A Cautionary Bath Time Tale

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

07 Aug 2007 03:23 PM

If you parent one child, I'm sure you'll leave this blog thinking this woman is a terrible mother. But for those of us who have more children, while we may not have made the same mistake, that feeling of being overwhelmed and disjointed is not so far distant. Honestly, I can't really judge this mom.

A young mother in Brooklyn was caring for her 11 month old daughter and another two year old and they were getting their daily bath. And then she smelled the rice burning down the hall. As you may guess if you haven't read the story, she went to go stir the rice for just a minute and when she came back, the 11 month old was under water.

The 18 year old mother is now in jail, the infant is on life support but the family remains hopeful. The mother faces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and the family is completely ripped apart.

While bathtub drownings are not all that common, they're not all that rare, and like I pointed out in my blog on leaving your baby in a car. . .the accident is almost always totally preventable.

Getting It All Done

The bottom line is that this mother was trying to do what so many of us multi-tasking moms do. She was trying to bathe the girls, and have lunch ready for them when they got out of the tub. I sympathize that it's not easy.

Here's my little secret for all of you moms that feel like you have to get it all done: You don't. That's right. . .you don't have to get it all done. The housework can wait, lunch can wait, it can all wait. Really, it never goes anywhere. . .it'll still be there later.

I remember in the earlier days of twindom someone made a misguided comment to me about me taking my twins out a little dirty. The story goes that my oldest two children had class, and we had had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I did wipe their faces, but we were running late and frankly, I missed a few spots. (Just how you get peanut butter in your eyebrows which are no where near your mouth is beyond me!) This young girl said to me, "I would bathe them before I left the house."

But I didn't. Because you could not safely bathe twins together of that age with an additional toddler, four year old and six year old running around the house as well. I couldn't handle two slippery little bodies in the tub and neither could I leave one unattended to bathe them one at a time. So they were a little dirty. But they're safe and healthy. And like I've already pointed out, the peanut butter didn't go anywhere. It was still there waiting for me when my husband came home to lend a hand.

So moms, if you need to wait until a second adult comes home to give baths do it. When it's bath time, your number one priority is bath time and being with that baby. Period. The answering machine can get the phone, and lunch can wait. Remember: this is a totally preventable accident.

Other Related Articles:

Car Seats Put Infants at Risk for SIDS?

Rethink Those Sleeping Arrangements

Law Aimed at Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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