Please meet the awesome bath.
Also Please note: Awesome Baths are reported to work on grown mamas, too.
This started during Covid, because Covid school was kicking my kids’ asses. Like, brutal. We saw grades plummet like we’ve never, ever seen — plus meltdowns and despair in record waves. It was so overwhelming. They couldn’t keep up. They worked morning till night and were still behind. They were on fumes. The emotional and mental energy learning like that required has them on empty.
My girl came home in absolute tears one time.
It was all real and too much and she was exhausted. (This sometimes sounded like anger…don’t take the bait. It is fatigue.) I listened for about 10 minutes, held her tight and scratched her back, and told her to meet me in my bathroom in five minutes.
Cue: Awesome Bath.
Big clawfoot tub, gorgeous bubbles, delicious bath bomb, her favorite candle next to the tub, sweetened iced coffee in a pretty glass, I teed up Alexa to play her best music (“Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra LOL) and put fresh cookies on a little table. I threw a towel in the dryer to get warm and cozy and dimmed the lights. She took one look at it all and grinned from ear to ear.
Sisters, this works 100% of the time. Well past pep talks and even good listening. Remy asked me, “Do I have to clean my body?” and I said, “No, this is a feelings bath.” Let their overwhelmed, exhausted, frustrated feelings take a dunk in an Awesome Bath made with great love, and I am telling you they emerge fresh and renewed. These can happen at 10:42am, 1:28 p.m., 5:59 p.m., or 11:12 p.m. Doesn’t matter. They soothe a tired little soul.
By the way, this is not my tub.
Remy was already in there and I figured she would frown upon a pic of her in the tub on the internet. So thank you to [checks notes] Maison de Pax for having this fancy bathtub pic on Google Images.