(NEXSTAR) – After making headlines in July for claiming there was “no point” in bathing their children unless they were visibly dirty, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are poking fun at themselves — and the controversy in general — on social media.
On Wednesday, Kutcher shared a video clip of Kunis giving their children a bath, during which he jokingly feigns concern over her motives and methods.
“You’re putting water on the children? Are you trying to melt them?!” he asked Kunis.
“Are you trying to injure them with water? This is ridiculous,” he added. “That’s like the fourth time this week. Four times this week! … Their body oils are going to be destroyed!”
Kutcher’s Instagram post came just a few weeks after the actors admitted to bathing their children infrequently on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, hosted by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman. The subject arose after Kutcher and Kunis agreed with Shepard that using soap every day would interfere with the body’s natural oils.
“I didn’t have hot water growing up as a child, so I didn’t shower much anyway,” Kunis said. “But when I had children, I also didn’t wash them every day. I wasn’t that parent that bathed my newborns — ever.”
Days later during an appearance on “The View,” Dax Shepard and wife Kristen Bell added that they, too, often let their kids go without baths for up to “five, six days.”
“I’m a big fan of waiting for the stink,” Bell said. “Once you catch a whiff, that’s biology’s way of letting you know you need to clean it up.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic’s guidelines for bathing, children under 6 should be getting “quality time in the tub” two or three times per week, or more if needed. Kids 6 through 11 need a minimum of two or three baths, or more if they get “muddy, sweaty or stinky.” Daily showers are recommended for older kids.
The American Academy of Dermatology Association, meanwhile, recommends bathing children ages 6 to 11 at least once or twice a week.
“How often your child needs a bath depends on your child’s age and activities,” the AADA stated.
