These days, I am usually the one who bathes our boys. I feel like my wife has “stylishly” allocated that responsibility to me, and I am determined to fight for my rights…๐๐๐. This routine should ordinarily be fun except that I’m the undesired one when it comes to bathing and dressing them up. The boys always want Mummy to bathe them…but Mummy is usually busy with something else, so what they mostly get is Daddy.
The other big issue is that my boys still fight the concept of bathing – every day and every night! They think it’s all okay to play as much as they want to and get dirty if playing calls for it, but that bathing should be optional and they can determine when they bathe and who bathes them. Food, play, sleep, and everything else is considered a priority over bathing. No, guys! That’s not how life works, and I’m here to help ease you into that reality…as gently as I can ๐.
Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that I am pretty thorough with most tasks, including bathing baby boys ๐. We can also agree that I don’t consider bathing time play time – possibly explains why Mummy is preferred. I consider bathing the boys a messy routine task we need to get through as quickly and efficiently as possible. We could have a little fun on the side if they cooperate and are friendly. But with screams and tears, we need to minimize the hullabaloo.
So this is me saying I don’t want to do the bathing as much as they don’t want to be bathed. It is just an essential task we need to get through, and we can have fun or cry through it, but we’ll do it all the same. We’ll sort out our differences later on, whether over food, TV, or just good old play. And if we can free up Mummy’s time to do the bathing (which I have a hunch she’s dodging…don’t tell her this), then everyone’s happy and the universe is at equilibrium.
In case you were waiting for the lessons or analogy from this piece, there is none. Feel free to draw your lessons or conclusion, or just enjoy the gist. All I know is that I can’t wait to stop bathing boys who don’t want to be bathed (by me). And no one else should tell me I will miss this time of their life when it’s past. Thank you for that insight, but I don’t care right now. Everyone should grow up and take care of themselves. Bye!