At what age did you... (paranoid parent alert)

[CheesyFeet]

1. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a few seconds(eg to nip into another room to get a towel)?

2. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a bit longer (eg to nip downstairs to get something, maybe a minute or two)? 3. Leave your dd/ds to bath themselves?

4. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised for a short while (eg to make a cup of tea or go to the loo)?
5. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised to get a job done (eg 1\2 hour cleaning the bathroom or ironing or whatever).

Dd is 2.1 and I will leave her on her own in the bath for a couple of seconds to fetch a towel from the airing cupboard (yes I'm not as organised as I should be). I can hear her playing and would hear if she fell or slid under the water. She is left in the (fully enclosed) garden by herself if I need to nip into the kitchen for something. I can see her from the window if I am boiling the kettle or washing my hands. She is quite happy to be by herself for a minute or two outside, although she will come looking for me sometimes, but out of nosiness rather than any sense of abandonment.

I have no intention of leaving her by herself any longer than that at this stage, but I would be interested to know what age they become that little bit more independant in this respect.

I AM a bit paranoid that I'm doing the wrong thing by leaving her at all...

My ds is 4 and I do all of these except no. 3

Can't reallyremember what age.But ds 7 now and if in the bath and i have to get something or now to give him some privacy i usually talk to him or if i can't hear him i call out..i still do get anxious.But as long as i can hear him i am ok.
I expect it depends on when you are comfortable with leaving them that bit longer.

I do (1) occasionally and (4) frequently with DS - he is 2.4.

Garden is quite small & enclosed obviusly and I can see him from the kitchen. In this weather with teh doors all open, I cook tea, wash up, etc with him pottering about on the patio, but if he disappears out of site I check up on him.

My kids have only recently (sometimes) stopped using the baby bath. So I've left them on their own to bathe (but within earshot) for quite a while. DS1 is nearly 5, DS2 is nearly 2.

In the big bath, though, DS2 falls over, so does need to be supervised properly.

We don't have a proper garden, but DS1 does what he wants really, DS2 as well, mostly, but I do check on him more often.

I do all 5 with DD1 - almost 7. I'd do all except bathing themselves with DD2 4 1/2 and DS1 3 1/2, but they are usually in the bath together, so if I nip downstairs I know that one will call me if there was an emergency and I do mean a quick nip.

I only recently started letting DD1 bath alone and leave the door open and call out or check up on her regularly. By the way - she loves it.

That's exactly what I'm worried about Malory! I once left her on her own in the living room while I went for a wee and came back to find she'd climbed from her chair to the coffee table into the bay window, chasing the cat .

3
not as yet she is nearly 4 ds was 4
6/7 yrs for ds
3
not until she will be 6 I think but then I always ahve ds to watch her

DD is 4y3m.

1. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a few seconds(eg to nip into another room to get a towel)? Yes from about 2
2. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a bit longer (eg to nip downstairs to get something, maybe a minute or two)? Yes since moving here at about 3y6m
3. Leave your dd/ds to bath themselves? Not yet
4. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised for a short while (eg to make a cup of tea or go to the loo)? Yes since moving here at about 3y6m
5. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised to get a job done (eg 1\2 hour cleaning the bathroom or ironing or whatever). Only if in kichen overlooking garden as gate is not that great. Hoping to replace it this winter so I can leave her

1. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a few seconds(eg to nip into another room to get a towel)? yes all the time from about 18 mths. i sometimes put clothes away and stuff now whilst ds is in the bath (2.6).

2. Leave your dd/ds unsupervised in the bath for a bit longer (eg to nip downstairs to get something, maybe a minute or two)? only occasionaly now at 2.6 3. Leave your dd/ds to bath themselves? no yet

4. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised for a short while (eg to make a cup of tea or go to the loo)? yes and dd is only 10 mths.
5. Leave your dd/ds in the garden unsupervised to get a job done (eg 1\2 hour cleaning the bathroom or ironing or whatever). errm yes from about 18 mths but i try to do jobs were i can watch them at the same time - kitchen and bathroom jobs as both of these overlook the garden. also dh has toddler proofed the garden as far as he possibly can

Can I just let you know that I was very confident about the bath thing (mine are 5 and 2) until the other day when i popped out of the bathroom.
Thought I heard a noise,mwent in and ds had slipped under the surface.In his panic,he couldn't get up again.

It frightened the life out of me (still feel sick when i think of it) and I keep on rerunning it through my head and thinking what if i had stayed out a bit longer (although was only next door)?????

So please,please,please,err on the side of caution with the tinies.

good point md - i think its easy to get lapse with this one when they seem stable etc. but they do panic if they slip... fortunately at the moment most of our daily baths take place in the paddling pool fully supervised

I heard a good tip once which was, if you have to leave quite a small child unsupervised in the bath for a minute or so, get them to sing a song while you are gone so you can hear them all the time you're not in there (that's if they will play along with it!)

Molton I do that in public toilets. If there isn't enough room for all to come in the cubicle. They stand outside with their foot poking under the door and sing me a song.

My dh and 17mth ds were sharing a bath the other day, dh dipped his head under the water to wash his hair, and I nipped out of the bathroom to do something in ds's bedroom. In the space of a few seconds ds had leaned over the bath to look for me and leaned too far, slipped and fell over the top of the bath and landed splat on the floor almost hitting his head on the loo!
Both me and dh flet so guilty and it could have been really serious, it happened so quickly dh couldn't catch him.
We used to leave him for a few seconds if we had to get his bottle out of the warmer or get his towel, but now we don't leave him at all again at the moment - he's such a slippery fish!

1. Few seconds - probably around age one but only to fetch something from the next room, with the door open in between.

2. Probably from age two and a bit - just to go straight down or upstairs and back again, with doors open. We have a very small house so I'm never more than 30 seconds away if there was a problem.

3. Not yet, he's only just three and he'd flood the bathroom!

4. Only started doing this recently and would only go as far as the kitchen, not upstairs to the loo. Our garden has some steep steps down to a concrete surface outside the back door, so I'm cautious.

5. Not yet. But I bet when he's older and I do he'll fall down those dratted steps!