Bath Tub Photos (And Other Reasons Your Bath is a Secret Weapon)

So in case you haven't figured it out around here, my writing tends to be a bit, hmm...emotional? This is my diary, folks. My grown-up diary. Remember that thing you shoved under your pillow addressed "Dear Diary" (I actually did that. As if I needed to “write” to someone. It always felt really awkward too.) where you spilled out all your angsty teenage thoughts that no one would EVER understand. Sigh.

I have found the grown-up equivalent to that, but instead of shoving those thoughts under my pillow I am posting them to the world. Heart stapled right there on my sleeve. I am okay with this. I enjoy reading the thoughts and reflections by others, especially when it tugs at me, moves my head up and down in total agreement, puts into words what my heart and head had not worked out yet. And I think maybe others might appreciate this from me, as well. So it can get a little emotional around here.

To break it up, I could recommend reading a book on say Fundamental of Chemical Engineering on Thermodynamics, or something of the sort. Or, I could give you bath photos.

The bath time is not a new secret I just discovered. It has widely been used in countless expert driven parenting sources as an important step for the ideal bedtime routine to not only rid the child of the toxins built up from the day’s activities but also to lull the young child into a blissful 12 hours of endless sleep comfortably and willingly. We all know how I feel about that.  

I have actually found bath time to have a few other great attributes beyond the parenting handbooks.

First off, the bath is the hot tub, pool, and waterpark you never knew you had. It is the answer to the 5-o’clock-boredom whines, the fighting-over-toys screams and the is-dad-ever-going-to-be-home-or-am-i-going-to-be-stuck-in-this-endless-pit-of-whiny-screamy-small-people-forever cries (that one is me.) The same properties utilized for calming the goats at bedtime are equally effective at other hairy times of the day. Morning, noon, and night – we use bath time for all. I have even been known to set up the video monitor in the bathroom while I ran around cleaning my house. Don’t call Child Protective on me, please. Also, only use if your child is more like my first, who would sit quietly and talk to her menagerie during bath play, rather than my second, who prefers risking his life by standing and dumping buckets of water over the side, only after gulping buckets of water.

Second tip, the bath tub is a very excellent tool when traveling in a hotel, especially when you packed your swimming suits and promised pool time only to discover pool is “closed for repairs” for the duration of your trip. In fact, the bath tub is actually far superior to the hotel pool because in the bath pool you can happily sip your coffee in the morning or cocktail in the afternoon without the hassle of any side eye from hotel staff or patrons.  

Finally, the most practical tip here, the bath tub is the perfect back drop for photos. Taking pictures of my kids in the bath tub is actually one of my favorite spaces. First off they are very well contained so your probability of capturing them in the frame goes up exponentially. Second, generally a bath tub is very white with tiles and tub and perhaps shower curtain liner. White is your friend in photography. It reflects light, even when there is no light. I have zero windows in my bathroom but I am still able to capture good photos, especially when I turn them into black and white (another tip that fixes all weird color in a photo.) Get up high, too. The water surrounding your tiny little people is perfection. Also, the bath tub is a space that doesn’t change much so it makes capturing your child’s growth that much more obvious over the years.  

Finally, kids are just so adorable in the water. Their smiles are big, the water hangs on their face and their eye lashes highlighting those sweet baby faces. And they smell so so good when they get out.

All of the heart eye emojis.