How long should a 12 year old girl spend in the shower? (teenagers, parents)
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She has short hair and doesn't shave her legs yet. We have a wonderful rain shower head which, I admit, is conducive to longer showers than the typical shower head. But I've watched her a few times and she stands under it having dreams of being a fairy dancing under a waterfall and the time gets away from her. We bought a special timer for her and I think 7 minutes is plenty long. Suggestions?
When I was her age my father would bang on the water pipes outside with a wrench to let me know I was taking too long. he would yell "You either have the cleanest hair in town or the dirtiest hair in town".
7 minutes? Why? I find that shower/bath time is also a time to unwind, think quietly, no other distractions. My daughter is 8 and I give her 15min-30 min. I am a grown adult and I like long showers too. I think 7 minutes is far too short for most people to take a relaxing shower.
If my kids spent 7 minutes in the shower, I would be thrilled. We are constantly knocking on the door getting them out. My son in particular can use up a hot water heater of water if we let him (usually on my husband's watch).
It drives me crazy since I grew up in a very dry area where water was carefully caught (water catchment) and you had to be careful. Many times you showered every other day if not longer, only flushed toilet for number 2, etc. Although I've relaxed a lot since then, it still drives me nuts when someone is in the shower for extended periods of time.
Curious...Why are you watching her shower? Or timing her?
Disclaimer: In no way am I suggesting something strange is occurring AT ALL...Again NOT AT ALL! I am only curious as why a parent is the bathroom watching? I am the mother of 4 children (almost all grown now) I know at 12 I wasn't in the bathroom with them.
We live in a drought-prone area and are always trying to conserve water. Still, I think timing a shower for a 12-year-old sounds like oppressive micro-management. Kids' lives can be stressful, too, and maybe she just enjoys her alone time under the water. Just talk to her about water conservation, etc. and try to enlist her help.
Rather than time her, can you install a more water-efficient shower head? My husband installed a cut-off valve on the shower head so you can turn off the water while you're soaping up or washing your hair and turn it back on to rinse while maintaining the temperature.
as long as she needs to sufficiently clean herself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LLCNYC
Curious...Why are you watching her shower? Or timing her?
yes, parents shouldn't be watching their kids shower or timing their showers at age 12. maybe at age 6-9 but not past age 10-11. she's too old for a parent to be "regulating" her shower time. or watching her shower. that sounds a bit controlling and creepy, to be frank.
Last edited by JoanfromVA; 07-18-2014 at 11:26 AM..
But 7 minutes? I thought you were going to tell me she takes 20 or 30 minutes showers. I try to be reasonable about water conservation myself, but at her age I loved my showers too. Ease up a little.
I personally feel 15 mins is about right. Enough time to clean and relax a bit. Most teenagers love their 30-45 mins showers, as least that was how it was growing up.
My brother loves his 45 mins showers (and using up all the hot water-- really annoying when you have 4 other people in the house). He was so bad about it that my mother's husband then set something onto the water heater where after a certain time of showering, all the cold water come out. That's a little extreme, but it's the only way it works for him.
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