Parents get just 30 minutes or less of quality time with their kids a day, according to new national research.
The biggest barriers to spending quality time with their children are working during the day (48%) and working late (39%), according to the national research from Baylis & Harding, the UK’s leading washing and bathing brand.
Other distractions include phone calls and text messages (32%) and for kids, the biggest barriers to bonding time are social media (31%) and TV (30%).
The survey of UK parents found that bathtime offers the most opportunities for bonding and quality time for more than a quarter of parents (25%) with the school run (37%) and meal times (19%) also proving popular.
On average children’s bath time lasts 23.5 minutes, with 93% of parents saying they look forward to bath time with their children, making it one of the most enjoyable parts of their day.
For a whopping 95% of us bath time offers the perfect opportunity to ask kids about their day, with 97% of parents using bath time as a way to introduce creative play to their children’s daily routines.
For many, bath time is also a great way to kick start the bed time routine, with almost half of parents (45%) agreeing it helps set up their kids for a good night’s sleep.
Baylis & Harding is now encouraging more parents to use bath time to create those all important bonding moments, with the launch of its #bathtimebonding campaign and its Goodness Kids collection.
To support the campaign Baylis & Harding has partnered with child behaviouralist Natalie Costa, who has shared her top tips for making the most of your children’s bathtime routine.
Natalie said: “Busy lives mean we often don’t get to spend as much time with our children as we would like, which is why it is so important to really make the most of those moments that we do have.
“Bath time is a great way to bond with your child, it’s one of the few times in our days when we have zero distractions, no phones, TV or work and we can focus solely on our child or children.
“There’s lots of things we can do to make bath time fun for kids and ourselves, using sensory experiences and creative play to start conversations and create those special moments of bonding.”
Natalie’s top tips for bath time bonding:
- Step into their world
Use bath time as an opportunity to role play and if possible let your child take the lead. Encourage them to imagine the bath is a swimming pool, or a pool filled with magic potion and their super heroes having their daily dose of super powers as they’re having a bath. Role play really helps develop your child’s language and imagination skills and it also allows you to connect with them on their level and in their world. Play is the language of children and it’s how they make sense of the world around them.
- Create a sensory experience
Make bath time a sensory experience by using bubbles, bath bombs and lots of fun scents, to help stimulate the senses of sight, touch and smell. Blowing bubbles also helps children develop hand-eye co-ordination. Why not use some household containers and get your child to experiment through draining, pouring or straining water from smaller containers into larger bottles or through sieves.
- Encourage conversations
Use this time as an opportunity to learn something new about your child, we know already that bath time is a great place to ask questions about their day, but why not add a playful element to this using coloured shapes? You can match the colours to a conversation starter for example if they pick up a purple shape, ask ‘who made you smile today’ or green shapes ‘what did you not like about your day?’
Children’s skin deserves the very best and Goodness Kids from Baylis & Harding offers the kindest skin-loving care.
Pediatrician and midwife approved, the range has been designed to make the bath time routine as easy as possible, each product is scented with a fun fragrance and lovingly crafted with natural ingredients, gentle enough to be used on even the most sensitive of skins.
Katie Blythe, Head of Marketing at Baylis & Harding, said: “We want families to really cherish their bath time routines and make the most of the bonding time it offers. Our Goodness Kids range has been crafted to make the bath time routine as easy as possible for parents and their little ones, thanks to our 98% naturally derived formulations and allergen free fun fragrances.”
The Goodness Kids collection from Baylis & Harding is now available to shop online and instore and at selected retailers including Sainsbury’s and Ocado.