Hygiene Not Good

[BentleysBands]

i've had this issue before years ago..thankfully i terminated them (for another reason)....since then i stress to parents at interview and its in my handbook that all children must be dressed appropriately and clean, including diaper. if child poops in the car before arrival parent must stay and change before leaving. i cant keep dirty gross kids, whatever the reason. cleanliness is not hard. its lazy parenting

[MN Mom]

Bathing is very important, but I'm not a fanatic. Every day for my 11 year old and every other day for the rest. (They fight me tooth and nail right now because we do not have a tub currently only a shower, bathroom under contstruction). My 4yo son will often hop in the shower with his older sister, regardless of the every other day thing. He loves playing in the shower. However....alot of times he will (even after I get clean clothes out) dig thru the dirty laundry to find his "special shirt". I think it's a boy thing, my girls never insisted on wearing a certain shirt over and over.

[momofsix]

http://www.thefamilygp.com/bathing-babies-too-often-may-harm-their-skin.htm

I totally agree with DBug. And if they are good parents in every other way, I don't see it as a big problem.
Pediatricians do not recommend bathing every day at all, only 2-3 times per week! (see link)
And threatening to call social services over something like this is not realistic nor warranted. You could call, but they have much more legitimate things to deal with and are already backlogged with serious neglect/abuse cases.

[boysx5]

oh that would gross me out. A bar of soap and clean clothes won't break the bank you can buy cheap clothes soap and bar soap and still look nice. Second hand clothes work well also

[missnikki]

Not to threadjack-
I had this issue yesterday with an 8th grade girl (12 yo) who sat about 6-7 feet away from me and OH BOY, the funk was to unbearable. I had some spray deodorant in my desk, and I offered it discreetly to her saying, "If you want, you can borrow some of this. It's always in this drawer if you ever want some, help yourself."
This morning, her mom dropped her off, and asked to see me privately. She chewed me out for embarassing her daughter. PUH-LEASE. I told her that there was only 2 other kids in the room and if she were embarassed about that, she would have been more embarassed about going out in public with her 'situation' as it were. I was only trying to help. This is the same mom who's daughter does no evil ever, and only tells the whole truth no matter what, every time. ARRRGH.

[AfterSchoolMom]

I've had to start my oldest on wearing deodorant. He HATES it and it's a daily battle, but oh man is he funky without it! That's the thing, though - I'm the grownup and I make him bathe and wear deodorant and clean clothes everyday. I don't understand parents who just say "oh well, they dressed themselves" or "they fight me over bathtime". They're smaller than you, make them do what they should!

We don't do baths every single day all the time either, but we only skip a night 1-2 times per week, and only if they haven't been playing outside or sweating.

[misol]

i've had this issue before years ago..thankfully i terminated them (for another reason)....since then i stress to parents at interview and its in my handbook that all children must be dressed appropriately and clean, including diaper. if child poops in the car before arrival parent must stay and change before leaving. i cant keep dirty gross kids, whatever the reason. cleanliness is not hard. its lazy parenting

I can't do dirty kids either. Luckily, all of my parents have kept their kids very clean so I've never had an issue with this. Like you, I also have in my handbook that children need to arrive each day clean and fully dressed in weather appropriate clothing. If it ever became a problem, I would send out a notice to parents to review the hygiene section in their handbook. I don't mind changing a dirty diaper if a child poops in the car on the way to my house. I WOULD have a problem with changing a super full diaper that hasn't been changed since the night before though! It's easy to tell if the diaper was soiled on the ride over or if they've been in that diaper since the night before. Yuck.

We don't do baths every single day all the time either, but we only skip a night 1-2 times per week, and only if they haven't been playing outside or sweating.

I bathe my kids every other night unless we've done something that day that has caused them to get extra dirty or sweaty. I also bathe them on the "off night" if they have been around someone who is sick.

[kidkair]

http://www.thefamilygp.com/bathing-b...their-skin.htm
I totally agree with DBug. And if they are good parents in every other way, I don't see it as a big problem.
Pediatricians do not recommend bathing every day at all, only 2-3 times per week! (see link)
And threatening to call social services over something like this is not realistic nor warranted. You could call, but they have much more legitimate things to deal with and are already backlogged with serious neglect/abuse cases.

Not bathing everyday is fine but if a child stinks so much that their caregiver doesn't want to hug them the kid is being neglected and the parents should be reported! I reported one of my families and it was the best thing every for them because they got the help they needed.

[melissa ann]

I bathe my kids every other night. In the summer, it might be everyday depending on how hot the day was, or if in a pool. My 3 1/2 yr old son, loves his SpiderMan shirt and would wear it everyday. If it's not stained or anything, I will let him wear it again, or at least under another shirt. On the off nights, I do go over their faces, tushies, and hands. My daughter hasn't asked to wear anything that was in the laundry basket, so it may just be a boy thing as mentioned before. Too me it's not a big deal. There are biggier issues out there than that. I have dad dcks come with the same outfit 2 days in a row, but the kids seemed cleaned.
Yesterday my son didn't nap but fell asleep at 6pm and stayed asleep all night. It was also bath night. I wasn't going to wake him up to bathe. I washed him down this morning when he got up.

[momofsix]

Have any of you every had a kid dropped off dirty? I have this one daycare girl that the parents I am sure not taking her baths. She has had this ink mark on her upper thigh since Monday. Today she has on the same clothes as yesterday, and this is not the first time. I just gave her a bath and put her on my daughters clothes because I did not want to touch her.

Kidkair, nowhere in the original post does she say anything about the child stinking so much she can't hold her! She says she "feels" she is dirty...pellets on tights. (by the way, tights get pellets from being old, not just dirty, so it could be that too) I'm glad you were able to help out a family by calling ss.

[QualiTcare]

Kidkair, nowhere in the original post does she say anything about the child stinking so much she can't hold her! She says she "feels" she is dirty...pellets on tights. (by the way, tights get pellets from being old, not just dirty, so it could be that too) I'm glad you were able to help out a family by calling ss.

well, she didn't say she can't hold her - but she did say she doesn't want to TOUCH her which is worse.

[cherryhill]

The little girl does smell her hair smells, and her clothes smell. When I took her a bath the ink mark came right off without scrubbing the last time she had a ink mark on her for days, I wiped it with a wipe and it came of. The dcg is only 21 months we usually go outside everyday to the park and she likes to play in the dirt so she probably needs a bath almost everyday. Honestly I believe the mom is overwhelmed and does not have much help from the dad. I think there house is probably crazy and clean clothes are mixed with dirty clothes.

This family lives close to me and I sometimes see the dad when we are at the park, he will wave, honk the horn, and yell the dcg name she will never acknowledge him she will look at him like she does not even know him. If he picks her up she will scream, so needless to say he doesn't pick her up anymore.

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

I had a family like this 10 years ago..the little girl was a little over a year and her hair was never combed, her bangs were in her face, the diaper bag smelled like a dirty home, as well as her clothes that she was wearing. She was such a cute little girl but the parents made her look aweful by not grooming her and putting her in raggy clothes. I felt bad for her and would give her a bath myslef because I couldn't stand to see her like that, epecially when it was summer and she LOVED my sandbox. Back then I didn't do child care as a profession, I just started doing it to be home with my kids and have a little extra

I don't understand some people, I buy some of my kids clothes at the Salvation Army and have picked up some very nice things for very cheap. I live in a small town and there are so many kids I see that looked less than cared for with ratty clothes..most of them with parents that look the same way. Makes me sad for the kids..they only know what they are taught.

[momofsix]

The little girl does smell her hair smells, and her clothes smell. When I took her a bath the ink mark came right off without scrubbing the last time she had a ink mark on her for days, I wiped it with a wipe and it came of. The dcg is only 21 months we usually go outside everyday to the park and she likes to play in the dirt so she probably needs a bath almost everyday. Honestly I believe the mom is overwhelmed and does not have much help from the dad. I think there house is probably crazy and clean clothes are mixed with dirty clothes.

This family lives close to me and I sometimes see the dad when we are at the park, he will wave, honk the horn, and yell the dcg name she will never acknowledge him she will look at him like she does not even know him. If he picks her up she will scream, so needless to say he doesn't pick her up anymore.

That is so sad. Do they have pets at home that could be adding to the smell?