At what age would you leave your second child to bath alone with your first child?

[lilima]

Just a matter of interest, at what age would you let your second child bath with your first on their own.

I am talking as if your first child is at least 4.

[AnyDream]

My DD is nearly twelve and I've only just started letting her stay alone in the bath with her DD 2.5 yrs old.

This is because I did some reading on child bathtub drownings and the majority of them occured when an older (but still young) sibling was left to supervise a younger child. A child of that age can not be relied upon to a) notice anything is amiss b) respond in a life-saving manner even if they did notice.

Please, don't risk it.

[lilima]

No - I am not doing it. A friend of mine has a 4 year old, and a 18 month old, and sometimes leaves them for a good 10 minutes while shoe does stuff in the kitchen etc. She reckons that she can hear what is going on.

[diva det]

i wouldnt leave my 7 year olds and they are responsible
how could i ever live with myself if something happened????
old enough i would say would have to be a very responsbile teenager!
old enough to babysit- old enough to bath!!!

[lilima]

My thoughts were if they were old enough to babysit, then they would be old enough on their own.
18 month olds slip over etc.
I have a 3 yo and a 15 month old, and I wouldn't leave them even for a second

[Arimeh]

Geez I must be a horrible parent, DS is almost 3.5 years, and DD1 is 22 months, and I've left them to bathe alone for ages now. They both fight and laugh and play - and we CAN hear everything so I don't feel that I need to be in there with them. If the room goes quiet, then I yell out to each of them and make sure they BOTH answer me. If they don't, then I'll run in there, or DH will run in there.

And I'm sure that DS would tell me if something was happening to his sister, he's pretty responsible (for his age). Plus the bathroom is pretty close to the loungeroom (small unit) so we would definitely hear them fall over.

[Marlene]

DS (almost 10) bathes with DS (2) but I only leave them alone long enough to go grab a towel or clothes. Jack likes to jump around in the bath and can be a bit silly, I would hate for Mitchell to have to deal with Jack falling and hitting his head or something. If I am busy I get my DD (15 years) to watch him in the bath Yep, teenagers are good for something, LOL

[~clover~]

Yep, teenagers are good for something, LOL

Your DD is a pretty awesome teenager though
Bri still goes on about her when she see's photo's lol.

[*EJ*]

When my boys DS1(3.5) & DS2(almost 15months) bath i am generally there for the whole thing. The only thing i may leave them to do is run around and get pj's organised in front of the hearter if i didn't get to do it before they hopped in. But it's only for the quickest time and i race back to them as soon as i can. DS2 is also a bit cheeky for standing up in the water which freaks me out.

DS1 i leave for minutes while i get DS2 out and dressed but i constantly call out to him and get him to talk to me. If DH is home they aren't really left alone to bath because we can 'tag team' but i think he's more nervous about leaving them for a second that i am.

[Pandora]

They can't if they hit their head on tap or bath on the way down.
I almost drowned when I was two so maybe I'm just paranoid but I've only just started leaving my eldest alone in the bath now and then only for a few seconds at a time.