Leaving your child at home alone??

♥Amy♥

I have an incredibly responsible, honest and trustworthy 10 year old, so he gets to stay home (when he chooses) for short amounts of time. The 4 year old goes with me because he's not so sweet

The rules when my son is home alone is not to answer/open the door, which must remain locked, not to answer the phone unless it's me calling and not to go outside. He basically sits and reads or builds with his Legos or sometimes watches TV (but he always asks first...see what I mean about the honesty, lol).

BinaryPulsar

My mother left my twin brother and I home alone when she would go out at night when we were around 10 (but we were still in daycare during the day). We weren't ready. Of course my brother thought we were, but he was less responsible than I was. And we ran around the streets at night, and someone almost called cps on more than one occasion. So, it really does depend on the kids. By age 11, we were out of daycare and home alone after school, everyday. And that was better than daycare. The daycare I went to was bad and I needed to get out of there for my own well being.

Oh, but we were walking to school on our own by first grade or so.

tzig00

In MI there is no legal age. I was babysitting at 13. That being said, I also babysat my cousin when I was 13 and he was almost 14 because I was more responsible than him. I think it really depends on the maturity level. I can't imagine being able to leave my son alone in 3 years when he's 10. He's not near ready for that level of responsibility.

redheadmommy

I was 7 when I was going to school /get home from school alone, well with my 8 yr old sister. My dad work shift work and depending on the week, he was home either at the morning or he was home at the afternoon when I got home, but he was sleeping most of the time. I didn't grow up in North America and there was no such law over there.
Here I think the law says no child can be at home alone unattended under 12 yr old, but the moment they turn 12 yrs old, they can be supervise younger siblings even infants. I think this is totally ridiculous.
My son is 5 yr old , and of course it won't happen for another few years, but 12 is kind of nonsense., imho.

nataschalouise

I don't have a child yet, but was left home alone from the age of 11 every day after school around 4 until 6 when my mum got home. Generally we would play outside anyway, so weren't really going to burn the house down.

michellekicks

Here the kids can take a babysitting course at the community centre by the time they're 11 years old.

My step-daughter is now 13 and has been spending time alone since she was 10. When she was 12 she took the babysitting course and now babysits our 4 younger kids - 4, 7, 9, and 10 - for up to 6 hours or so if needed.

The now 10-year old boy is uncomfortable being left alone at all yet, but I left him and the 7 and 9 year olds at home playing Wii the other day for 10 minutes when I picked up the 4 year old from daycare. I'll do that here and there but for no more than 10-15 minutes and they know our neighbours and can go there in case of emergencies.

fallenoaks50

In the U.S. -
The National SAFE KIDS Campaign, a national organization dedicated to child safety, recommends that kids not be left alone before the age of 12.

sullus

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/homealone.cfm

redheadmommy

In British Columbia it's illegal to leave your child at home under the age of 12 for any length of time. A child must be 12 to babysit any other child and hold a credible Baby Sitting Course Certificate as well.

Can you point me any source that actually say this? All I find that Canada Safety Council strongly advised to not to leave children alone before age 10 and babysitting before age 12, but all the source I find says the law actually vague and avoid specifying an age, and it gives the parent the responsibility to decide. It is illegal to abandon a child under age 10, but it actually doesn't mean that illegal to leave them home alone for a short amount of time.

prettyface55

I think this picture is lifesize...but wth.

I think it depends on the maturity of the child! But around ten is a good age !

michellekicks

Can anyone point to a resource that shows this law in British Columbia? Because our community centre offers babysitting certification for kids 11 and up.

summertime_girl

My son is 18. I think he needs more supervision now than he did at 10. Sigh.

I think summertime_girl is kidding. BUT . . . we began to leave my sons home alone when the older one was 11 years, I think. But not for very long. The amount of time we were away slowly got longer for a few years. But then, when kids are about 14 years or 15 years, you have to cut it back again, or maybe not leave them alone at all. Certainly, not overnight -- ever. I don't care if your child is a good kid. Certainly, mine were. But, temptation is temptation and a teenager is not old enough to handle temptation -- not with peer pressure the way it is.
I definitely remember what happened whenever we found that a friend's parents were away . . .

I'm only kind of kidding. He's 18, so technically an adult. And I do leave him home overnight, since he is an adult. I can't baby him forever. But he does drink my beer, have girls here, and myriad other things I don't like him doing. He's kind of in that limbo time. Just turned 18, so hasn't graduated yet. So an "adult", but not really able to move out. He does work a lot, and pays for some of his own bills, like car insurance. Really, parenting a younger child is easier, IMO, than a pseudo-adult.

ninerbuff

When she's 25.


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BusyRaeNOTBusty

Isn't there laws that dictate this? I was thinking it was 11ish that was legal.

VBnotbitter

I think it also depends on the local environment too. My 9 year old is very sensible and we will leave him for 20 minutes or so while we walk the dog, and I'm sure he would be fine for slightly longer periods as well. We live in a high risk area for bush fires though and those suckers can move fast, so whilst I would happily leave him to go to the shops in winter there is no way I would in the summer.

amandatapar

9-10 years old depending on their maturity level.

Boogage

I expect my eldest will be around 12 when I feel he is capable of being left alone for a while. He is almost 10 now and I think once he moves up to 'big' school he will have to start growing up a bit more and learning to look after himself. That's the age when he might have to start getting himself to school by walking or on the bus so if I give him that responsibility, I guess I have to start trusting him to look after himself and behave well at other times.

Its quite likely he won't get to be alone a lot though as with 4 other children who will be around 4, 6, 8 and 10 when he's 12 we may as well all hop in the car if I need to pop somewhere.

prime853

being on a farm my parents left me home when I was about 9-10 but that being said ive always been mature for my age

Zombielicious

I was about 7. My mom was a single parent, so I was a "latch key kid". I let myself in after getting out of school, made food, did my homework, and played outside with the neighbors kids until my mom got home from work. This was also late 80's/early 90's...I think things were different back then.

mrsamanda86

You guys with older kids are making me so jealous!! I swear all my friends either have young kids or are just starting out right now, and they are all like super obsessed with being a Mom. I love my kids like crazy, but I CAN'T WAIT to be able to not have to get a babysitter if I want to go somewhere ALONE for a little bit. Mine are only 6 and 3 though so I still have a very very very very depressingly long time lol I feel like such a bad Mom for wishing they would just hurry up and grow up already. My 3 year old refuses to even be potty trained :explode: On the bright side, not too much longer till the younger one is in school and I can at least go back to work again... that'll be nice!