playing alone

[Karen]

At what age have you left you LO to do the following:

1. Play in the bathtub while you are in the next room (can't see them, but can hear them)?

2. Play in a fenced in back yard?

Just curious, we currently don't do either, just wondering what others do?

[Tan5kids]

Noah who is 3 plays in the tub while I am not in the bathroom. I am usually across the hall putting laundry away or something and can hear him. We always talk/sing back and forth.

Outside wasn't until my kids were about 5 and that is with a fenced backyard.

I do let Noah go out with his 11 year old brother in the back yard, but not with his 8 & 9 year old siblings.

[sittingpretty]

1. Play in the bathtub while you are in the next room (can't see them, but can hear them)?

I let D starting at 3 we had a rule that she had to be making noise though

2. Play in a fenced in back yard?

at 5 I let her play with in eye sight of my ex's apartment window where he lives. At 8 she was allowed out side at the schoolyard facing my window

Just curious, we currently don't do either, just wondering what others do?

its totally depends on maturity of the child and what you think they are capable of

[Mom2my2]

1. I stay in the bathroom while the kids are in the tub (5 and 2) DS is slowly choosing to have showers so I let him do that but I'm always outside of the bathroom door.
2. I'm hoping this year DS will be able to play in the backyard alone but we live on a sideroad and don't have a fenced in yard so we'll see.

[Book Worm]

I don't leave them in the bathroom alone b/c they bathe together and sometimes fight - I don't want them drowning each other. If they were bathing by themselves I would probably leave them if I was in the next room and could hear them. I will run and grab their PJ's etc but am, literally, gone for 15 seconds.
We have a fenced backyard and Jack can play out there on his own (he's 4 1/2) and I will run in and grab the phone, drinks etc if Ben is out there too (he's 2 1/2) but I wouldn't leave them out there together to play - again b/c they fight all the time and who knows what they'd be doing to each other.

[L&AMOM]

Ive let the boys play together in the tub from 3-4 up - but our bathroom is literally at the end of the hall and living space is all one floor. You can see whats going on pretty much from anywhere :P

Going out side - this is the first year Ive sent them both outside and they have to check in every 10-15 min. I also leave most of the windows & doors open in that general direction to listen for screaming or death threats ...

[Carol]

Bathtub I don't because they bathe together and my youngest is only two.

Outside(fenced yard with gate he can't open. I will now that he's 5 but I can hear him playing and check up every few minutes. I'm a bit paranoid.

[*allie*]

DS was probably almost five before he was in the bath alone but dd, being the second child and sharing her bath with him, has probably been left alone in there since she was able to sit up reliably on her own.
Not 'left' but, generally what I do is bring up a load of laudnry to put away while they play when they're first in the tub. So I'm in and out of the room and I can hear them laughing and playing. He is old enough to warn me if she stands (we have a 'sitting only' policy) and I can hear them constantly.
Once or twice I've dashed downstairs to grab a diaper or something, ds knows the rules : if she stand,s holler for me. Otherwise, not much else could go wrong. There's hardly evne room for someone to drown with the two kids in the tub and all the toys.

For outside, never has happened yet.
I've been thinking about that a lot, how we're eventually going to have to let him play outside wit hfriends or by himself at times. I'm not sure when or how we'll figure that out. I think we'll play it by ear.I suspect I'll start letting him ride his bike down to the end of the street when we move (it is four houses long and a dead end) as it would still be within view of me, but let him feel independent. That is, once he learns to ride hs bike

[laurensmom]

My DD is 2.5 I let her play in the tub when I am in the next room putting away laundry, but I talk to her the whole time and check on her every minute or so. I have only let her be alone in our fenced, private, backyard for a minute or two while I ran in to take something out of the oven, or go to the bathroom. I do let her play in the backyard with the neighbour kids, who are 8 and 12.

[princess2808]

Tub: 2.5/3
Outside: we dont have a fensed yard so I dont know.

[Mom2my2]

Its kinda funny how we all put laundry away while ths kids are in the tub... lol

[mom2markus]

1. Play in the bathtub while you are in the next room (can't see them, but can hear them)? Markus was 2/3 but thats because our bathroom door was off our living room so we could hear him. Now our bathroom is on a different level, and he bathes with Nolan, so I am always in there. I will however leave them for a second or 2 while I take out PJs

2. Play in a fenced in back yard? ]Markus was 3 1/2 but my back wall is all one huge window, and I can see every part of the back. and we do constant check ins.

[Mama-B]

maybe I'm a horrible person.. but DD is 21 months and I've left her int he bath “by herself“ for small bursts..
to run and gab a towel, put some clothes away.. but she's always singing and we're talking back and forth. The bathroom is like IN MY BEDROOM practically.. so I don't worry about it....
I would never run downstairs, or go into the kids rooms- which are more down the hallway..

[a_bun_in_the_oven]

After reading all this, I feel like a super lax parent LOL.

I wash DD up right away in the tub and then go do stuff on the same level. She's super gabby while playing with all her toys in the tub so I can hear her no problem. If it gets quiet for more then 5-10 seconds I go and check. This has been happenign since she was about 2.

She started to play outside in the backyard without constant supervision last summer. We have 11 windows and 2 doors that go into the yard so we're able to see and hear her anywhere she goes (unless she crawls under the bushes while chasing after the cat). She was allowed to do this last summer so more or less right at 2 as long as the screens were open and there wasn't water in the kiddie pool.

[princess2808]

Nope I dont think that is bad. I'd leave for short bursts then. In fact I've left both kids in the tub now and ran downstairs to check a loaf of bread that is baking.