My wife and I are having a disagreement about my three year olds bathtime. Please help!?
Answers:
at least 6 or 7.
Other Answers:
Let your wife go in and watch the child if she's saying that. But I tend to think she's erring on the side of caution at worst.
@ age 6 when they know better to not drown themselves:) omigod,,... i have to agree with your wife. seriously, and i do think that this can be considered child negelect. i am not trying to be mean, but its th truth. every kid is different, but i think at the earlest is when the child is in 1st grade... at the earlest... and for the door to be shut... what else could be more important that letting your child be alone in water. it only takes a sec.
No hell no.Dude have you ever heard of drowning???? 6-8 yrs.old. What else is so important than to take 15min.out to watch them??
I think it would be okay if you are careful about how much water you put in the tub and how closely you monitor her. If my little girl is in the bath, I will check on her repeatedly, even if I am in the next room. It might be something like "Are you okay??" Never leave her for an extended time or in deep water...it doesn't take long OR much depth in the water to drown! Be careful! I guess better to be safe than sorry.Source(s):
mother of 4
i would say 6 or 7 but if the can not swim or is small i think they should be attended but if she can swim and can swim alone i would say it is fine but you should cheak on her At least age 5 - when she will be able to wash her body and hair on her own.
3-4 is too little, while she probably will not drown herself, she might slip and fall if she tries to stand or kneel. Better be safe than sorry, don't you think?
Source(s):
Two of my own.
Thats a mother thing mate. Let your wife go and do what ever makes her happy. or if you must try and leave your daughter in the bath alone leave the door open while you or your wife keep your one year old entertained so then your one year old does not climb in the bath too. yea your wife is right you dont leave a3 yaer old unattended at no time by themself. what are you thinking, I didnt till they were alot older.hello wakeup.
3 is too young to be left alone in the bathroom, or anywhere else for that matter.
I agree with the others, mostly, and say about 7, with the door open.
Bad things happen fast to little ones, protect them with every fiber of your being. It is a lot easier to pay proper attention to 2 kids than it is to plan a funeral.
Better safe than sorry. I would say till 7ish. my 3 and a half year old is really self sufficiant and he could probably handle it, but there is always that chance something could go wrong. my son tries to stand on the side of the tub when trying to get out.ssssslllllliiiiiippppp.
wow! 3 is way tooo young to be unattended..i didnt take baths by myself until i was 5 or 6!!! well...just make sure that the water isnt high enough to drown and check every few minutes...i guess it will be alright...
I'd have to agree with your wife, the child should be old enough to understand the danger of being in water.my daughter will be four in july so the same age as your daughter... and i would not shut the door ever! i know its hard with your 1 yr old trying to get in there, but anything can happen. she could stand up and fall over and bonk her head on the tap or the side or anything and you might not hear it. how would it feel to peek in there and see her floating in the water? i dont mean to sound harsh but picture that... can your 1 yr old be in the bath too and therefore you could be in there with both of them anyway? my kids are 5 years apart but i stuck the baby bath seat in with the older one and it was much easier to get both kids cleaned at once. my son is now 8 and i still dont let him shut the door when he is in the tub, it gives me the heebie jeebies.
my daughter guzzles water from the tub and half chokes herself, has slipped and fallen even when im sitting right there, etc. 3 year olds do not understand that they could seriously injure themselves, and accidents happen no matter how much they understand anyway. one thing to think about is that if she was really choking on something, you wouldnt be able to hear her because she wouldnt be able to make any sounds (like if something was lodged in there pretty good or she had guzzled water like my daughter does). there are just so many things that could go wrong and its just a small inconvenience to have the one year old playing in there too, whether in the tub or on the floor.
Instead of closing the door, how about just putting up an infant gate? You can easily check on her and the one year old doesn't climb in the tub. My mom would check on us well in to teen years. The slighest bump she came running because at ANY age you can fall and get hurt.
I let my 16 month old play in the tub by herself. I just check on her often, but in the mean time I can put the dishes away or empty the dryer. I live in a VERY small apt, when she is in the tub and I am not in there, I turn EVERYTHING off so the apt is quiet and I can hear everything.
Try the gate thing, she was she says.
They should be supervised constantly until they can swim, even after that they need to be checked on & definatly listened to, incase they slip & can't get up again. I have heard of a 5 yr old who drowned in a bath when his mother accidently fell asleep on the couch. They are too precious to take risks with :) I have a very independent 5 year old who at this age does not want his mommy bathing him. I do insist on helping and having the final say that he is clean, but he asks me to let him alone for a little while. During this time is the only time that he is encouraged to splash and make LOTS of noise lol!!! He's never left unattended for more than a few minutes and is constantly being talked to. The bathroom door stays open always. We've only been doing this since about the beginning of the year (he's 5 1/2 now)
Be careful there hun. Tragedies happen in a second with children in water. They only have to slip, hit there head...Being safe is better than sorry.
Never leave the three year old alone. She could hit her head and go underwater and drown. Trust your wife...women have those maternal instincts that are seldom wrong.Three year olds tend to stand up in the bathtub and if you have the door shut and she's by herself,she could slip,hit her head then you'll have to explain to children services at the hospital how she got hurt and where were you when she got hurt.More importantly than that,how much do you love your child?I hope it's enough to protect from getting hurt.When she is 6 or 7 and knows the dangers of the tub then she is old enough, but leave the door open and just invest in a child gate for in front of the door to keep your one year old out, that way you could hear her if she needs you. I would never do that. She is definitley not old enough. By the time they are 5 or 6 then maybe as long as you keep cheecking on them.
Well, first, THANK YOU Vamedicca. I didn't see anything wrong with my almost 4 yr old being in there by himself, until I read your answer. I still don't understand how the little girl drowned, they're big enough at that age to get their head out of the water, but just the fact that an expert saw it happen is enough for me. When he was 1, he had a seizure while he was in the bath and went underwater, if I hadn't been there he would have drowned for sure. So, the few times he is in there, I listen very closely and talk to him so he has to yell back to me, but that is pretty rare that he's in there by himself. I won't do it anymore.
Now, here's a suggestion for you. Why don't you put the 1 yr old in with the older one, and bathe them together? Three is too young to properly bathe themselves anyway, so this way, they get to play together, they're both being supervised, and they're both getting clean at the same time? It would stop the arguing, and you wouldn't be taking chances. I've been bathing mine at the same time since my youngest turned 1, so for six months now. If I didn't, I'd be fighting the younger one anyway, door shut or not. And it gets bathtime over quicker. I am glad that you asked this. I was going to tell you that you are right, until I read that horrible storie about the little girl. Thank God for you and the guy who answered you, you may have just saved some children's lives.
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