Self Care Season: Bath And Shower Time

In this episode we dive into some of the reasons bath and shower time can be a tricky dynamic and go through practical strategies to support bath and shower time to not only be fun, but opportunities for independence. 

We go through what can be happening from a sensory perspective, how to use predictability and routines to your benefit was to set up the bathroom environment for success and practical strategies for independence in washing their body, their hair and drying off at the end of the day. Including playful techniques to keep the bath/shower time a fun experience for all. 

If your child needs more support, we also outline when to consider equipment like grab rails, shower seats, long-handled scrubbers, or transfer solutions—always with guidance from your occupational therapist to get the right fit. Share this episode with a friend who dreads bath time, try one change tonight, and tell us what worked. If you’re finding value in these practical OT tools, subscribe, leave a quick review, and consider supporting the show—your encouragement keeps these resources flowing. What’s the one bath time tweak you’ll test first?

If you would like to donate and support the podcast - https://studio.buymeacoffee.com/dashboard 

DISCLAIMER:
 Whilst I will always make evert effort to share correct information as at the date of the podcast, research is constantly happening and as a profession we learn more everyday. One therapist may have a different way of doing things to another, and every child's needs are unique. By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others Consult your child's paediatrician or therapist for any recommendations for your child.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello everyone and welcome back to Bell's OT Corner. It is so nice to be back and getting back into podcasting and bringing the next episode of our self-care season to you. It has been a hot minute, and I do apologize for that. My world got a little bit busy from the end of December all the way through till Feb, which is, oh, I honestly, I don't know about you guys, but the other day I went, oh, it's like, you know, end of Jan, and I went, nope, it's the middle of Feb. Fantastic. This year is absolutely flying. But for those of you who listen in Australia or New Zealand, I hope you guys have settled into your new academic year. For those of you from like US, Canada, I think Canada's the same term, school dates, um, the UK, we're halfway through the academic year, guys. We are getting there. Um, so today's episode, we're going to be talking about all things to do with bath and shower time, why this can be a really tricky time for some kids, and also what are some really practical tips and strategies that you can use to put in place to make it a little bit easier. But before we get into that, I just wanted to do a little bit of a catch-up with you guys, a little bit of a quick share, and then we'll jump into the actual episode. So believe it or not, back in December, Bell's OT corner turned two years old. I cannot believe it. It feels like yesterday that I was in a job within the NHS getting quite frustrated by the lack of access to what I really felt should be common knowledge for people, that you shouldn't have to wait to see an OT for me to be able to tell you these things, that this should just be really easily accessible information for people so they can start to understand more about the children in their lives, but also start to have a bank of strategies of things that they can try that don't necessarily need to come from an OT. It just happens that they are a part of our training. But yeah, that was two years ago that the idea was born and that we started, and here we are two years later, still going, which is just so amazing. And we actually hit 5,000 downloads today. I couldn't believe it. Getting back into podcasting, I was like, oh, I haven't checked the download stats in a while. I'll just have a quick look, and it's hit 5,000 downloads, which is just amazing. And I wanted to say a huge, huge thank you to all of you who listen and support and share the podcast. The podcast is listened to in 60 different countries or has been listened to in 60 different countries around the world, and that just blows my mind. I, you know, it's just crazy to me. And thank you so much for coming back and listening and joining me on this crazy journey. You know, if you're in some of the top countries are like Australia, the US, the UK, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, if that's where you guys are from, or if you're from further afield, thank you, thank you so much for having a listen and joining me as we go through these seasons together. And as always, if there is any feedback or anything you want to hear more about or a particular season that would be really interesting, interesting to you, send me an email at bellzotcorner at gmail.com or send me a message over Instagram, whatever works for you. I always love hearing from you guys, and I'm always happy to try and build in the information that's going to be really relevant and really helpful for you guys. The other quick little share that I just wanted to do before we jumped into the episode today is I have been having a bit of a think about where I want to take this podcast and where I want to go with it over the next year, 18 months, two years, who knows. And eventually I'd like to move towards being able to have a way to be able to share more with you guys, different resources, different um handouts, having the information available in different ways. So if you actually don't enjoy a podcast or it's not your thing that maybe you could read a blog post or an information sheet, or who knows, the sky's the limit. So eventually looking to move towards to possibly like a Patreon type platform or something of that nature where we can start to have our little community and build in a space where we can share some more resources and things for you. But as we're looking to move towards that, as you guys know, I do this podcast on my own in my free time, and you may not know that it actually costs me money to have the podcast up every month. So on top of my own time that I pour into it, there is a financial cost associated with having it up. And so what I've started to look to do is I've created a buy me a coffee website. I think that's what it's called. It is a website, but I've created a profile on Buy Me a Coffee, and it's somewhere where if you're enjoying the show and if you feel so inclined, or you have a little bit of spare cash, please by all means do a little donation. It makes a huge, huge difference on my end to be able to keep bringing the podcast to you. So I'll pop the link for that in the um show notes in the little bio for the episode. But yes, every little bit helps, and I really appreciate you guys coming along for the journey. But that is enough of all that. What fantastic wins that we've got going on, and let's jump into today's episode. So, as I mentioned at the start, today's episode is all about bath and shower time, which is typically either a highly preferred activity or something that they're not really too keen on for a number of reasons. And so we're gonna talk today about what's happening for some of our sensory systems or what could be happening for some of our sensory systems when we're looking at bath and shower time. We're also gonna then chat through some strategies that we can use. So, how are we using routine? How can we set up the environment? Because you guys know I love a good quick scan of the environment. How can we set this up for success? How can we decrease some of the stress in this space so that we can use all of our brain on the bit that is tricky or the bit that we're finding challenging? So we're gonna chat through some ways to set the environment up for success. We're gonna talk through the actual tasks of washing our body, washing our hair and drying our body around ways that we can look to support independence but also to support development of that autonomy as well. And then we'll really quickly touch on some equipment bits and pieces as well. So that's the rough plan for today. So if we start with thinking about bath and shower time through the lens of our sensory systems. Now I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail as always, just jump back into the sensory season where I talk a lot about all of the different sensory systems. But if we're thinking about touch in particular, there is a lot of touch that goes on within bath time. We've got everything from taking our clothes off, tolerating soap and the different textures of soap, tolerating bubbles if there are bubbles in the bath, and then having different textures in the bath, tolerating the water, looking at when we're drying ourselves off, how does that feel? Do I like that sensation or not? Then we get into everything around washing our hair, we get into touch from others, particularly if we're looking at those younger kids or maybe some of our older kids that need a bit more help. You know, how are we going about when someone's going to touch me? Do I know when you're going to touch me? If you're sharing a bath with um a sibling and all of a sudden there's a lot of splashes, where is I ready for that splash? There's lots of unexpected touch that can happen from water, from people, and all these things in the bath. And then we've got everything to do with temperature as well. And so if you think about it, there is a huge amount that can be going on just around touch in the bath. So, what can we do about that? Well, you will know from your kids if this is an area that's going to be particularly tricky for them. And if it is, you can think about well, what are some activities that we can do before we even get into the bathroom that are going to help them to start to organize their body a little bit more, help to regulate those sensory systems and help them get themselves ready for what could be a tricky experience for them? So again, jump back to maybe the episode on proprioception, but could we do some heavy work beforehand? Could we do a bit of massage beforehand? But also where are the times that we can give them choice and control? Are they helping choose the temperature of the water? You know, if they like it on the bit colder side, then they can have it on a little bit of the colder side. Think about, you know, how we can support that independence for them to wash themselves so they have control of when they're getting touched and how hard they're going to scrub their skin. Um, and just think about looking at, you know, I'm just jumping back to kind of when we're drying off. Again, how much, and we'll touch on this later, but how much can they do themselves? Where can you sit back or use a different type of prompt instead of doing it for them? Which then sort of links into the environment bits, which we touch on in a minute, around set yourself up with time. You guys know I love to say it, but having the time to be able to work through these things does make it a little bit easier. Then if we think about smells, we've got smells in the bath of you know, the shampoo, the conditioner, the soap. Maybe if you have a toilet in your bathroom, maybe there's a smell coming from the toilet that you might not be noticing, that they might be really noticing. So just taking those two seconds to think about these things, and also if you do know that smells are a really strong um stressor for your kid, then look at ways that you can go like no fragrance shampoo. There are some really, really nice no-fragrance shampoos around now, and same with no fragrance soaps, it just makes it a little bit easier. Then there's noise consideration, so we've got things like tiles in bathrooms and they bounce noise a lot. There's the splashes, there's the sound of the tap running, there's the sound of the bath draining, which can be quite scary for a lot of kids that happens. Um, and I can't count the number of times someone's told me I'm gonna get sucked down the bath. And I'm like, you're not, you're not gonna get sucked down the bath, you're not gonna fit. But then actually showing that you're not gonna get sucked down the bath, you know, leaving a couple toys in the bath and watching them stop when they get to the drain can also be really helpful. And so again, around noise, well, how can we combat that? It's a noisy space, but we can as much as possible help them and prepare them for when noises are gonna happen. So things like, oh, I'm gonna turn the taps on. Do you think it's gonna be quiet or is it gonna be really noisy? It was a bit noisy last time. Okay, are you ready? Are you ears ready? All right, let's turn the taps on. Then they have control or give them even more control and go, hey, can you turn the taps on for me? And then I'll check the temperatures okay. But can you turn them on for me so they know when it's gonna get loud and noisy? You know, if you're playing around and doing splashes in the bath, which is great fun, think about the noise that's coming along with that and think about your own voice. If you have a really echoey bathroom, think about, you know, are we gonna get really excited and use a really high-pitched voice, or can we pace our voice a little bit more to help be that more calming part within the environment, which then is also gonna help from that co-regulation perspective. And again, jump back into the kind of co-regulation episode in the regulation in early years season for some more bits on that. Then we have the bits that are a little bit harder to notice, and this is where I'm thinking about balance. So if we think back to like our vestibular system and also our ability to navigate space in terms of tipping our head into backward space. So if maintaining balance is tricky, and you want me to a climb into a bath, and I'm just thinking bath time for now, but we'll chat about showers in a second, but I have to navigate climbing into a bath, organizing myself to sit on the bath, which will become a slippery surface as soon as there's water in there, and then navigate moving through water, which will inadvertently be challenging my balance. That could be really stressful. And again, if we think about then having to lie down and come and sit back up and navigate having to do those position changes within the bath, and then we have the bit of having to tip my head back to wash my hair, and this one happens within the bath and the shower. Okay, well, how can I keep my balance and my all of my positioning stable and just move my head into backward space without feeling like I'm gonna fall over? I don't know if you guys have ever done it, but I would encourage you to. If you stand up and close your eyes and move your head back, see how far you go before your body starts to do a little bit of a whoop, that's a little bit too far. Kids are still learning this, they're still developing their body scheme, and they might have difficulties navigating particularly backwards space. So that could be really stressful for them. And all you're trying to do is say, come on, let me just wash your hair, I need to wash your hair. But actually thinking about the movements that are required for them to be independent in washing their hair could be quite tricky. So, what can we do about this? Well, in the bath, we can look at maybe a um non-slippy mat to help them go, oh, okay, my bottom's now stuck to this thing and I'm good, I'm balanced. We could look at things like um in the shower, can we bring the shower hose down a little bit more? And I'm starting into like environmental bits, and I know that, but that's fine, we'll jump on it in a second. But can we bring the shower bit head down so that they don't have to tip their head up as far? Or if you have a bath and also have a shower hose, can we use a shower hose to start with? The other bit that we can do is we can make it fun to play around with these bits. So in the bath, can we do a little bit of a falling and crashing into the water game and then coming back up and playing with that movement and going, oh, it's actually okay? Gives them a bit of a tummy workout anyway, helps them build that strength and balance. It's the same with you know sticking things on the walls. There are some great like suction toys that stick to the tiles. And can we move them so they go up, up, up, and up the wall? Because naturally, as their eyes are having to follow it up, up, up the wall, they're reaching up for something, they're gonna start to play around with bringing their head back. And so you can go, you know how just then you went up, up, up, and you looked all the way up here and your head was all the way back. We're gonna do that again, but this time when your head's all the way back, I'm gonna put a little bit of water on your hair. So they're starting to again use play to explore the movements that they need so that we can do that really practical, functional piece of what the task is, which in this case would be washing our hair. So I do always encourage you if you're seeing a behavior or something that's really tricky at bath time, always have that kind of detective lens that we talk about a lot about. Okay, but why? What could be going on for them? And always speak to your occupational therapist to help you kind of start to unpick these and what are some strategies that would be specific to your child that you could use as well. But there's some of the bits that we can go on from a sensory perspective, right? Given I've started talking about it, I'm gonna jump around a little bit, we're gonna talk about environment next, and then we'll jump into kind of routines and things. So, if we think about environment, how can we set the environment up for success? Well, you can look at things like the lighting in the bathroom, you can look at things like filling up the bathtub first and think about how much water we're putting in the bathtub. If you've got a child who is starting to build their balance and still feeling a bit up unsteady, I'm probably not going to put a huge amount of water in the bathtub. The less water means they're gonna feel more in control because they're having to use more of their muscles in the same way they would if they were sitting on the floor. Unlike when you're in a swimming pool, for example, and you get that little bit of weightlessness that starts to happen the more you fill up a bath. But could it be set up beforehand, particularly if the noise of a bath running is really quite noisy and quite stressful? Or could we run it beforehand and then bring them in and go, oh, the bath is full? Thinking about where you're positioning the shower head in the bath, you know, is it possible to run it a little bit lower? So if you're in a shower a standalone shower or a shower over a bath, can we bring that down so it's at more of their height? Because A, the flow of water is then slightly more concentrated. B, they don't have to run out and back to get in and out of the water because it's more like how it would be for an adult, let's say, where it kind of just hits your head or hits that your upper back. You have control of that. The higher that is, and the smaller the child is, there's a big gap and they're gonna be either under all of the water very unpredictably or out of the water. So think about where you're positioning that. And again, could you? And again, this this comes with a warning because you could, and I would always encourage you to, you know, let them hold the shower head, bearing in mind that could also mean the shower water goes everywhere. So it's again how you put those boundaries in around it and how you go, right, well, we're gonna use this, but we need to use the water to wash our bodies. And if we're not gonna use the water to wash our bodies, then mum's gonna have to hold it or dad's gonna have to hold it. Um, but it can be really helpful so they feel like they have the control of where that water's going. Um, think about how, particularly for bath time, how do they have to navigate getting into the bath or getting out of the bath? You know, is there a way that we can set it up so they can do it more independently? Be that steps into the bath, be that how are they going to climb into the bath? You know, what does it look like for your child to be able to navigate into the bath? Is it that they, you know, can sit on it and then swing one leg over or like wiggle their bottom up to the back of it and then spin one leg over, or do they have to do a really big climb over? And is that part really tricky? I know a lot of times we can help and lift them into the bath, but if they don't like that feeling, is there a way that we can support them to be more independent by maybe just having a little step or maybe just giving them a bit of extra time to try and then go, oh, it's a bit tricky, would you like some help now? But at least that way they again have that piece of control and they're trying to be more independent, which is always what I'm here for. And even things like you know getting them involved and setting the bath temperature. You know, there is no reason they can't choose the temperature of the bath as long as it's not gonna be too hot, and that's why we're there as adults to keep them safe, but then you can have those conversations. That's gonna be too hot. I'm gonna add some cold water so you don't hurt yourself, because it's my job to keep you safe. And so they start to build that understanding around bath and shower time too. Cool. So there are like tips and tricks for the environment. Now we're gonna chat about routine. Routine kind of in the sense because it's gonna lead us into the piece around how we can support them building their independence within the sequences around shower time or bath time, how we can build independence in washing their bodies, washing their hair, all of these things. So if sequences are particularly tricky, using things like visuals or using known predictable sequences or steps can be really helpful in supporting independence in bath time. And this doesn't just start from once we're in the bath. Particularly for some of our older kids, I would encourage you to think about, okay, well, what does the transition to getting to the bath look like? If we're looking at fostering independence, what is it that they need to check? What is it that they need to make sure they bring with them? Is it that, you know, they get they prefer to get changed in the bathroom so they need to get their next change of clothes? Is it that they need to check that they have a towel or that they have, you know, shampoo, conditioner, soap, razor if that's appropriate for them? What are the bits that we need to check before we actually get into the bath and having this in a really predictable routine? You know, I go make sure I've got my towel, I make sure I have the shampoo and conditioner in the bath, and that's all. Or that the soap is where it needs to be. Starting to think through what that kind of getting ready for bath time looks like. Um, and then separately, and this one is then more applicable for your younger kids as well. What are the steps you have to do in the bath? Now, if routine is really important for your child, I'd really encourage you to keep that routine the same. So it's we're gonna get in the bath, we're gonna wash our bodies, we're gonna wash our legs, wash our arms, wash our chest, you know, wash our back, and then we're gonna wash our hair, and then we're playtime, and then we're done. Or if it actually is really helpful for your child, they could have choice over it. So you could have little printed and laminated pictures, and it's you know, playtime in the bath, washing hair, washing arms, washing legs, washing face, let's say, and they can choose. Well, I'm gonna do this first, and maybe you have two bits of playtime, and maybe you do playtime with a timer, so we've got that sort of boundary piece. And you can then start to go, okay, well, what are we doing first? These are the jobs that we need to do in the bath. Which one are we doing first? Oh, we're gonna wash our arms first, and so you put that first, and then maybe that's what you do, and you can move on to the next, or you set the whole routine, and then you can take them off and tick them off as you work your way through them. And they can be your friend because they A help give structure, they also help give predictability, and they can really help the child to feel like they're. Control and they understand what's happening. And on that, when we're using these different routines and things, we want to be talking through, or even if you don't need a really robust routine, we always want to be talking through with our kids what we need to do. So we're saying it's bath time, and when we're having a bath, we need to make sure that we wash our bodies. So where did you get dirty today? Oh, did you get dirty toes? Oh, you've you know you're playing in the mud, you've got dirty toes, or oh my goodness, look at your arms, you've got paint all up them. We're gonna have to clean that off. And starting to talk through and making it a little bit playful, but talking through why we're having a bath, what we need to do when we're in a bath or a shower. This works all of these work for both. And then, okay, so that bit's done. Now what else do we need to clean? Let's see, we've cleaned your legs, we've cleaned your tummy, we've cleaned your face. Did we miss anything? And it's that piece of doing that problem solving with them, so they can go, oh my arms, oh, we forgot the paint on your arms. Goodness me, let's clean those off, scrub, scrub, scrub. And that way they are aware of what's happening and a part of it too. And you can also then do the whole, you know, oh well, oh your arms. Well, here you go. There's a cloth because I've actually got to do an insert silly job putting the lid back on the soap. I don't mind, you can take a really long time to put the lid back on a bottle of soap, and it gives them the time to then have a go at cleaning their own arms as well, which we will touch on in two seconds. But do you think about how you know we're setting up in the environment, yes, but also setting up the activity in terms of that routine piece to lead to those little successes, to lead to that piece of we're all on the same page, we're working together to get this bathtime or shower time done, and that bigger piece of we're both clear on what's expected in this time and who's doing what. So if we then think about washing our body, how can we build independence in washing our body? Number one, I would say it's really helpful to look at building a sequence. And it's so funny. I asked this question to some colleagues a while ago, and I was like, Well, you know, when you have a bath or a shower, what do you do? Because you know, we're a group of OTs and we talk about these things frequently. Not many of us washed in the same order because it's wild to think something that you just jump it into and you go, Yes, this is how I have my shower, and most of us will tend to fall into a bit of a routine, a bit of a predictable thing, because then our brain doesn't have to think about it. You know, I had someone who would always wash their face first, whereas my face is probably the last thing I wash before I get out of the shower. Um, and so just thinking about a having a bit of a predictable sequence, but B, also letting your child pick their sequence. What do they want to wash first? And again, that's more as we look towards some of our older kids and building that independence to step away from doing as much um washing for them. But it is always something to think about, and I'd encourage you to ask your partner, um, you know, how do how do you wash? What do you do? Because everyone does something slightly different. But looking at how we're gonna sequence it. So is it to start with that we're gonna start with our toes and work our way all the way up so I can really clearly see? Is it that we're gonna have little pictures of the body parts that I need to wash? Looking at the cloth that we're using. So if we're looking to foster independence, having a really big heavy face cloth for a little hand can be really tricky. Whereas having a smaller sponge can be much easier to look at, okay, well, if that's gonna be too tricky for you to hold, what else could we use that's gonna make that a little bit easier and a little bit more accessible for you? Because if we think about supporting independence, we want to be giving those opportunities for their brain to focus on the piece that we want, which in this case would be looking at what parts of my body and checking if I'm clean. We don't really want them to have to be working so hard to hold the sponge, or if it's actually that the sponge is the piece that we're working on. Um, I'm thinking if your child may have a physical disability or some difficulties with their upper limb strength or control, well then I'm gonna tell you exactly where you're washing and I'm gonna say, oh, keep going, there's a bit more, you've got it. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Um so thinking about where that challenge sits and where we want the challenge to sit for them. Then looking at things like how it's okay, so how do we know when to clean? How do we know where's dirty? Do we just clean everywhere? Putting some boundaries around that, so you know, you could play detectives to find all the dirt on their body or the pen that they've scribbled on themselves, or there will always be mess somewhere. Um, and so you know, finding it, and then how do we check if it's clean? So you could model this by doing a little bit and going, is it clean? Is that clean? No, that's not clean. We need to keep going. And again, getting them to tell you what to do in those bits, you know, you could be like, okay, so do I just squeeze water all over it? That didn't work. Okay, what if I splash it up and down in the water? That didn't work. Okay. What if we just rub our hands together? No, that didn't work. And then eventually you might point to the cloth and they go, Oh, use the cloth, and you go, oh, that's a good idea. Use the cloth, and you can get really silly with this and then just drop the cloth on their hand and go, that didn't work either, or drop the cloth on their arm, wherever it is that you're trying to clean. And then eventually you work up to figuring out that actually we need to use hold the cloth and you know push it up and down to scrub, scrub, scrub to get the dirt off. And then we can build in the whole check, is it clean? Yes, it's clean, no, it's not clean, to help them start to understand the why behind what we're doing in bath and shower time. So they're oh, and then equally you can make a bit of a game or sing songs or use timers to help with you know not cleaning the same part of our body for 20 minutes, or just doing the quick and I'm done. It's like okay, well, we're gonna clean this and we're gonna keep going for 10 scrubs, so we're gonna do one, a two, a three, a four, or you can use a timer, or there's all these different ways that you can make it playful, but still giving them the opportunity. And it could even be that you go, ooh, that's a lot of dirt. I think that dirt's gonna need it might need 15 scrubs. So why don't you do five, and I'll do five, and then we'll check. And then if we need to, we'll see who'll do the last five. And so you're sharing the job, but still having those opportunities to foster that independence for them as well. And it's very similar things if we think about washing hair, you know. As we start to move towards independence within washing hair, again, you guys hear me say it a thousand times, but meth is okay. Let them squeeze out the soap and let them squeeze out the shampoo or conditioner. It may go everywhere, but that's what we then learn. And then you can use things like, I don't know, do you have a little teaspoon or a um uh what's the thing called, like a tablespoon that you could use so that we're squirting into something to go, that's enough. Or go really simple and get pump packs and go, okay, I need five pumps worth or three pumps worth or one pump worth so they can push down and get that and then help them guide to where that is. And it's again getting them involved in the steps associated with washing their hair, you know, going, okay, well, we need to scrub it into our hair, and so if we just plop it on top of our hair, did we make all of our hair soapy? You know, a really nice one as well is can be using mirrors, like little portable mirrors, so they can see as they're making soap suds in their hair. Did they get the soap suds everywhere? And then again, they can see as they're washing their hair out. Can I see any more soap suds in my hair? Can I feel any more soap suds in my hair? What's the process by which to check if my hair is still soapy or not? Equally, and we'll touch on it a little bit in um equipment as well. But if you do have a kitty who finds it difficult to tip their head back, so there are like shower caps and things that you can wear now, um, where the water can then you can tip the water over their head and they don't have to tip their head back as much. But I would still be thinking about okay, so how are ways that we can start to play around with this movement? Sticking things on the walls, using like um bath crayons to draw all over the tires, tires, tiles, um, to support them to start to play around with that movement before we then add the extra challenge of doing it at the same time as we're washing our hair. And again, always, always talking about what we're doing. Okay, so the water's gonna come and it's gonna start at the bottom of your hair, and then I'm gonna put it halfway up your head, and then when we get to the end, I'm gonna put it on the top of your head, but I'm gonna have my hand here to catch the water so it doesn't go into your eyes. Or actually, can you put your hand here? We'll do one of your hands and one of my hands, and then you can start to build up that understanding of what's happening and what's coming next. Also, um, sports bottles can be a really nice one to have like a really small squeeze to squeeze from, so that you're just really directing that water as well if it's particularly tricky to do the hair washing part of it. And it's again, it's all very similar when we think about drying off our body, but looking at like, you know, can we use a mirror to check if we're dry or not? It's a great time to build in some of that autonomy around our body parts of, you know, you have one arm here and one arm there and one leg there, and get your toes and you know, feed in all of that language around what their different body parts are, but you can also then do a check, is everywhere dry? Check your legs, check your feet, check your hands, check your arms, um, to help them start to be a bit more independent with it. And again, size of the towel, you know, if you're doing it for them, it doesn't matter if it's a bigger towel. If we want them to start to do bits for themselves, having to navigate a really big towel for a really little person can be very tricky. And so seeing as much as possible, can we match the size of the object that we're using to the size of the person so they're able to grab it and manipulate it and push it along their body easily or as easily as possible. And then, of course, with you know, bath and shower time, we have all the lovely dressing tasks and jump back in to listen to the um early dressing skills topic that I did, because there's some lovely topic that I did, episode that I did, because there's some tips and tricks in that one as well. But really, the big things when we're thinking about fostering independence is looking at, okay, so what is the piece that we want them to be able to do? Not the whole job, because to go from nothing to the whole job is really tricky, but what's the small step? Have do they have an understanding of that small step? Have we talked about it? Have I modeled it to them? And then how can we make it playful and fun for them to do it as much as possible without realizing that they've actually worked quite hard to do the task? Last thing that I wanted to touch on today, quickly, guys, is just about some bits and pieces around equipment. So I've kind of talked about a couple through. You can get those little shower caps um so water doesn't run into eyes. You can look at like non-slip mats, particularly for some of your younger kids, that can just suck onto the bottom of the bath to give that little bit of extra stability. Um, but there is also a range of assistive technology and adaptations, I should say, that we can look to put into homes, and you'd need to speak with your occupational therapist about this. But this is things like grab rails and slide boards and transfer seats and shower seats and bath seats. The list really does go on and on, um, but there is a lot out there for you to make it a little bit easier, particularly if um as your kids get older and maybe they have some physical difficulties, there are ways to adapt the task more to still be able to support their independence. There's like long-handled scrubbers, there's a whole range of things. Um, and so I really do encourage you, if that is something you are interested in, do reach out to your OT because those recommendations are very specific to the individual to make sure that it's the right fit. Um, but it's a very exciting time when there is a whole, whole world of fun assistive tech, um assistive equipment bits and pieces that we can look to use to support independence because at the end of the day, that's what we want to be able to support people to be as independent as possible and support our kids to be able to do as much as they can without our help, do ourselves out of a job. Alrighty guys, that is it for today's episode. It is so nice to be back and chatting to you all. I next, oh, next episode for this one, I think, is the last one in this little season where we'll touch on some tips and tricks for toileting. It may be one, it may be two, I haven't planned it yet. Um, but if everything goes to plan, that one will be out in two weeks for you guys. As I said before, it's been a wild two years, but an absolutely fantastic two years. Thank you so much for all your ongoing support. Um, as always, share the podcast around with anyone that you think is gonna be helpful. Um, and if you feel like it, click the link to buy me a coffee um and do a little donation. It goes a really, really long way. But that is all for now, guys. I hope you have a fantastic week and I can't wait to jump on again soon. Hi guys!