My oldest daughter turned eight this year and one of her many transitions into “big kid life” has been to manage her own bath-time routine.  One area she seemed to struggle with was temperature control.  I can’t tell you how many times I had to drain the tub because she’d managed to fill it with icy-cold or scalding-hot water.  I thought shifting her to showers would help but she would end up letting the water run for 10 minutes before her shower because she couldn’t seem to get the water to a comfortable temperature.  After awhile, I gave up on the training and opted to start the shower for her each night.  It was tedious, but at least I didn’t have to worry about her scalding herself or draining all the contents of the hot-water heater. 

Then last week I had one of those ah-hah moments that every mother loves.  I was filling the tub for my youngest kids when I noticed that, unlike my daughter, I didn’t have to adjust the handle when filling the tub.  I seemed to know - from years of experience, I guess - just how far to turn the handle to get the water to the right temperature.  It occured to me that if I could somehow mark that “perfect” spot for my daughter, she’d be able to do the same.  I quickly grabbed a pink Sharpie from the junk drawer and, while the water was still running, marked the faucet handle.  I put one small stripe on the wall fixture and another in the same location on the handle (click on the picture above to get a closer view).  When the stripes are aligned, the water coming from the faucet is a perfect kid-friendly temp.

So far, the results have been great.  Now when my daughter needs to start her own bath or shower she just lines up the pink stripes, waits for the temperature to regulate, and then hops in.  It also came in handy today with my little five-year-old.  I started the tub for her and then went to clean the kitchen while she hopped in.  Apparently she bumped the handle during her entry because within a few minutes she was screaming about the “super-cold water” that was pouring out of the faucet.  In the past I would have had to drop whatever I was doing and go fix it for her…but not this time.  I just reminded her about the pink shower stripes and told her to make them touch.  She adjusted the handle all by herself and was happy as a clam in her warm, bubbly bath. 

If marking up your fixtures with permanent marker makes you nervous, try a bright shade of nail polish instead - just create little dots instead of lines.  That way if you ever need to remove or adjust the marks a little nail polish remover should do the trick.  It’s not a revolutionary idea, but when it comes to managing the everyday motherhood obstacles, every little bit helps. :)  Just thought I’d pass it on. 

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