I sat by the tub for the duration of every bath until my daughter was >5, had some swimming lessons and experience, and seemed like she could handle it. Then I jaunted off for brief periods, nervous all the while but things turned out OK, so then I stayed away longer and longer. Now she’s about 5.75 years and I pretty much just get the water going and let her at it. She turns it off when it’s full enough. I peak in every so often, but more to make sure she’s getting the job done, not so much for safety. But I do still worry a bit.
Then there’s the guy at work who said he didn’t leave his kids alone in the tub for a second until they were double digits.
5 sounds about right. Just stay close by and knock on the door every few minutes to make sure everything’s OK. My little girls have long hair so sometimes I need to check to make sure they’ve rinsed out all the shampoo but other than that they are more or less self sufficient.
Honestly if they had a credit card and a maid they wouldn’t need me :eek:
I’m thinking the Kiddo was 3-4 when I would let him play in the tub for a bit without being in the room the whole time, but checking on him frequently. Definitely by 5 yo, he was taking baths on his own, but also around that age started to prefer showers.
I went for <5, but there was generally an older sibling around at the time to notice if anything bad happened. Also the bathroom is in a fairly public area and we don’t shut the door on the kids, so realistically there’s always an eyeball or two around.
My friend went for “3” as the answer to that question (with occasionaly eyeballing) and came in to find her son asleep in the bath. :eek: Fortunately with his head above the waterline.
We have old fashioned taps in the bath, the kind with a separate hot and cold tap. And I never know which way to turn the knob to adjust the temperature. And the temperature reacts with some delay. So there is always some panicky adjusting going on, along the lines of: “Turning this way-oh no! That makes it really hot! Quick, turn it down, down! Not this way, the other way is up, now I’ve just made the hot stream more powerful Get your leg out of the way ! I’ll turn the cold one up all the way (whichever that way is) for good measure! Oh no, now it’s freezing!”. And I figure, if I still panick a bit, I can’t leave my toddler alone with those taps.
When I finally get around to replacing those old taps with a modern thermostatic one, I’ll feel easier leaving him alone with it.
My 7 year old would love nothing more than for me to stay in there the entire shower time. Heck no. She just wants an audience; she doesn’t actually need or even want assistance for more than a final shampoo check.
We started lengthening the apron strings around 4 or 5, but it’s been a rather protracted process with this one. Lowering the shower head helped (got the spray to an appropriate angle for her height) and the landlord redoing the plumbing and bleeding the lines to stop the ghostly wailing helped. But she still would prefer an audience. She doesn’t do alone time well, no matter the setting. *Everything *has to be a game of make believe and we all have to participate (but as supporting cast only; it’s always clear who’s the star!)
My son is 3, almost 4. I let him bathe for brief periods without me being in the bathroom. He’s a noisy and messy bather. As long as I hear his running self-commentary and water splashing, it’s all good.
The Firebug is 5. Right now I’m trying to wean him off of being bathed, and getting him to scrub himself. I have no trouble leaving him alone in the bath, but he prefers company. I figure by the time he’s 6, I want him to be taking his baths on his own.
Oddly enough, he doesn’t want us around when he’s changing clothes, or getting out of his clothes to get ready for his bath, but has no problem with us giving him a bath, or keeping him company while he washes/plays in the tub. The modesty of a 5 year old is a strange thing.
My four year old can’t by any stretch of the imagination shampoo her own hair, and would probably just play instead of washing, so I do those right at the beginning, then will sit within sight line of the tub and read while she plays. I no longer flip out about running out to answer the phone or something though.
Again, the hair washing is the biggest challenge for the older one - at 8 I was still washing her hair for her. A year later, and my involvement is confined to ordering her to go take a shower, with a reminder to actually WASH all the relevant body parts.
Your cow-orker sounds weirdly overprotective. And I say that as a card-carrying OCD-suffering worry-wart mother.
Around 3 years of age for my son. He grew up with a pool in the back yard, however, and could swim the length of the pool at 2 1/2. I did make him call for me to get out of the bath so he didn’t slip climbing over the side of the tub until he was 4.
I’d have to ask my mother for sure, but I think I started taking baths by my self around age 5, but it wasn’t until I was 10 that I had any sense of modesty & started locking the door. Also when I was younger whenever I stayed at my grandmothers I’d insist on cleaning the bathtub after I took a bath (while still naked). :o Both grandmother’s thought this was adorable, my mother didn’t (mainly because I never did it at home).
My daughter’s almost 2 and I leave her alone from time to time. It’s a small house and it’s never more than for about 2-3 minutes at a stretch, but she’s perfectly fine in the bathtub playing with her toys. She’s only just now learning to wash herself and does a pretty poor job of it at that, so I still have to bathe her. I have no clue how long that will last, but probably for another year or so. But leaving her alone for a bit? Yeah, no problem.
4 or 5ish is about right. Some of it depends on the birth order. My oldest was probably close to 7 before he started bathing on his own, but by the time my 4th came along, he showered alone starting at age 4.
Hmm…I was at least 10, possibly 11. But my mom was crazy over-protective. Ridiculously so, actually. I’d say 5 is probably a good age, although as with all things, it’s kid-dependent.