When Does a Mom Have Time to Bathe?
I don’t shower… first thing in the morning. There, I said it.
If you get your child or children ready for school in the morning, make lunches, get hubby out the door and find the time to shower, get dressed, blow-dry your hair and put on a little makeup, then I applaud you. I truly do, you must be a morning person.
My morning routine consists of all of the above- except the shower part. I have gotten into a habit of showering in the late afternoon or early evening because I really don’t have ANY OTHER TIME to do it.
You may be thinking, ‘Well, bathing is pretty basic, staying clean is that ‘pesky’ hygiene thing that we all must keep up with.’ I hear you, right, right, right.
But when is a better time for a mom to bathe? I’m serious. I don’t think I’ve taken a shower first thing in the morning since I’ve become a mother! And honestly, typing that last sentence was a little humiliating.
But let me continue, I remember when my Little Guy was a baby, I’d shower when he was napping, with the baby monitor in the bathroom with me, although his room was 12 feet away (new mom thing, give me a break). Then he stopped napping (this, at first, is a horrible-life-event, but then you realize that your child will gladly go to sleep at 7:30pm and bedtime is wonderful).
So I switched my shower to early evening, right after dinner. My Big Guy and my Little Guy got time to catch up on their days and spend some quality time together.
I’d shower, blow-dry my hair, put on my nice PJs (nice PJs are a must when you are going to bed clean) and life was good, and life is good.
Now I even get a chance in the late afternoon to sometimes sneak in a shower during my Little Guy’s 4-year-old ‘downtime’ when he’s contently playing with Legos or watching a video to relax.
This is working for me. I’m almost convinced that the whole ‘shower-in-the-morning’ thing is a bit overrated.
Of course, it does throw you curve balls sometimes, like the other day when I came out of the shower upstairs and looked downstairs… and saw complete darkness…
and immediately thought, ‘The power didn’t go off. The lights are on up here.’
Then I heard laughing,
and more laughing.
I quickly changed from my towel to my PJs, since I had just eclipsed the 10-minute-limit, which has become the amount of time that I don’t need to be:
making a snack,
reminding my son where he put his shoes,
finding a lost toy,
or answering questions like, “Mommy, do fish get cold in the Winter?”
My mind raced… We have this routine down, what’s throwing a wrench in it? I get 10-minutes-a-day to clean myself, a basic human need… and mommy-rite;
that’s the agreement.
I called downstairs, “What’s going on?”
“Daddy and I are exploring with flashlights!”
Of course… silly me.
When Nicole isn’t scheduling her bathing time, she’s concentrating on the ‘good stuff’ over at BananaBlueberry.
