Bathing, Rituals
When was the last time your bath was this much fun?
Your two year old boy has been playing fiercely after dinner and was running around outside in the yard this afternoon. It is finally time to wind down and get ready for bed and your quiet time hopefully.
You carry him upstairs squealing with laughter as you tickle him and sing to him that its bath time.
You run the warm water in the tub while you undress him and test the water with your elbow to make sure it’s just the right temp.
You toss in his rubber duckies and a few boats and slide him into the warm water. You both drive the boats around the tub and sing about 3 men in a tub. You splash each other a bit and laugh and giggle.
Then you soap up a wash cloth so it’s all nice and soapy. Next you play with his toes and feet and get them all sudsy and then wash his belly and back. Soon he is squeaky clean all over and is finally quieting down. You both sing a song together about that spider and watch the water spiraling down the drain as you dry him with a fluffy towel. You breathe in his sweet smelling skin.
You pick him up and carry him to his room and then rock him for a few moments to help him drift off to sleep. You lay him down and tip toe out of the room and close the door.
You think to yourself OK I need a bath and someone to run the warm water and help me relax. And then the next thing on your to do list pops up and you move on.
Can you remember the last time you ran the warm water for yourself? When have you climbed into that tub to relax and play in the water?
We all remember that woman in the Calgon commercial where she says Calgon take me away…. But what if we did not let ourselves get taken away but simply shut the door on the world for twenty minutes or an hour. What if we just let ourselves be present with ourselves and just be?
Too many times we take a shower. We rush in, soap and rinse and then rush out.
What about the fun of just being in the water and playing and being with ourselves. Not escaping who we are but finding who we are?
What if we carved out some time for ourselves to just be?
One Comment
The Nova Studio
I also like spending “me” time right before I go to sleep – reading a good book, usually! Hmmm but a bath…I might have to indulge this evening 😉