Hellobee Boards

"Are you going to climb into the bath yourself or do you need me to help you in?" Still no? "Do you need two more minutes before you get into the bath?" Usually, that's a yes, and then I say "Are you going to climb into the bath yourself or do you need me to help you in?" To which he usually says I'll get in.

I remind her that we do not talk to mommy that way, ask her to apologize, and then do something similar to @winniebee:, ask her if she wants to get in the bath herself or if I'll need to put her in there.

ETA to address your follow up to Winniebee, if she still refuses I physically put her in the bath and wash her as quickly as possible and if she wants to fight and cry the whole time that's her choice. I remind her the whole time that I'm sorry she's unhappy but we need to take a bath and get clean and try to offer bath toys or distract her/calm her anyway I can. Though the physical aspect of that battle is getting tougher at 32 weeks pregnant!

I take a similar approach to @winniebee:, and if he still refuses I tell him I'm going to turn on the water. He usually freaks out and says he wants to turn the water on, and willingly climbs in. One of the times the "I want to do it all by myself!" thing works in my favor (we usually let him turn it on, and then I check the temp). On the off chance that he still refuses, I say "Okay, if you don't take a bath then you can't read stories tonight", and that will get him in without a fight.

DS did this last night. Usually he loves bathtime and he wasn't interested and seemed tired. So first I tried to convince him with bubbles (which he loves). Then I told him that I'm going to go in the bathroom (he doesn't like to be left alone). When that all fails, we say "ok, time for pajamas and bed time."

Baths are not worth the fight to me. He takes one almost every day, on the rare occasion that he refuses, I'm not going to physically force him in there.

In that case, I say "either you get in the tub or I'll put you in - which would you prefer?"

I tell her 'we don't say no when mummy asks/tells you to do something', and then acknowledge her feelings (eg 'I know you'd rather keep playing now but if you do a good job in the bath with no fussing, you can continue playing after you're all clean'). I also do the subtle 'threats' as well, although I don't like calling them that - eg I will say 'little girls who don't know how to listen must be tired, and tired little girls need to go to bed as soon as their bath is over'. That usually motivates her to get in the bath.

And despite all this, there are definitely times where the entire bath consists of tears and a massive struggle to get her clean..... Threenagers are no joke!

@BabyBoecksMom: +1! I do the same thing and if she continues to fight me I say "who's the boss?" and she usually pouts and says "mommy's the boss" and she gives in.

@mediagirl: "I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm going to help you get into the tub."

Or, "I hear that you don't want to take a bath, but you need to. I can help you in, or you can try climbing in by yourself."