LOl, cawfee,

I had the same thing with all my birth children, all boys, regarding showers.

I promise you, the situation will resolve itself, right about the time they turn thirteen and start wanting the girls to like them.

NO matter what kind of pleading I did, they would delay, or "forget" to shower, and resisted. As soon as they starts to like a particular girl, and she mentions to them about how they smell, it WILL change.

When they refuse, just grab a brandy, and repeat over and over to yourself.....this will change soon......this will change soon.

My son used to argue about showering and I just did not let up. The whining got less and less and eventually showering became not such a big deal. My skids never really argued about showering. Growing up though I remember one of my sisters used to throw a fit about showering. My mom just about had to throw her into the tub or shower!! It got to the point where my mom would not let my sister do anything till she showered!! My sis would come home from school, do homework, and then my mom would tell her to shower...no dinner, tv, toys, etc till she was showered. My sister was stubborn, but eventually she gave in. Now that we are adults I still joke with her about it!

My skids and biokid shower every other day in the winter, unless they are dirty. When my sd's are on their period I tell them to shower daily, for good hygiene and they don't object.

I guess it is like anything else....just stand your ground and eventually they will realize they have no choice.

Good luck!!

I think this is really common with alot of children. I know w/ my little girl, I put cups, bubble bath, & shaving cream so she could make us soup & milkshakes in the shower. Otherwise, it was a bit of a fight. I eventually had to limit the time in the shower. With my skids..the youngest at 10 would shower w/ fun stuff in there but the 12 year old girl hated taking them. It wasn't really an issue, as long as she didn't stink. I wasn't going to say anything. My DH did think it was a big deal though & he would tell her a bunch of times & I didn't like that. Just like you with the bickering & parent constantly asking. I think that is a bit much. Have you tried withholding whatever they're doing until after a shower? Like no Playstation until a shower is taken....no room for discussion either, no t.v. until all showers are taken. I like things black and white. I think kids at that age do need a little motivation. They act like water will melt them. I think especially with boys. I have smelled some terrible socks at ChuckECheese & it's usually boys. Let me know how it goes as I have 3 of them growing quickly. There's no way I would battle for 2 hours or want to listen to it. Make it black & white, no room for discussion.

Our kids definately wouldn't take a shower if we didnt make them ..but we make them take a shower every night. Especially with the boys. If they don't take a shower and wear deoderant every night then they stink to high heaven. And there is nothing worse than smelly kids :-) There have been days when their mom hasn't made them take a shower and then the next day the come home from school smelling wretched. My husband simply told the boys look you are to old for all of this nonsense you HAVE to take a shower everyday otherwise you stink. And do you really want to go to school stinking... you know kids will make fun of you. Fortunately, (and unfortunately) the oldest doesnt have a major problem with it anymore...but now his showers are like an hour long if you dont force him to get out ( i will never understand what he does in there for an hour but..) It helped a little when we bought them each their own little kit the boys have deoderant body spray shower gel and shampoo (and we just added hair product)... the girls have shower gel shampoo lotion and bath beads that change the bath water colors... The only problem we have now is that the boys spray WAY to much body spray So I have to remind them everyday that one little squirt is all they need. This is not really my favorite phase that they are in (the too much body spray/cologne/perfume) because it gives me a major headache. The girls are not allowed perfume because it is too much for me and they are too young to know how much to put on... so they have the scented lotion. I have had issues where i have told the boys to get in the shower and and hour later I come by and nothing has been done.. In which case, I turn everything off..tv radio all is off until they get done what I want done. I am usually saying "you can do what you want after you do what I asked you to do until then to bad"

My house is all female. We have more issues with running out of hot water. The question is how many times a day do some people shower.

so true kkny. Raising a girl is different. My problem was how much shampoo, soap etc I can buy a month Bottles and bottles and everything is gone again!. And long showers...Oh my. "Get out of the shower!!!!It's been 20 minutes!!!". lol

I am loathing when the girls get older... I already go through a ton of shampoo and conditioner because I have very thick long hair...oh well... we shall see :-)

fyi: my kids all take a shower before they go to bed at night (every night)... as long as the boys don't forget to put deoderant on before they go to bed they are good to go... there have been times when they have forgotten and they had to take a shower the next morning before school. I personally shower every morning before work and usually each night before bed (I just dont wash my hair at night)but then we live in florida and you can break out in a sweat standing outside for 5 minutes in the winter with the way our weather goes.

I have bought them all their own "kits" for the shower... in a tote with different soaps, loofas, deodorants, food coloring for the bath water, all the fun stuff ... tub toys even though they are a little old for them... anything to get them in there.

I have basically stayed out of this battle for about as long as I can take it .... tuesday night the 3 of them sat at the dinner table whining about showering ... I couldn't eat walked away from the table. It started early that night.... he normally waits till about 7 to "remind" them about showers.... but he had to go out that night so he reminded them at dinner. Ruined my dinner and night. :(

The kicker is .... once they are in the shower we have to drag 2 of them out .... SS12 hubby has to tell him just about everytime "you spend more time arguing why you don't need one than it takes you to take one".

I will give some of these suggestions to hubby.... for him to handle it.... shutting the house down, no dinner, no activites until showers are complete ... there are bigger battles for me to get into with them this is not one I want to take part in.

We have an "on demand" hot water system as long as the hot water is on the boiler runs and heats the water so we don't have that issue. Issue would be running out of oil so no heat or hot water. :)

My boys took baths and they loved them, never had a problem. I choose my battles carefully and bathing everyday is not important unless you have one in diapers or small children playing in dirt. A doctor told my brother in law not to bathe everyday, it's hard on the skin. I am not going to fight with my steps over not bathing everyday, there to many more important things to worry about.

My kids are teenagers and early 20's so they shower at least once a day on their own.

My step daughter on the other hand hates showering. She will get in and out in literally two or three minutes. She usually has shampoo left in her hair. I don't remember having that much trouble with my kids and she's come up with some 'out there' excuses.

Just yesterday, she told my husband that she heard that she shouldn't take showers because the lightening will strike her in the shower (because of the water?) and she could die. She says she saw that on the internet at her mom's house.

A few days ago, after she got out in two minutes, she told us that there was no hot water left. I turned on the sink and when the hot water steamed out, she said 'oh'. She couldn't think of a response.

We've tried many things to get her to take a good shower (ie. wash herself and get all the shampoo out of her hair) and nothing has worked so far. (and of course she complains to her mom that we MAKE her take a shower everyday so she doesn't take one at her mom's house on those weekends.)

My kids didn't shower everyday, and my youngest daughter's doctor told her to shower only once a week in the winter when she was younger, because her skin is very dry. I often had to remind the kids to shower when they were young, but it wasn't a major battle. Once they became teenagers, especially the girls, they would take plenty of inconveniently long showers - especially inconvenient when you have only one bathroom.

With my son I don't have to remind him to take a shower, he's always the first one there at night or the first in the mornings. He's a guys guy, loves doing guy things, but he's very clean. Probably because I was a single mom for 10 1/2 of his 11 years and dirt isn't something I want hanging out in the house since the both of us have allergies.

It makes no sense to me, but then again I'm female and feel gross if I don't have a shower at least once a day. Twice if I go to the gym or have my period.

SD takes incredulously long showers now, but when she came to live with us she didn't. Not until I started putting nice shower gels, razors, nice shave gel, and good shampoos and the such in her shower. Between the two of us it's easy to spend $250 a month on shower stuff, makeup, and hair products and that's not including the guy's stuff. DH loves the Paul Mitchell tea tree shampoo and conditioner and so does my son. Luckily they both have short hair and a bottle lasts over a month. Shower gel is another story though....

I think this is a very common problem at this age. Then they become teens and run the hot water tank dry twice a day! At this age all you can do is be consistent and insist they shower on the days that have been set shower nights..Maybe no tv untill they shower? Make those nights a special treat night..After everyone has showered. Pop corn make your own sundeas? The rule is everyone has to be showered it might put pressure on them from each other to hurry up so we can have the treat..

Mom of 4...Dotz is quite jealous of you today after being hip deep in snow all day, breaking a sweat with all the in and out shoveling of 12 inches of snow today!!!Wish I was standing out in the Florida sunshine, instead of running in for computer breaks between new snowfall, one more quick pass with the snowblower, then I will be in to shower off the sweat!!!LOL For the record, when I was a girl, you had to drag me kicking and screaming into the shower, my boy never had to be coaxed...Got up and took a shower every day before school..Lucky me:)

So last night ... 7PM hubby says its shower time.

SD9 and SS10 fighting their way into the shower first...
Somehow SS12 got in before both of them.

By 8 PM every one had shower and not one battle other than them arguing who could go first ... ah a peaceful night!!!

Lets hope it lasts!!!!