Current Events > Would you find it weird for a Parent to shower with their 4 year old?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The other topic went the fuck off the rails, so the discussion never took off.

I was never around naked bodies to memory. As such, when I got old enough to be curious, I went to the wrong sources and my whole view regarding nudity and sexuality is pretty fucked.

I'm more surprised that a 4 year old is showering.

AlveinFencer posted...

I'm more surprised that a 4 year old is showering.

I remember taking showers around 4 on my own because my mom thought I was getting too old to take baths back to back/with my dad at that age, and a shower was much faster.

itachi15243 posted...

I remember taking showers around 4 on my own because my mom thought I was getting too old to take baths back to back/with my dad at that age, and a shower was much faster.

Baths are also not as clean.

Best bath approach is to shower (off, at least) first, then bathe.

Baths are good for kids for the play time aspect tho.

Bathing your four year old isnt weird. Bathing with them is up for a lot of debate, apparently.

I did not exactly shower with a parent, just I don't remember at what age I did shower completely without help.

wackyteen posted...

Baths are also not as clean.

Best bath approach is to shower (off, at least) first, then bathe.

Baths are good for kids for the play time aspect tho.

Its also easier to help kids in a bath. Not so much a shower. Plus holy crap do kids manage to waste a ton of shampoo, soap, etc when they are young. Theyd manage to use a ton and still not be clean. Just went down the drain.

I don't think it is. I never bathed/showered with my son, only supervised him. But I know that some families do bathe together.

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Its only weird to a select few groups of people who have ulterior and unfounded suspicions about the act, the parent, and even the child.

I don't find it weird but I can understand why many would. It largely depends on culture and I'm sure there are many cultures where bathing together into puberty isn't that weird.

Very disturbing to me, I don't want my kids to have memories of my junk. I struggle to find a reason why any parent would get butt ass naked and share a shower with their kid.

No. Kids honestly need to learn how to bathe properly and taking them together with a person of the same sex is a good idea when they're very young.

When I worked in juvenile justice, there were 10 and 12 year old boys that didn't understand they had to actually wash their butts. When they showered. They would literally come out of the shower smelling like crap. My superior had to actually show certain kids how to bathe. Of course these kids didn't have parents to teach that kind of stuff.

wackyteen posted...

Baths are also not as clean.

Best bath approach is to shower (off, at least) first, then bathe.

Baths are good for kids for the play time aspect tho.

Didn't learn this until I started watching Anime. Showering before bathing sounded like a waste of water before I really understood.

voldothegr8 posted...

Very disturbing to me, I don't want my kids to have memories of my junk. I struggle to find a reason why any parent would get butt ass naked and share a shower with their kid.

So they have healthy, informed views of what normal nudity with a trusted adult looks like? Instead of seeking out adult websites full of unrealistic portrayals of people's bodies (and since the two almost always come together on said websites, unrealistic portrayals of human sexual behavior).

wackyteen posted...

So they have healthy, informed views of what normal nudity with a trusted adult looks like? Instead of seeking out adult websites full of unrealistic portrayals of people's bodies (and since the two almost always come together on said websites, unrealistic portrayals of human sexual behavior).

There are numerous healthy ways to accomplish that without exposing yourself to them.

In general no, & I acknowledge that some cultures treat this as a norm, but men definitely shouldn't do it, especially with daughters. It's not fair, but that's the reality.

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This.

I dunno, I guess if there were a context for it that made sense.

For example, if you were to tell me this is what everyone does in some country I didn't already know the bathing norms of, it would we kinda like "Really? Ok I guess." Or maybe for some reason the kid's doc recommended cold showers for a week and the parent doesn't want them to have to do it alone. Or something.

But if this were, you know, my next door neighbor and this is just SOP in their household, yeah, I'm gonna call that weird. Probably not "call CPS" weird, but certainly "now why would you do that" kind of weird.

I remember my dad making me wash his back. I didn't understand why until I got older and wasn't flexible enough to reach it.

voldothegr8 posted...

There are numerous healthy ways to accomplish that without exposing yourself to them.

Im not saying a parent should be running around flopping their bits around all day in front of their kids.

Just that in the context of a shower or an acceptable place for (co-ed) nudity, it shouldn't be a big deal and can be informative and (possibly) trust building.

No. Frankly I question those that do find it weird.

My former stepfather told me that he wanted me to get in the shower with him. I instantly knew he was going to molest me and ran to my mom. I was lucky she dissuaded him to go through with it.

So, yes. It's very problematic.

I don't think it's weird but I'm also not American

DementedDurian posted...

My former stepfather told me that he wanted me to get in the shower with him. I instantly knew he was going to molest me and ran to my mom. I was lucky she dissuaded him to go through with it.

So, yes. It's very problematic.

There's a decidedly different set of relationship rules that govern biological parents and step parents, though.

I showered with my mom till I was like 6 years old
Didn't think it was weird tbh

Idk. I don't really like the idea of bathing with your kids after a certain age. Some people genuinely have no shyness about nudity though. For some, it's just body parts no different than your arms and legs.

I also wouldn't be surprised if there was an overlap between people who bath with their kids and moms that breastfeed even into the toddler years.

wackyteen posted...

There's a decidedly different set of relationship rules that govern biological parents and step parents, though.

This 100%. My son is fine with me or my ex (his mom) seeing him in the bath, but he is aware that my girlfriend should not be seeing him naked, as she is different from his biological mom.

It's pretty normal for biological parents to bathe/shower with their small children.

wackyteen posted...

Baths are also not as clean.

Best bath approach is to shower (off, at least) first, then bathe.

Baths are good for kids for the play time aspect tho.

Yup. Used to do that all the time after playing sports. Long day of practice or games, come home and get all the nasty off me then just chill in a bath for a while.

For the topic, not at all.

there's nothing wrong with being a human being. i think it's crazy that american and modern day culture has grown so scared of being human and everything being sexual, despite the grotesque infatuation with violence and harmful chemicals.

to me, it's weirder when people grow up so scared of their own species that they live in fear that anyone could possibly see them nude unless it's strictly and prohibited related to something sexual. that's just strange.

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

there's nothing wrong with being a human being. i think it's crazy that american and modern day culture has grown so scared of being human and everything being sexual, despite the grotesque infatuation with violence and harmful chemicals.

to me, it's weirder when people grow up so scared of their own species that they live in fear that anyone could possibly see them nude unless it's strictly and prohibited related to something sexual. that's just strange.

Gotta be able to sell sex.

Also gotta get you to think as inhumanely as possible all the time so you forgive and excuse the inhumane actions the rich and powerful get up to.

I don't have a bathtub in my house, just a shower. So something like this is probably going to have to happen with my kid.

It's getting towards the point it's a bit weird, but I wouldn't say it's quite there.

It's probably ok. Tbh I have no clue where the limit is supposed to be in what is considered to be normal in such matters. Then again I don't intend to ever have children, so fortunately I personally won't ever have to worry about stuff like this.

I never showered with a parent or anything, but I remember my mom helping me take baths as a kid. I think it's a little weird to shower together based upon my experiences, but I wouldn't call it wrong.

not weird considering the history of humans involved much weirder shit

My parents took photos of us in the bath.