Teaching kids to wash themselves - awkward question

[meredithlinda]

DH is the one who washes our kids, and is teaching our 4 year old how to wash herself in the shower,.

Obviously the way you wash yourself, and the attention you pay to various areas is a very personal thing, but I find I do things very differently to my DH. Before I get into a discussion with him about what habits he is teaching I wanted to see where everyone else stands, to be fair.

Now this is kind of awkward to ask, and I'm really not asking for personal info, I'm happy for this to be an anonymous poll. In fact I considered making a new account before asking this, but then I thought it would probably be seen as trolling and be removed.

And if no one responds - thats ok too, I completely understand!

So here it is - when you are washing around your butt and genitals in the shower, do you do a good basic wash around all the areas and leave it at that, or do you reach in between butt cheeks etc and wash as far in as you can, sticking soap into all the crevices?

[Just Add Water]

Depends on my mood I guess :lol:

With kids though they do tend to just figure it out for themselves. We always kept it very light, yet factual "You need to clean between your legs and make sure your bottom is clean otherwise it will get sore". Same as when it came to drying - they need to make sure they dry it or it gets sore.

I wouldn't stress about it too much - I'm guessing that your DH has pretty good hygiene given you've had kids with him so he must be doing something right

[nothanksbye]

LOL..

I dont stick soap in my crevices..

But I do use my washer/puff and give a clean which does involve reaching in.

But with dd, she does a wash and does not pull aside any bits.

[HowCrazyCool]

I just teach dsd to lightly soap up a face washer and gently rub over vagina area. And in the bum crack, just a rub with the face washer. Not deep or to close to her bum Nothing more then a quick wipe sort of thing.
Thats the way i wash though. So im not sure if should be any different. Gets me by.


Good over all clean.

[SassyMummy]

Soap isn't good for your vagina - it's not pH-balanced and can cause infections.

We use a pH-balanced body wash on a puff/sponge thing (what some people will call a loofah, but it's not, it's just a meshy puffy ball thing).

Anyway, I wash my whole body with that, I go over the outsides of my vaginal region... so the outside of my outer labia... and clean inside my labia with just warm water. I don't "douche" my vagina... I just leave the whole entrance alone when cleaning.

For my bum, I usually use the puffy bally thing all over my cheeks and then a little bit inside my crack too. Nothing OTT, just a quick wipe over then rinse. That's just to make sure there's nothnig in there (like bits of fluff from my undies or whatever).

We don't wash our faces with our sponge things though... we use a face washer and a seperate wash (DD doesn't, she only uses water unless she has paint or something on her face, in which case I usually wash it off with tiny dabs of body wash).

[Hollywood]

I use liquid soap on my *hand* (less to wash, and can't stand the thought of bum germs on a facewasher...eww!) and do a good clean, not far up at the front but the rear gets a good go. I teach DS to give his bum a good clean but his penis just needs water, that is all. DS has seen us shower so he copies what we do.

[MummaBear03]

I don't use anything on my face other than water, and use a body wash for everything else. I don't get too carried away though, just a clean around and that's it. You're right, awkward question alright!!!

With DD she is the same but she can't wash herself yet.

[ThreePeasPlease]

I give everything a good go. Always have. I tell my daughter who is 11 to do as well. Personal hygiene for me is equivalent to drinking 2 litres of water a day.

There were 2 incidences that started this off. First when I was 14, I had this male friend who was sleeping with my bestie at the time. One night when we were drunk and discussing oral sex he said "I don't go down on (friends name) because her box stinks". I remember thinking O.M.G.

Then a year later on the topic of sex with some other people someone mentioned that they had dated someone with a "smelly a**". Another O.M.G moment.

These memories have stuck with me ever since and have shaped how I clean myself, because in the back of my mind, of everything that could embarrass the hell out of me, would be these two comments.

[nothanksbye]

I give everything a good go. Always have. I tell my daughter who is 11 to do as well. Personal hygiene for me is equivalent to drinking 2 litres of water a day.

There were 2 incidences that started this off. First when I was 14, I had this male friend who was sleeping with my bestie at the time. One night when we were drunk and discussing oral sex he said "I don't go down on (friends name) because her box stinks". I remember thinking O.M.G.

Then a year later on the topic of sex with some other people someone mentioned that they had dated someone with a "smelly a**". Another O.M.G moment.

These memories have stuck with me ever since and have shaped how I clean myself, because in the back of my mind, of everything that could embarrass the hell out of me, would be these two comments.

lol..but you know neither of those would probably be fixed by soap.
A smell from your vagina usually signifies an infection and most times, soap could strip the area and make it worse.

[Ana Gram]

I'm with Sassy and elvis, you shouldn't use soap on your vagina.