My husband wants to know when our daughter will be old enough to take a bath by herself without us watching her so closely, you know, sitting in the room with her...I hadn't ever really thought of it and realized I had no idea. Whey do we get to stop sitting in there for over an hour at a time? She really loves to play.:) Thanks for the info, I know it will be a couple years still since she is only 3, but I wanted to to give him a number or idea of sometime soon.
Thanks for the info! I still wash her, daddy doesn't feel comfortable unless I'm not home because he worries about the male/female child taboo. I know its ok since he is her main caregiver, but he still feels uneasy. Anyway, these long baths are her playing and having fun. She loves to play with her toys, but if if you are there, you are so much better. There is no reading a book, using the computer, or having "me" time, mommy and daddy are her play thing. Lately we've been having really cold in your bones wind and so the kids have been getting warm in the water. We're going to see if she is ok for us to walk into the other room for more than a second, don't worry, we're all on the same floor and the kitchen and bathroom share a wall.
My five year old son loves an long bath, so I just camp out with the laptop in the hallway with the door open. I'm still not comfortable going off into the kitchen to start dinner or the like. Part of this is a precaution against drowning, part is a precaution against having water everywhere!
My son is 5, and this is the first year where I feel comfortable with him bathing without major supervision, but the bathroom is on the same floor as I am, with the door open so I can hear what's going on. Silence is what you DON'T want to hear, because in a water situation, that means danger.
I think at age 4 I let my son bathe alone, with me going in and out of the room. He's 4.5 now and I will often use that time to check emails, and will yell out to him "Son?" and he'll answer back. At the end of the bath, I will soap him down and wash his hair. The "bath time" was more him playing and soaking in the warm tub.
If you had to run out for a minute while your daughter is still bathing, make her sing a song while you are gone so that if you can hear her the whole time. I like the alphabet song or twinkle twinkle.
Sometimes when I was in the bathroom the whole time I would read a magazine or play a game on my phone or get my "me time" chatting with a friend on the phone while the kiddo bathes. I don't floss daily (I know, terrible) but used the every-other-day-bath as my deep-cleaning floss days where I'd spend a good number of minutes flossing and deep cleaning my teeth.
My 7 year old daughter began showering on her own a few months ago. She does all the washing too. I let her play in the bath by herself around age 4. I would check on her every few minutes. I would clean my room or put away laundry but be where I could hear her and see her as I walked by the door.
My boys were bathing alone by the time they were 3 1/2- 4, with the door open and me nearby and checking in periodically. I would still wash their hair, etc, but they could have a good long soak/play without me standing in the room.
Depends on the child..
Our daughter was fine by 4 being in the tub, with the door open and wiping herself down.. But by kinder, I was mainly just washing her hair and doing her back, her neck, ears.. to make sure to reinforce those areas..
She needed her hair washed till she was in 3rd grade.. She just had so much and so thick.. it was impossible for her to get it all washed and rinsed.
Do you actually want her clean? Lol! 5-6
When my kids were around two-three I stopped "sitting there" but I was outside the door, doing laundry, putting clothes away, etc. I just had them sing to me when I was out of their sight, that way I knew they weren't under water :-)
They started bathing/showering on their own at around four to five.
It will vary depending on the maturity of the child but about 7 yrs old is bout right.
At 7 I could trust our son not to flood the bathroom with bubble bath.
Before that, I just had to watch him and make sure he got clean.
My daughter was 3 when we started going in and out of the bathroom and calling "are you alive in there?" She is now 5 and can bathe herself but still needs help with her hair. Just a few days ago her response to my "are you alive" was 'mom, you don't have to keep asking me that. Of course I am.'
I think it will depend on the child and what you want to do instead of being in the room. My oldest is 7 and takes showers. She washes herself but I have to help her with her hair since it is long and thick. I think she is fine to be in there by herself. My youngest is 4 and likes to take baths. I pop in and out and never more than one room away from her. If I can't hear her, I call out and she needs to answer. As long as I can hear her I'm okay with being away for a few minutes.
my son is 6 and i really only check him to make sure he's rinsed well. he will either take a bath or a shower.
i would say around 4-5 i started being in there less...but we have a small duplex (2 bdrm) that basically, the bathroom is right in the center of. i literally can't go into any room without being in earshot, and within about 15 feet of him lol. it's just what you're comfortable with. we would do a lot of, "doing ok?" "yes mommy!" lol.
honestly, it sounds more like you are entertaining her rather than "keeping an eye on her". i got tired of that quick too. you aren't obligated to entertain her. start scaling back a bit, no problem with that.
also, if daddy is uncomfortable (or bored lol), she doesn't HAVE to take an hour long bath. he can tell her, okay, we're going to do a bath but we're going to see how fast we can do it, so we can get back to reading/playing/whatever. she might not be thrilled not to have her playtime, but he's in charge. if he says short bath, short bath.
I would never leave the bathroom not even for seconds with a three year old. I think mine were around 5 when I would leave for a second. I loved tubby time with my kids. I do not think we stayed for an hour as the water would be cold. My kids had a blast after being all washed up. Not worth leaving believe me.
Mine are almost 5 and 7. We are lucky with this because our bathroom is attached to our laundry room. Therefore, we fold clothes and do laundry while bathtime is going on... But we haven't been right within 6 inches of them in the bathtub for at least a few years. And for the record, they both have been in swimming lessons weekly for over 3 years.
Mine all take showers, but the oldest was 6.5 when he started taking showers by himself. The second one was 5 when he started showering by himself. My 3 year old can soap her body by herself but still needs a lot of help washing her hair, not to mention she's way too short to even turn the water on or off, so I think she'll probably be closer to 6/7 when she does it by herself.
My son has taken baths alone since about 3... And started showering this year. He shuts the door cause he wants privacy. He's not allowed to lock it though.
My daughter started at around 4 with me going in and out every few seconds with me in earshot Since she chattered non-stop to herself and her toys, I pretty much knew she was fine and regularly peeked in. I still had to be sure she was clean, and I still (at 5) wash her hair for her. However, she can spend a few minutes playing in the tub while I do my make-up or fold laundry, etc. I do not allow her to close the door, and I do check on her very regularly.
It entirely depends on the kids. My granddaughter was able to sit around age 6 or 7 and do her own play time in the water without me right there in the room eyes on her.
She can take her own shower now but still forgets to comb the tangles out with conditioner on her hair. So I often have to put her back in and recondition her hair so I can get a comb or brush through it to dry it.
On the other hand my grandson is 6 and I still am in the hallway or in the bathroom with him if he's in the tub. He stands in the shower and plays with nesting blocks or some other kind of toy. Then I help him wash his hair and he washes the important parts. I help him rinse. He is frantic when he gets going and he has no fear of falling. So if he gets playing wildly in the shower he could fall and have damage from it.
We started letting DD soak in the tub without one of us RIGHT THERE around 4. She still needs help, especially with her hair, and we don't let her play with the faucet. That was one of our guidelines - if she could be trusted not to burn herself, we could step out for a minute. We leave the door open and don't leave her alone indefinitely, but a kid who is singing is obviously not drowning. I would base it on YOUR child and your comfort. You can also make bath time shorter. An hour in our tub would be a very cold bath at the end. DD bathes for more like 30 mins or less.
We always stay in the bathroom with the child for baths at any age, and then usually by age 7 or 8 the child starts taking a shower (in a bathroom where it's ONLY a shower), with some help, depending.
We pop in and out of the bathroom, but always remain in that area of the house. We started this when my son was 2.5. He's in there with his almost 5 year old sister. They both swim, and are great around water.
I think 3 is plenty old enough.
I think it depends on when the child is able to stay seated and remain quiet. If he's still jumping up and down and moving around a lot then I'd be concerned that he'd slip and bump his head and be underwater. And.....can he get himself clean without help?
I like the ideas stated here where mom in within ear shot and still aware of what's going on when the child even at 4 and 5 are in the tub.
I wouldn't leave my granddaughter alone in the tub until she was well into grade school because she was such an energetic kid. She liked to walk on the edge and slide down the end of the tub. Also, she didn't want to be left alone. She's now 12 and she has just begun not wanting me to stay in the room within the last year. Tub time was always a time for good conversations.
