NORTH OLMSTED, OH--(Marketwire - January 11, 2011) - Thirty by sixty inches. That's the size of the standard bathtub in most American homes. To many adults, it's a tight squeeze to fit comfortably and relax. But to a child, it's a colossal, bubble-filled wonderland of adventures waiting to happen. Interested in learning a bit more about the habits surrounding this water play land for the pint-sized set, Moen Incorporated, manufacturer of the number one faucet brand in North America, dove right in and recently conducted a survey. The unique research study queried both parents and their kids about children's bathing habits -- including questions about how often they bathe, for how long and just how many kids they can fit into that 30- by 60-inch spot.
"Through years of research studies at Moen, we have a strong pulse of American showering and bathing habits. But we've always looked at adults -- and thought it would be interesting to understand how children bathe -- to see just how different their habits are from their parents," said Jack Suvak, director of market research and insights, Moen. "Plus, we took a really interesting approach -- in that we queried both adults and children -- one that might not be as typical in market research and one that is certainly more challenging.
"The findings we discovered in this study were really quite interesting -- and in many cases, contrasted significantly with our previous 'adult' research. We identified some surprising insights -- for example, children shower outside of the home an average of three times per week; and the average child spends an average of 23 to 25 minutes in the bath."
Baths vs. Showers
On the "bath versus shower" topic, many children take both baths and showers. However, not surprisingly, according to adults, a bubble bath ranks highest with the younger set: 85 percent of 6-8 year olds take baths (vs. 77 percent who take showers). Nearly all tweens take showers, rather than baths: 97 percent of 12-14 year olds take showers (vs. 55 percent who take baths).
Ironically, when children were asked whether they take baths or showers; the results differed significantly. Fifty-five percent of children aged 6-8 said they took baths (versus adults, who said their children took baths 85 percent of the time) -- a 30 percent difference in responses; and 71 percent of tweens said they took showers; (versus adults, who said their tweens took showers 97 percent of the time) -- again a nearly 30 percent difference between children's responses and adults'.
Seven Days a Week
When asked how often their children bathe or shower, parents stated that their children (particularly those in the 12-18 age group) bathe or shower every day.
Morning or Night?
Children and parents agree -- children are four times more likely to take a bath in the evening than in the morning. They also agree that more than half of the showers taken by children in a week occur in the evening.
How Many in the Tub?
While most adults prefer to bathe solo, three in 10 parents report bathing children together. Those who bathe multiple children would stop doing so for boys and girls together at around five years old; and for siblings of the same sex at approximately seven years old.
For parents that are concerned about filling the perfect bath for their children... too hot? Too cold? Or is the water too high? All of these concerns are now gone, with the new ioDIGITAL™ Roman tub from Moen® -- the first Roman tub of its kind. It features an intuitive interface with three customizable preset buttons offering precise, personalized temperature and water-height control with the touch of a button. The wall-mounted ioDIGITAL interface features separate temperature and flow dials, plus an innovative Child Lock feature to greatly reduce the risk of tub overfill or scalding. No additional temperature limiting devices are required. Plus, the ioDIGITAL Roman tub interface is waterproof, allowing the user to install in or near the bath area.
Parental Supervision?
While we can achieve the license to drive at 16, most young children are allowed to bathe or shower unsupervised at around seven years old. Seven in 10 adults with a child 6-8 years old report that their child bathes or showers unsupervised.
Tick Tock in the Bath...
Another unexpected find -- children spend about 23-25 minutes lathering up and playing in the bath; versus 16 minutes in the shower. A previous study by Moen found that adults spend an average of 13 minutes in the shower.
"If the average child spends 16 minutes in the shower, there are obviously quite a few that spend more time than that," added Suvak. "If water conservation is a concern, there are a number of low-flow showerheads available which do not sacrifice performance. In fact, Moen has nearly 20 showerheads, many of which are kid-friendly handheld models that meet the recently introduced WaterSense® criteria for showerheads. These products offer flow rates of up to 32 percent less than the industry standard, and many feature modified spray formers which actually increase the velocity of the water streams hitting the body, treating users to a full, satisfying spray."
Keeping It Clean... Outside of the Home
Another unpredicted finding of the study... one in five children report taking baths/showers away from home, averaging nearly three per week. The notion is that many of these children are in middle- or high-school, and shower before/after sports and after-school activities.
"Overall, we had a lot of fun with the findings," said Suvak. "Too often, we think that children are just miniature versions of ourselves. But, as we found out in our survey, they have very different habits and inclinations. It really opened our eyes to children's behaviors, and will help us bring relevant products to market that provide enjoyable, reliable experiences for this important age group."
For more information about Moen and its products, call 1-800-BUY-MOEN or visit moen.com.
About Moen
Moen, the 2010 EPA WaterSense® Manufacturer Partner of the Year, offers a diverse selection of thoughtfully designed, on-trend kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, bath accessories, showerheads, and stainless steel sinks for residential and commercial applications. As a WaterSense partner, Moen has aligned its priorities with the goals of the U.S. EPA, working to protect the future of our nation's water supply through the introduction and ongoing support of water-efficient products, programs and practices, while keeping consumers' needs top-of-mind.
Customers have come to rely on Moen, the #1 faucet brand in North America, to deliver dependable products and service. Moen is part of Fortune Brands, Inc. (
Contact Information:
Contact:
Kathy Flinn
Director, Advertising & Brand
Moen Incorporated
(800) 321-8809, Ext. 2330
media@moen.com
Jennifer Allanson or Kristi Stolarski
Falls Communications
(216) 696-0229
jallanson@fallscommunications.com or kstolarski@fallscommunications.com
