When to bathe themselves independently.

[MultipleMama]

My 5.10yo approached me this morning and asked if he could have a shower instead of a bath tonight and asked if he could do it without me or DH watching.

He normally bathes by myself or with his sister(3yo), or when I bang 4 of them in together due to laziness! with either myself or DH sat on the toilet seat watching. The only time any of the DC shower is when I have too much on and then we all get in (shower is walk-in) with them sitting or standing and I wash them or let them attempt to wash themselves.

Should I let him, or make a compromise? I'm glad he's showing an interest in wanting to do things for himself, I'm just slightly worried of not being there and something happening. Is he too young?

A sensible 5 year old can't get into much trouble in a shower (surely?)

Dd is six and went through a phase of asking for showers, but it only lasted a few days for the novelty to wear off and she was back in the bath with her sister.

I'd let him, but clear the shower of all spare bottles/razors etc in case he tries to experiment.

My DD 6.4 has just asked to have showers too.
Perhaps you could stay with him a couple of times to make sure he's washing properly?

I think I'm more worried of him slipping and hitting his head on the glass or tiles.

He's very sensible, knows what he can and cannot touch/use.

Think I'm going to let him at least on a trial run and watch from the doorway. He's growing up too fast!

My worry would be him touching the temperature control and getting scalded. Can you trust him not to alter the temperature? If so, I'd say let him go for it.

The control panel is on the wall above his height and it has a temperature regulater and scauld protecter and he knows not to touch taps without mine or DH's permission.

So we let him use it, I stood by the door to watch and he did well. He climbed out, wrapped around the towel and put on his slippers then came to get me to tell me he'd done and so I could turn the shower off. Very proud actually :)

DS is 6 and showers himself most of the time. I do worry about him slipping and falling but he's pretty sensible, washes his hair and uses the shower gel.

I do tend to loiter upstairs when he is in the shower though. It's a good opportunity to put away washing, do a few jobs or just sit and chat to him.

Bless him OP!

He was quite adorable! He gave me a hug and then ran and told DH that he showered all by himself :)

The overprotective part of me wants to safety everything and put a baby moniter in the bathroom