Why do towels get dirty?

“Mummy, you always say we need to take a shower so that we can be clean, right?” Little Angie asked her mother, almost out of the blue.

“Oh yes!” Mummy, who was reading the newspaper, replied. “It’s always good to take showers. That way, we get clean and fresh!”

“And every day when you help me shower with the soap, I get super clean, right?” Little Angie continued.

“Yes…” Mummy replied, but now she had started to notice that her little girl must have been going somewhere with these questions.

“So, why is it that you need to wash the towel I use after showering? Isn’t it supposed to be clean since I use it when I am clean and fresh?” Angie landed the question.

It was at this point that Mummy realized Angie was leading up to this very question. She put down her newspaper, thought about the question again for a moment, and started to answer it.

“Now that is a good question, I love how your mind is thinking.” Mummy started.

“So, after showering, we get rid of all the dirt that we can see. But then, there’s some tiny, tiny dirt that remains on your body. When you use a towel, it helps in removing this tiny dirt.” Mummy answered.

“How come showering can’t remove the tiny dirt? Maybe we should scrub harder with the sponge?” Little Angie asked.

Her mother chuckled at this response. Surely her little girl was thinking widely! “Well, even if we were to scrub harder, we can’t remove this tiny dirt. That’s where the towel helps!”

“Okay…” Angie replied, but not too convinced.

“Think of it this way,” Mummy came in to help her understand it more. She got her glass of water, which was almost empty. She drank all the water that was left. “So, I have finished all my water, the glass is empty, right?”

“Yes, it is,” Angie replied.

“Good, but when you look inside, you can still see some water drops in it, right?” Mummy asked.

“Oh yes, I can see some water in there!” Angie replied.

“Exactly!” Mummy said. “So, in the same way, showering helps our bodies get clean, but there is some tiny dirt that remains on the body that the towel helps with. This is why, after a few days, we always wash our towels too!”

“I now understand this, Mummy, thank you!” Angie said.

The End.

If you enjoyed this story, you may also like: Why do we have to be patient?