Best way to give kids showers....

[2preschoolers]

We'll be on Carnival's Liberty and I haven't been on a ship in a good 10 yrs! We'll have a 2 1/2 and 4 yr old....what's the best/easiest/safest way to get them showered? There are no baths.... :( and I imagine it's pretty tight in the bathroom for mom to be in there trying to shower them. So give me your best toddler showering tips!!! THANKS!

[beckyjohns]

It's tight, but doable. I can't remember if the showers have detachable showers heads or not, but we did the shower with mom thing with our 20-month olds.

[s318830]

I've showered with them both, and I've also just knelt on the floor on a folded towel and used the hand-held sprayer (making sure to keep the water pointed away from the open). It works fine. Some people will suggest bringing a blow up tub, but I didn't find it necessary.

[cb at sea]

Many folks will bring some sort of tub...depending on how large the child is! If it's "hard-sided", it can be placed in the suitcase, and everything packed inside of it!

 

Some kids just totally freak out in a shower, even with the hand held type. You may want to start getting them used to it at home!

[WideOpenOcean]

Definitely get them used to showers beforehand if they aren't already! Our girl loved showers already at 20 mos. The ships we've been on had the detatchable hand held shower, which makes a big difference. We did both the shower with mom and then the kneeling just outside the shower.

 

I'm looking forward to our trip this October...now that's she's five, she can do a lot of the scrubbing herself! :)

[kokonutkroozer]

My DS has always hated the showers, but we love to cruise. What to do?! He is still terrorized by any kind of water on his face but it is definitely easier with the handheld. I tell him to look up to the ceiling (to prevent water and shampoo from running into the eyes) and as an extra safety precaution, he holds a facecloth over his face to keep the drips away. This has gotten us through many anxiety episodes. Fortunately, he is older now (age 8) and easier to reason with and now he is looking forward to cruise #7 :)

 

Maria

[CeleBrat]

It's super-easy, especially since the shower head is a detachable hand-held one.

 

Step 1--Undress child and have them stand in shower.

Step 2--Take shower head off of pole, turn on water, and wet down child.

Step 3--TURN WATER OFF

Step 4--Shampoo their hair and soap up their body.

Step 5--Again detach shower head, turn water on, and rinse everything off.

 

Our kids became full time shower-takers because of cruising. They haven't taken a bath in years!

 

CeleBrat

[harryfat1]

Buy a kid’s shower hat – opens in the middle – so that the soap doesn't get into the eyes and make them even more irritable. Start with the feet and hands to work the way up to the head get them slowly accustomed to the shower head. If they have rubber duckie or whatever bath toys, have them give the water toy a shower so they know it’s not a scary experience.

 

Since we have 2 boys, when they were young, I stay inside the shower with each of them and then my wife takes them out and dry them. After the second one is done, then I take a shower. But now the boys are older, I just stand outside the curtain area to supervise and help out as needed.

[Punchie]

Our DD (age 3) doesn't like showers, but when there's no other option, we'll wet her down, turn off the water, soap/shampoo, give her a handtowel to cover her face, turn the water on and rinse off. We have never used a shower w/ one of the handheld jobbies.

[jerseygirl79]

Has anyone ever used the sink? I remember as a kid turning on the water, soaping the cloth and scrubbing down. Then rinsing out the cloth and rinsing my body. The key was not using too much soap or you'd be there for a while rinsing, LOL. This might be a good option for little kids.

[tropiclvrs]

The easiest way to do it in my opinion is to shower with mom or dad. We just returened with our 2 and 4 year old and it worked out well. Of course, exactly how feasible this is depends on the size of mom and dad. You don't have to be super skinny (I'm not) for it to work though.

[Julienatul]

We bring along the inflatable duck tub (target/walmart) 9.99. It fits perfect in the shower bottom and stand up against the wall when not in use. We also used it as a baby pool on deck before DD was potty trained.

 

http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?pID=168&section=prodCategories&ID=10000&li=1

[gummyvites]

My kids are now 10 and 7, so this isn't a problem anymore. But I remember making it a game as much as possible. I'd use a fun sing-song voice, "Oh, look! It's raining! Let's play in the rain!" and we'd sing "Singing in the rain" and such.

 

Also, give them a plastic cup to fill. They loved standing in the shower filling and dumping the cup while I washed them from the outside. You can even put a dab of shampoo in the cup and let it foam and then they can dump it on their own head. My daughter hates (even now) to have me scrub her head, but if she could do it herself, she liked it better. Of course, it doesn't get done as well, but sometimes you have to let go a bit. :rolleyes:

 

I'm a huge advocate of making everything a game. I've never tried those bath paints (my kids have skin sensitivities), but maybe that would help, too?

[neekaemt]

my daughter doesnt like water in her eyes or ears at all. so i bought a pair of swim goggles and she uses those when she showers instead of a bath. then she just holds her hands over her ears and will let me scrub her down with no complaints

[crusinmama06]

The easiest way to do it in my opinion is to shower with mom or dad. We just returened with our 2 and 4 year old and it worked out well. Of course, exactly how feasible this is depends on the size of mom and dad. You don't have to be super skinny (I'm not) for it to work though.

 

Yep, this is what I do on ships now. When my kids were younger (babies) we brought the duck tub. Now that the youngest is 5, still too small to shower herself, then I just put her in with me. It's doable. And yes, the shower heads are removable.

[PeggyMc]

I wished I would have practiced showering with my 3 & 5 year olds BEFORE their first cruise. It is much more comforting to have the first experience at home and then adapt to smaller cabin & unfamiliar surrounding later.

We had always had tub baths at home.

[poppan]

I hadn't thought of the towel over the face idea -- will have to try it! We had to take a shower for a week in a dorm room with a non-adjustable, not removable shower head. We ended up filling a bucket up with water and using a large plastic cup to scoop the water and rinse them off that way. It was a lot less intimidating (to the kids) than the shower head which had a hard, needle-like spray.