Phrase of the week: das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten

das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten

            idiom: to throw the baby out with the bathwater

This idiom literally means ‘to pour/dump the child out with the bath’. It actually refers to a mistake, which is avoidable, where you lose something (valuable) while trying to get rid of something you do not want.

• Wir sollten das Kind nicht mit dem Bade ausschütten, indem wir diese erfolgreichen Programme jetzt abschaffen. = We should not throw the baby out with the bathwater by abolishing these successful schemes now.

A baby sitting in a bath. Photo: Henley Design Studio via Pixabay