It seems the 'soft life' movement passed me by

My five-year-old accosted me this morning with the following: "I have a question for you Mammy, why don't you use your bath?

- Carrie Carlisle

This is not some sort of junior intervention for my hygiene, I hasten to clarify, she's just wondering why her bath is used daily whereas mine has been purely decorative since the day we got it.

"If you don't use something, you have to put it away somewhere tidy, you know," was her followup.

I'm not sure which cupboard she thinks a cast iron slipper bathtub is going to fit in, but I'm dearly hoping it's a bottom one...

I have no adequate response to this question, and it makes me feel sad on a number of levels.

If good parenting is leading by example, then what am I teaching my daughters? That a mother shouldn't take even so much as a cursory half hour to soak in the tub she's been dreaming of for decades?

What sort of parenting experience am I setting them up with for later in life? To always make sure they are last on their own list of priorities? I'm really going to have to do better. But the truth is, it's all just far too much pressure!

Allow me to explain: