Me: Nooo!
Nina (chuckling): They’re GREEN!
Me: That’s a good girl!  What else do we have on the shelf?
Nina:  A cup of tea!
I almost say no.  I turn my head back and look up to have a look.  We have a tealight holder which looks like a teacup and saucer from this angle!
Me:  Yes, we have tea too!  What else Nina?
Nina:  We have a picnic!  There are towels, tea, and there’s a bag too!
Me:  What fun!  Yes, we can go on a picnic!

Success!  Why did I not come up with this before?

To keep your child on their toes, put something different on the shelf everyday.  Lesson learnt, I experimented a little bit.  I’ve taken some photos to give you some fun ideas of what you can do.

If you have no shelf or ledge, you can always stick stickers, blue tac, or coloured or patterned tape on the wall (I’m assuming it’s tile!).  You can also draw or print your child’s favourite character.  Whatever you go for, make it animated and interesting, and have fun with it!

Bathtime is now a breeze thanks to this one simple tip! Happy hair-washing mamas!

Nakita xxx