I don't know how to assure him that he won't go down the drain. Its probably sounds funny but hes getting dirtier every day. Any suggestions?

I Feel for you...because my nearly 7yr old is the same way! We've gone on to take showers which for some reason is not as threatening to him.

I keep explaining he's WAY to big to fit in the drain hole! He won't even get IN our new tub which is a whirlpool...he thinks the jets are going to suck him in :rolleyes:

there is actually a rugrats episode about that ! not that i'm such a huge fan of that show, but we found a copy of that episode and watched it with zoey. Chuckie was afraid of going down the drain and in the end they loved taking a bath. They actually tried to put their foot in the hole i think and found it tickled.

i'm sorry you're dealing with that tho. hugs

Heather went through that phase too. I made her bath, then she got in and I took her out before draining the waterafter she was toweled dry and put on her clothes. I put a wash cloth in the tub one time and showed her that if it wouldn't go down the drain, she wouldn't either. It still took her a long time to believe she wouldn't go down the drain, but eventually she decided she like being in the tub while it drained! HTH!

Heather went through that phase too. I made her bath, then she got in and I took her out before draining the waterafter she was toweled dry and put on her clothes. I put a wash cloth in the tub one time and showed her that if it wouldn't go down the drain, she wouldn't either. It still took her a long time to believe she wouldn't go down the drain, but eventually she decided she like being in the tub while it drained! HTH!


:ditto: This is exactly what we did when ds2 went throught this phase. He's five now and has outgrown it.

When he thought he was going down the drain there was no amount of convincing him otherwise. We just got him out before we started drainging the tub.

My favorite reply to things like this is, "You'll learn to not be afraid." It tells the child (and reminds me) that I accept that he/she is afraid, that there is nothing wrong or weird about it, and that it will pass.

Good luck! I pray this does not happen in our house as I cannot stand for my kids to smell, and they definitely do at the end of EVERY day.

This happened with Annabelle, and it's a common thing. Mr Rogers has a great set of episodes about it. I use to sing to Annabelle that Mr Rogers mom sang to him -

You can never go down the drain
no you can't
you're much too big
you won't fit

I'm late coming into this, but it's worked for me and some day some other mother will ask the same question :D

LOL I am just afraid of snakes coming up the drain! I actually saw that happen in a news article. Eek. Don't tell him that though!!