lambscapearchitect: bath toys suck

I've never really been "fun mom" when it comes to baths. I never had any cute little towels with hoods and matching washcloths or tons of toys for the bath. No bubbles or fun girly soaps either. I guess I always thought of it as a task more than a play time or place.

My mom, who loves giving the grandkids baths, practically has an entire circus in the tub with them for bath time. During baths at grandmas I have seen bubbles, scented bath bombs, crayons, paints, waterflutes, squirty animals, a xylophone, pitchers, cups, and something that creates glitter on them but I can't figure out what it is.

A couple years ago I overheard my mom talking to Eloise about bath toys. I think my mom was wondering why Eloise was so incredibly excited by all the bath stuff and why she was acting like she had never seen anything like it. She said, "Don't you have toys to play with in your bath at home?" and I swear the response was, "Yes! I have a green cup." I died.

Since then we have received several sets of those squirty bath toys and other such items. I do appreciate that others were trying to make baths more fun for the girls but I hate those fucking squirty bath toys.

If you have those toys I'm sure you have had the pleasure of squirting them in the tub only to see them spew a stream of black disgusting gunk. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that black disgusting gunk probably isn't good for kids. I did what any good parent does and I googled the situation. I did confirm that this is mold and mildew and probably not super harmful but not great either. One of the titles of an article I found was "How to Clean Mold from Bath Toys in 9 Easy Steps" Awww hell no. I thought of "How to Clean Mold from Bath Toys in just 1 Easy Step" and threw them all in the trash.

We've had a few cycles of squirties since then, new ones in and moldy ones out and then I just said enough with the whole stupid thing. I told Eloise to go through the house and pick some things that she thought would be fun to play with in the tub. She did and it has been great. I also broke down and bought this toy for Christmas and it is a super big hit with both of the girls.

Bath time now, with the two of them, is a non stop party. They whisk and pour and baste and have all kinds of fun. They show amazing creativity and really truly play together. And all without any mold.