Is this bath time situation acceptability?

[5footmama]

You live in a bungalow.
The bathroom is off the main hall.
Opposite the living room.

You have a just turned 6 year old and a 2yr5month old in the bath, playing and washing.

You are in the living room.

Both doors are open.

AIBU to think this is not acceptable?

@exLtEveDallas It's a silent death that takes as little as 30 seconds.

Your child and your risk to take though.

terror That is terrible advice. Apart from the bit where you said you were talking shit.

Well...thanks for the feedback I guess!

My aunt left my 3 year old cousin in the bath for 30 seconds while she went to grab a towel. When she came back he was under the water. She still has no idea how it happened but thankfully he was OK! It really shook her up.

@ICantBelieveInYou did your health visitor really say a child can't drown in 20 seconds? Because that is incorrect information. You could probably get her into serious trouble for giving such bad advice.

“a two year old left alone in a bath...with her parent approx 2 feet away from her...”

Sorry but if you are 2 feet away, you are in the same room. My arm is 2ft long. If you are outside the bathroom you are at least 10ft away.

“Silent Drowning” is being so misused on this thread that it’s laughable. Yes, drowning IS silent...when you are talking about a swimmer in a pool or the sea. It is part of the description of what happens when a non-swimmer or tired swimmer goes directly under water, unable to touch the floor. It was a counter to the ‘Hollywood’ style drownings on screen that show a person flailing about screaming and waving - which doesn’t happen.

Sorry but if you are 2 feet away, you are in the same room. My arm is 2ft long. If you are outside the bathroom you are at least 10ft away

Yeah, nope. Possibly I underestimated but certainly no more than 2 strides. V small bathroom with a concertina door because there wasn’t even enough room to open a full size door into the bathroom without hitting the bath.

@0v9c99f9g9d939d9f9g9h8h that's the best username I've ever seen

he's I felt it was a catchy title...

terror Yes please take it when you're encouraging a parent to take their eyes off a two year old in the bath next time, especially when you wouldn't do it yourself. That's not nothing.

I wouldn't ever do this. An adult needs to be in the bathroom.

Fascinating the way people announce that they were right, and fully justified in their actions when nothing bad happened; not grasping that it was purely and utterly down to nothing more than dumb luck 🤷🏻‍♀️

@exLtEveDallas Are you really not seeing the posts on here where people have left the room just to get a towel or turned around to wash their hands and the child's gone under without them noticing?
If it wasn't silent how would they not have heard?

You can try any which way to justify the fact you feel ok to leave your small child alone in the bath whilst you sit in another room but it doesn't change the facts.
Silent, as little as 2 inches of water in as little as 30 seconds.

LtDallas
“Yeah, nope. Possibly I underestimated but certainly no more than 2 strides”

No you definitely underestimated. Suggest you get out a measuring tape and see exactly how long 2ft is. A bathtub is typically 6ft long. If you are only 2ft away, you have not left the bathroom.

Fuck me, I’m pretty sure I know how big my bathroom was better than you do mate.

Silent drowning happens in bath tubs too. It’s not being misused.

Unless you could actually see them and we're watching (cuppa in hand maybe) but otherwise supervising, no, absolutely not

2ft is 2ft exLtDallas. I don’t need to see your bathroom to know how long 2ft is and that your claim you are outside the bathroom but only 2ft away is physically impossible.

@PlanDeRaccordement the bath might be 6ft long, but it can be sideways on to the door, and if the door is a concertina style - (or could even be a sliding door) , then absolutely you could step outside and still be no more than 2ft away.

Under the circumstances we're talking about, the difference is basically insignificant because the risk is pretty much zero.

Presumably you also don't bother to use a car seat for your child as the risk of a serious accident is so low? I went through my childhood years travelling in a car without a seatbelt regularly. We never had a serious accident so I lived. The chances of it happening were very low, so it was fine, right?

In a living room, an unsupervised accident is probably about as likely to happen as in the bath. However, it is an awful lot more likely to result in the child's death if it should happen.

Leaving a two year old in a bath unsupervised is like leaving them in a living room unsupervised with an unguarded open fire or a low window open with a four floor drop. Again, they aren't that likely to have an accident but, if they do, it is far more likely to be fatal than if you leave them in a normal family living room.

@exLtEveDallas what room did you iron in when your DC was in the bath?

@exLtEveDallas sorry pressed send, you couldn't see your DC so where were you?

Smidge
It’s not physically possible. Shes mentally minimised the risk by thinking she is closer than she really is.

ExLtDallas stated that when she leaves her bathroom, she is only 2ft from the child in the tub. Presumably to demonstrate that the risk for her is especially low because her bathroom is small. My arm is 2ft long. No matter how small the bathroom, leaving it would put you more than 2ft away.

Even after she amended it to being “two strides away” that would still definitely put you more than 2ft from the child in the tub because each stride of an average height woman is 2.2ft long.

2ft is 2ft. Yes her risk may be less, but it’s not the low level you’d get from actually being 2ft away.

It depends on the 2 year old. DD yes you could leave the room to grab a towel. DS not a chance he'd climb on the wet slippery surface onto the tiled floor.
I had a friend she didn't give a shit, she'd vacuum downstairs while her 2 & 3 year old played in the bath. They're teenager's now.

Silent drowning happens in bath tubs too. It’s not being misused

It really is.

Google “what is silent drowning” and you won’t get results. Unless you mean dry or secondary drowning.

Silent drowning isn’t a thing. Drowning is silent, is. It was a very successful advertising campaign because people/children were drowning in pools and seas because people didn’t realise they were drowning without the scream, flapping arms.

Honestly, I get that posters don’t like that my child was ok or that I took that risk. But you don’t need to use incorrect terms as an extra scare tactic or tell me that I don’t know how small my own bathroom was to further your point.

Yes, I agree a child could slip under water in a slippy bath. Firstly I would have heard that happen, secondly the bath mat stopped that.

Yes I agree my child could have stood up and fallen/bumped her head/whatever. Again I would have heard that.

No, I wasn’t in the same room, I was stood in the next (adjoining wall) room doing the ironing. Yes I was 2 strides (see, I have amended myself) away. It wouldn’t have even taken 20 seconds to get to her. I made my risk assessment based on the facts and I was happy with my decision.