Guys,

Please never ever leave a child under 7 alone in the bath - not for a second a child can drown in 3 inches of water in 60 seconds - 3 is way too young - i have 4 children ranging from 18 years to 4 years. Its not just scalding we need to worry about xx

My boy is 7 in a few months.. i allow him to shower and bathe alone.. but in saying that i am always in and out of the bathroom and always close by.. the door is always open and i call out to him to make sure hes ok if i happen to be out of the room for longer than a few minutes..sometimes, he doesnt respond to the  calling out.. i run into the bathroom and  he is quite safe.. i have tried to get him to understand how important it is to repsond every time mummy calls to him..but i guess sometimes he is simply too far into his own little world that he doesnt hear me.. ( no my darling angel would never ignore me. NEVER I SAY!!)..my advice would be.. you dont ave to be in the bathroom once your child is old enough.. but you have to be vigilant and close by.. just my personal opinion.

my daughter on the other hand turns 10 in a week and there is no way in HELL anyone is getting into the bathroom while shes in there.. its just not gonna happen...lol... she barricades herself in.. which i guess tells me quite clearly that she is old enough to be there on her own..

use your best judgement..just dont leave them alone for too long.. xoxo

I don't assist her in the shower, but she is never left alone in the bathroom.  I stay right there.  Sometimes I just sit in the doorway in the bathroom but since we don't have a shower curtain at the moment I can still see her anyway.  I have a cordless phone and sometime miss calls as I won't leave her even for a second to go and grab the phone and take it back to the bathroom, but we have caller ID and when I call my friends back and let them know my daughter was in the shower and I couldn't get to the phone they think I'm nuts because it only takes a second to get the phone. But she doesn't have a bath, she has a shower and it only takes a second for her to turn the cold tap off and scald herself with the hot water, and it only takes a second for her to slip and bump her head so I'm not ready to leave her alone yet.  It's 10 minutes out of my day sitting in the bathroom while she cleans herself. She has these rubber cut-outs that stick to the wall when they get wet and sometimes she'll have a play with them too but I don't mind waiting with her.  Just thought I'd see what other people thought too but it seems I'm not paranoid after all. Thanks for all your responses!

I was 8 and bathing alone, rinsing my hair and choked. Mom had the door shut so I would not get cold.  Somehow my dad heard me and he was at the other end of the house.  Had he not heard me choking I dont think I would be here today.  My oldest is 9 and she gets checked on constantly and we leave the door open.  Khiley is 6 and I stay in the bathroom with her.  I dont leave Cole AT ALL, and he is 3.  Anything that needs my attention can wait till he is out of the tub.  Why even risk it? 

I would leave and still do leave my daughter in the bath and shower alone since she was 3 also, and she know's not to touch the taps. She also tells me when she wants to get out. I think and sounds like 3 is the normal age for this.