What can we do? Many young children love to take a bath but protest loudly when it’s time to wash their hair. Here are a couple of ideas to make washing hair easier:

• Make sure you use a shampoo of the 'no tears' variety.
• Have your child hold a rolled up wash cloth over his eyes.
• Put some interesting pictures on the ceiling to encourage them to look up for easy rinsing.
• Try using a squeeze bottle filled with water to rinse hair if they are reluctant to lay down.
• Some children feel more comfortable with having their hair rinsed by a hand held shower attachment.
• Use a purpose made rinse guard to protect the face.
• If your child is afraid to have his hair washed, let him wash yours first and make it seem like fun!
• Put a doll with hair (one that can get wet) in the bath and let your child play at washing hair.
• Sing a hair washing song such as 'this is the way we wash your hair' - tell your child hair washing will be over when the song is over.
• Unless they are getting very dirty, don't worry about washing hair everyday. Some children may only need a hair wash once a week.

These great tips and more are from the highly acclaimed book The Triumphant Child - A practical guide to raising 2, 3 and year olds.