The most terrifying thing on the planet: water!

I don't understand what it is about my kids and water. The truth is they love it MOST of the time. If there is a swimming pool, a hose, or even a puddle, they will find it and soak themselves. Usually when wearing their brand new white clothes when we were about to take a family picture - okay you caught me I would never put my three boys in white. So, I am not sure then why my kids HATE to bathe. I know that all children hate to take baths (or showers when they get older), but mine don't actually hate the bathing part. You know being in a tub of water to play - what they HATE more than anything in life is getting their faces wet.

Often when it comes time for me to wash their hair, they will avoid me by trying to go the furthest corner of the tub, then I have to grab them and pull them toward me. I try to calmly explain that if they look up NO WATER will get in their eyes or their face (I have even tried this fancy cup that has a soft edge to rest on their head, and usually give them a washcloth to put over their face), but by this point they are more freaked out then the cat in the bathtub. They are screaming hysterically, clawing at me, and trying to run away from me all at the same time. I think at some point one of the neighbors is going to call the police on me because they think I am killing the children - really, I have even tried to use that as a threat to get the kids to calm down. Of course, after trying to wrestle the kids into position where I can scoop up some water in the cup and pour it over their head to try to get the shampoo out of their hair, I have lost of all of my patience. I don't want to hear them scream like I am hurting them, I want them to sit still and get over it. I am yelling, soaked, and really irritated over the giant fight over such a small thing. It is just some WATER. They have made the whole experience worse by putting up a fight, so I lose all of my compassion and just start dumping over their heads as quickly as possible.

After the bath is over, their noses are running and they can't catch their breath because they were fussing so much, and they are angry at ME - they will hold it against me the rest of the night. I am exhausted and this is after just wrestling one - still two more to go.

This is not just a small child thing - the two year old gets over it much faster than his brothers. Emmett is the worst. Ethan now showers and washes his own hair, but lies to me and tells me he washed his hair when he didn't - I smell it to make sure. So here is what I really don't get - I have been washing their hair and faces for YEARS, literally, and they don't get used to it, but the moment we go to the swimming pool, they are swimming UNDER WATER.

See it isn't about getting their faces wet at all - I think it is about making me crazy.