Child alone in bath

[BlueCheeseNoWay]

What age would you say is ok to leave a child unattended in the bath?

Aibu to think 5 years old is ok as long as parents are in earshot?

It depends what you’re doing. I would leave my DC when they were 5 but I’d only go into the next room with both doors open AND only because they both tended to sing or talk to themselves all the time so I could tell everything was OK. Not for extended periods of time though, just pottering around doing jobs etc. DD is 6 and perfectly fine on her own now.

Mine passed his bronze swimming badge just before he turned 6 (so learned about water safety as well as 200m swimming)

I figured since he was allowed in a pool on his own since then that he could go into bath alone

Depends how long. To go and get a towel from another room, fine but to dunk them in the bath and leave them there for 10 mins, no

I leave 5 year old while I potter upstairs ie in the next room. She is very noisy anyway.

5 is ok to potter about and check on them every now and then as long as they are reasonably sensible, if you’re likely to find them balancing on the edge of the bath, then no.

Yeah my 5 year old has been swimming since 6 months old and is pretty good in the water.
I always leave the bathroom door open and stay upstairs where I can hear him, usually talking or signing to himself.
My mother was horrified when I mentioned it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have twice found my 14yo asleep in the bath.
She's no longer allowed to be left alone 🙄

I would leave mine from about the age of 4 for a few minutes. As long as, like you say, you're near enough to hear them chatting and/or splashing about it's fine.

I live in a TINY flat. My 5 year old is left in the bath but she also practically squeals the entirety of her bath so it's easy to tell she's up to no good or something is wrong

Absolutely fine.

@dancemom you don’t let your 14 year old bath alone?

If I had to leave my 3 year old alone in the bath, I used to make him sing. Granted it was only a few minutes, but rousing renditions of "Row, row, row your boat" were good fun.

Dd is 4, I usually clean the bathroom when she's in the bath.
I will go into the bedrooms leaving the bathroom door open and I can hear her.

I think it was around 4-5 when I started popping in and out of the bathroom while staying upstairs.

Then I started sitting in the hallway with a book with the door open and bit by bit I stopped doing it.

Saying that, she only had a bath once a week, she normally showered.

@chubbycow, @dancemom is a both a little bit too involved and little bit too hands off with her children. She was planning on sending her DS(15) to school this week because she wouldn’t be able to get him to work. I wondered it at the to me, but I am now convinced she says things just to get a reaction.

Aged 5 but within talking distance. ie child in the bath, me ironing in the next bedroom, where I could hear his monologue and splashing.

@chubbycow I don't let her bath when I'm not home, she falls asleep in the bath
She's free to shower whenever she likes though!

And pp I don't have a ds15 🤔

I said I wasn't happy leaving my dd home alone all day every day for potentially 5 months as she has anxiety

I’ve got an 8 yr old and I still keep an ear out. Silence for more than 10 seconds warrants a welfare shout 😂

He slipped getting out the bath once and knocked himself unconscious- floor side.

Remember that even if they can swim they do still dick around sometimes, especially unsupervised. Standing on the sides etc. A slip in the bath can be fatal if they go unconscious.

My DD is 6 and I will leave her alone in the bath briefly to go and get something or for a few minutes to tidy up the bedroom (she's in the en-suite so I can hear her constantly). I'm trying to teach her some independence and not needing constant supervision without actually putting her at risk.

My DS just turned 4. I leave him in the bath while I put the washing away normally. He sings or talks to himself or me the entire time so I feel it’s fairly low risk.

7 no way wound I leave my almost 5 year old alone in the bath they fuck around in the bath sometimes could bang their head or something. If you don't have 15 minutes to sit with your child in the bath then that's bad.