That's exactly why I wouldn't leave a child alone in the bath. A child can drown in 1cm of water.

Working in emergency rooms as a nurse has scared me for life.

Children DO drown in baths.
Perhaps I should add she was five, almost six, at the time. I'm confident she wouldn't have been so relaxed if she had any water near her face.

It's always a judgement call by a parent to know when you can trust your child to be responsible for themselves, in anything. Since we've never had any incidents where DD1 was been hurt, or otherwise endangered, I know so far we have made the right call. It's a balance too, between trusting them and protecting them. I believe allowing risk for children is very important for the long term.

Hence the reason we also allow her to use knives in the kitchen, help at the stove and peel potatoes. She can also climb trees, ride her bike down a hill, swim in the pool without one of us in it and a myriad of other things that could land her in the emergency room.

We take risk seriously, by educating her and paying close enough attention to know when she is capable of managing things herself. So far, our calls have been right.

That's not to say she won't ever end up in the emergency room hurt (goodness knows as a teenager I knew the local ambulance men by sight I'd had so many incidents!). But I am of the belief that the benefits outweigh the risk and occasional injury.