Parents have a dirty little secret that one mom was brave enough to share on social media: sometimes we pretend that a dip in the pool is as good as a bath.
"Happy 'the pool counts as a bath' season to all who participate!" wrote Colorado mom of two Neely Gracey over boomerangs of her family hanging at the neighborhood pool.
As you might imagine, the comments on this post were heated, with people writing things like, "Noooo wayyy man. Pool day means it is DEFINITELY a tubby 🛀 night for my kiddos. So gross, chemicals, sunscreen, sweat, pee, salt, etc. 🤢😬"
Proponents of the pool bath perhaps raised their hands more slowly. "Heck yes," wrote one mom. And multiple parents in the TODAY.com office (who shall remain nameless) may have let their kids skip baths on pool days once or twice ... or more.
Gracey, however, didn't intend her post to be divisive.
"I in no way posted this to create the level of controversy that it apparently did," she laughs while talking to TODAY.com and wrangling her two boys, Rome, 2, and Athens, 5. ("5 and three-quarters!" Athens shouted in the background.)
"The main reason behind this was I knew that nationwide everyone's pools were opening up," Gracey shares.
"Every parent knows the epic battles that ensue from trying to get your kids into the bath and then trying to get them out of the bath," she explains for the non-parents who have thoughts on her post. "It's two separate battles every single time. I just wanted to give parents permission to have fun with their kids this summer.”
Just in case you were wondering, "Of course I still bathe my children," Gracey says. You can practically hear the eyeroll in her voice.
"In all honesty, it's so funny that people took it so seriously. I had no idea it was going to turn into what it did," she adds.
So, how often should we actually be bathing?
Dr. Mary Stevenson, dermatological surgeon and associate professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health, told TODAY.com in a previous interview that “you should be showering, bathing or cleansing yourself every two to three days.”
The biggest problem from not showering enough isn't the germs, but the smell. So if your kid stinks, you may have counted the pool as a bath one too many times.
Gracey, a runner who qualified for the Olympic trials after giving birth to two kids and broke the world record for in the stroller mile, says she created this video for her mom followers who "get it." And the comments from those followers were much more positive than the comments overall.
But she isn't letting any negativity break her stride.
Though the attention is “beyond what I’m normally used to," Gracey says, "I just really enjoy hanging out with my kids in the summer and I thought it was a fun way to share that we were at the pool."
