At what age did you feel comfortable leaving the room with you child in the bath?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Like they're in a tub with 4" of water and you want to go downstairs to get something. |
Anonymous
| I think maybe 4. But also that was the age that showers became more popular than baths. |
Anonymous
|
I made mine sing if I left the bathroom so I could hear their voices. And I didn't leave the room until they were maybe 4 or 5. I don't screw around with slipping in the tub, or potentially drowning.
The majority of accidents that happen in a home happen in kitchens or bathrooms. Bathrooms are all hard surfaces and corners. |
Anonymous
|
I don't remember exactly, but pretty old. Like 4 or 5. And even then I could hear them the whole time and if it was silent I would run back up.
That might seem extreme but kids can be surprisingly dumb. Fall over on their face and be so disoriented they don't just sit up. I saw an 18 mo old get rescued at the pool. He was in about 6 inches of water and fell in face first. His parent was sitting right next to him talking to someone else and the little dude just splashed around for about 10 seconds before the life guard ran over. I was even standing there, watching, and not processing what was going on. It's why there are life guards at the bottom of waterslides for big kids and grown ups. I always thought it was dumb and then I saw a video of a grown man stopped at the bottom of the slide, face up underwater, just thrashing his arms around instead of sitting up. The lifeguard literally had to save him. So...yeah. At least 4 or 5. |
Anonymous
| I would do things right outside the bathroom at 4-5. But it was probably 6 before I’d run downstairs. |
Anonymous
| 5 or older when they had basic swimming. |
Anonymous
|
4 but our house is small and the only bathroom with a tub opens into the kitchen with what we pretend is a hallway in between. Even if I was at the stove to stir something, I could see her and keep talking to her.
(Embarrassing setup for dinner and overnight guests, excellent setup for safely bathing a preschooler!) |
Anonymous
| None, because they took showers before that. |
Anonymous
What does swimming have to do with it? You can't swim in 4 inches of water. |
Anonymous
| My neighbor's daughter drowned in the bathtub. She went down to the basement to put a load of laundry in the wash. |
Anonymous
+1, teeny tiny house. The bathroom with the bathtub is right off the living room -- we can be in the living room reading or watching TV and be able to hear DD even quietly splashing or humming to herself. I've been leaving her for short periods since she was four and had basic water skills (i.e. had learned to blow bubbles and submerge her face in swim class). Like a minute to go grab a towel from her bedroom, or to go get a glass of water from the kitchen. And then just extended that little by little. She's 6 now and still prefers baths to showers and also still needs help washing her hair (it's long). So now usually we wash her hair and then leave her to wash her body and soak on her own for 15 minutes or so. She can drain the tub and get out on her own without our involvement. |
Anonymous
They understand basic water safety. |
Anonymous
|
We bathe my kids together, they’re 2 and 3.5.
About six months ago I started grabbing something from the next room while they’re in the bath, but it’s literally 30 ft away and I’m gone <10 seconds. Not enough time to drown. Even just the older I wouldn’t leave longer at these ages. I don’t mess around with water. |
Anonymous
| 4 inches of water? This is nothing. Surely you are underestimating the water level |
Anonymous
You apparently do mess around with water because 10 seconds is plenty of time for a child to slip and inhale a lungful of water. |