advertisement
-
Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
- read more
Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
- read more
mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
- read more
- kim nakahodo - Profile | Pictures | Blog
-
American culture is sometimes weird to me, even thought my family has been here for generations and I was born and raised here. What am I talking about? American culture can be kinda…. weird about things.
One of my favorite children’s movies would have to be My Neighbor Totoro from Japan. This movie comes out of Studio Ghibli which can be explained as the Walt Disney Animation company of Japan. Honestly, I think I like Studio Ghibli better than I like most Disney movies though….
Anyway, I bring this up because the Totoro movie has a scene showing the father and his two daughters taking a bath together. This movie is set in a time frame and location (rural Japan) family bathing was (and in many places in Japan still) the way it is. When you had to warm the bath water without a water heater, it’s everyone in the pool for bath time.
I bring this up because we were watching this movie with a few friends of ours and this scene came up and they were kinda mortified. I explained that this was a period movie and their culture was different and I think it helped… but it still struck me as weird that they would think it was weird. Family bathing is not a new concept… in fact it’s only in the last few generations that we started bathing separately as a family.
I won’t lie, if I take a shower when Niko is awake I have about 2-4 minutes of solo shower time until that shower door opens and there’s a toddler ready to climb in with me. I really don’t see anything wrong with it, but I know others think it’s weird to bathe with their children, like it’s wrong or something.
I remember bathing with my mom, not my dad, but this is the American culture thing coming in. I have asked some people if they took baths with their kids and some have said yes… some just look at me weird.
So I gotta ask…. Do you bathe with your kids? If so… when did or do you stop age wise?
I don't think anyone needs to tell you when he is too old to bathe with you - you'll know - believe me - you will know.I bathed with all of mine. Now my husband only bathed with our son. I agree with the previous comment, you just kinda know. It was different with all of them. I think the average might have been around 2.I used to know this German couple. They were young, early 20's, and they met at a nude beach. On a family vacation. With their parents. Both families were totally nude. (Can you *imagine*?) But naked is what you make of it. Raising our kids in the US, they need to be able to fit in and understand societal expectations, but there are probably many ways to handle the situation that result in normal, well-adjusted kids.I'm probably one of those American prudes. I think there is an age where children and parents of the opposite gender shouldn't be bathing together. My girls are still young enough to have Dad helping with potty, etc and they sometimes ask him to give them a shower - he does, but wears his swim trunks.I think bath time was my personal retreat time after the kids went to bed. We showered together once in a while after swimming at the beach, etc. We were at a hotel pool once when a little guy about 4 stripped down and jumped in before his parents could stop him. Actually I think they had the same idea but the horrified reaction of others already in the pool stopped them.I don't remember bathing with my kids, but that doesn't mean I didn't. I don't remember every single thing I ever did with them. I remember giving them baths, and I remember them graduating to showers, but I honestly do not remember sharing a bath with either of them.I personally like my alone time in the shower. Bo doesn't like to shower, he still enjoys baths. That being said, I don't bath with my son because of the fact that he sometimes pees in the water... I just wouldn't feel clean afterwards. I don't even like public pools for that matter, maybe I'm just a germ freak though.My mother tells a story that when my brothers & I were young (pre-school), we'd rush to the bathtub when we heard my 6' tall father start up his bath. I have no idea how he fit 3 kids & himself into the tub.When you asked, I would've said no...but we started potty training my daughter this week, and we've already had two showers together this week. Sometimes, it's just the simplest way! I let her see me in various states of dress, and don't plan on changing much as she gets older. If we have sons, it'll change after they are about 3, I think. I would want sons to always remember respecting women's and girls' privacy and modesty.
May 2013 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Tagstoddler (21)
thoughts (20)
first time mom (13)
advice (10)
mom (7)
worries (7)
rant (6)
career (5)
retail (5)
boy (4)
daycare (4)
discipline (4)
fatty (4)
food (4)
moving (4)
pregnancy (4)
story (4)
stress (4)
baby (3)
birth (3)
birthday (3)
cat (3)
christmas (3)
concern (3)
disney (3)
emergency (3)
family (3)
kids (3)
mothers day (3)
pregnant (3)
sick (3)
son (3)
toddlers (3)
widow (3)
working (3)
almitra (2)
anger (2)
asthma (2)
autism (2)
bathroom (2)
big (2)
biracial (2)
car (2)
car trip (2)
choice (2)
crawling (2)
daddy (2)
first (2)
friends (2)
fun (2)
grandparents (2)
holiday shopping (2)
horror stories (2)
job (2)
laughing (2)
lovely (2)
milk (2)
mmr (2)
new job (2)
night out (2)
poop (2)
road trip (2)
room (2)
school (2)
schools (2)
spending (2)
teething (2)
toys (2)
travel (2)
vote (2)
wedding (2)
whine (2)
work (2)
18 (1)
alter (1)
amber (1)
american (1)
angry (1)
anyone (1)
aunts (1)
babies (1)
back (1)
bath (1)
becoming your mom (1)
bed (1)
behavior (1)
beyonce (1)
big love (1)
bilingual (1)
bills (1)
birthdays (1)
black friday (1)
blog (1)
blood (1)
boys (1)
bragging (1)
breaking (1)
budget (1)
cable (1)
cable company (1)
cancer (1)
candy (1)
car seat (1)
challenge (1)
child safety (1)
chirstmas (1)
chores (1)
clawson (1)
cleaning (1)
community (1)
cookbooks (1)
cooking (1)
cosleeping (1)
cousins (1)
crap (1)
cravings (1)
croup (1)
crying (1)
culture (1)
cynical (1)
dad (1)
date (1)
debt (1)
dentist (1)
dh (1)
diaper changing (1)
diet (1)
disaster (1)
dishwasher (1)
divorce (1)
doctor (1)
doctors (1)
dog (1)
drama (1)
drinking (1)
drive-in (1)
driving (1)
easter (1)
eating (1)
ebt (1)
economy (1)
elections (1)
elf (1)
entertaining (1)
er (1)
exercise (1)
expensive (1)
facebook (1)
fairy tales (1)
faith (1)
fat (1)
fears (1)
federal (1)
first birthday (1)
first day (1)
flight (1)
flu (1)
formula (1)
from (1)
frustrated (1)
frustration (1)
funding (1)
fundraiser (1)
fundraisers (1)
furlough (1)
future (1)
games (1)
garage sales (1)
gear (1)
gift (1)
girls (1)
give (1)
golden girls (1)
government (1)
growing up (1)
guest (1)
guilt (1)
guns (1)
hair (1)
hair cut (1)
halloween (1)
hater (1)
hatred (1)
hbo (1)
healthcare (1)
help (1)
hero (1)
hippy (1)
hoax (1)
home (1)
homeopathic (1)
homework (1)
hormone (1)
horror (1)
house project (1)
husband (1)
idol chit chat (1)
imdb (1)
infant clothes (1)
insurance (1)
internet (1)
interracial (1)
iphone (1)
issues (1)
jealous (1)
job loss (1)
jobs (1)
junk (1)
kc (1)
king (1)
labor (1)
late (1)
laundry (1)
learning spanish (1)
lets (1)
lets move (1)
list (1)
local (1)
locks of love (1)
long distance (1)
m2m meet-up (1)
magazines (1)
marriage (1)
mcdonald (1)
memories (1)
michael jackson (1)
milwaukee (1)
mistakes (1)
moms day (1)
move (1)
movies (1)
multiple kids (1)
multiple moms (1)
names (1)
natural (1)
nerd (1)
new friends (1)
new house (1)
new mom (1)
newborn (1)
night (1)
nighttime (1)
obese (1)
obesity (1)
obsession (1)
octomom (1)
opinion (1)
organic (1)
organic milk (1)
parenting (1)
parents as teachers (1)
park (1)
parties (1)
party (1)
pet (1)
peter pan (1)
phase (1)
phone (1)
pictures (1)
pixar (1)
plan (1)
playgroup (1)
politics (1)
poll (1)
potty (1)
pre-teen (1)
pregancy (1)
prepare (1)
preparedness (1)
presents (1)
pride (1)
priorities (1)
public service (1)
raw milk (1)
real estate (1)
reality check (1)
relationships (1)
restaurant (1)
returing to work (1)
ronald (1)
safety (1)
sahm (1)
sayings (1)
scary (1)
school district (1)
second (1)
second baby (1)
sex (1)
shelf (1)
shooter (1)
shower (1)
sickness (1)
side (1)
silly (1)
sleeping (1)
sleeping through the nigh (1)
sleepless (1)
sleepovers (1)
soap box (1)
soft (1)
soul (1)
spanish (1)
spongebob (1)
strollers (1)
summer (1)
tantrums (1)
taxes (1)
temper tantrums (1)
terminal (1)
terror (1)
texting (1)
thankful (1)
thanks (1)
things (1)
three (1)
time (1)
tips (1)
tooth (1)
tornado (1)
toy story (1)
trisomy (1)
tv (1)
uncles (1)
vacation (1)
vaccinations (1)
vaccines (1)
valentine (1)
vampire (1)
vegetarian (1)
veteran (1)
video (1)
villan (1)
visit (1)
vocabulary (1)
weather (1)
wills (1)
wondering (1)
working moms (1)
yo gabba=gabba (1)
young (1)
zombie (1)