What age do you let your children stay home alone? (spin-off question)

[sagira]

I think it's a very individual decision -- for the parent and each child. For ds right now I'm guessing 15 would be the age I can leave him alone while running to the grocery store and such. Dd at 15 too I'm guessing but who knows? Depends on the child, but I like 15. If you are old enough to drive with a permit, you can stay home alone. Sounds good to me :)

[sagira]

I think it's a very individual decision -- for the parent and each child. For ds right now I'm guessing 15 would be the age I can leave him alone while running to the grocery store and such. Dd at 15 too I'm guessing but who knows? Depends on the child, but I like 15. 16 or 17 for overnight and trips. If you are old enough to drive with a permit, you can start staying at home alone for periods of time. Sounds good to me :)

[mktkcb]

11, maybe 1/2-1 hr alone. 12, 1-2. 13 and up should be fine for a few hours, and now that I have a 17, and 15, I don't worry too much about it. DH and I have left for several hours at a time. BTW, they can always contact us directly with cellphone. We haven't had a reason to do an overnight yet, but things would probably be fine if we did.

[Tree House Academy]

I was 10 and in 5th grade when my mom started leaving me alone during the day. I was 14 when she started leaving me alone at night. Neither were really great ideas on her part. I did lots of dumb things. My kids will not stay alone until they are much older, and even then, I will not let them stay alone TOGETHER. Oh no. I would come home and someone will have "not made it!" LOL

[Annie Laurie]

It's kind of blurry, but I'm fairly sure I was 7 or 8 and came home after school with no parents because I had a brother 4 years older than me who was there to watch me. My younger brother still went to a sitter because my Mom thought it would be too much for my older brother- I was mature for my age and just did my homework and took care of myself okay, but my little brother was a handful. I was 9 when I was left completely alone for brief periods, and 10 when I was alone for hours after school- my older brother had a job by then and little brother still went to the sitter's. Little bro and I are only 19 mos apart, so maturity does play a big part.

 

I can't imagine leaving my kids alone that young though, my oldest was 11 and it was usually for brief trips to the store. Now at 14, he hasn't been left alone for more than a couple of hours, it's just worked out that way. I've left my 7 yr old with him before during grocery shopping trips with my other two, those can take a couple of hours but my 7 yr old and him get along very well and 7 yr old listens to his brother. I wouldn't leave the other two kids with 14 yo at this point- too many kids equals too much chaos and arguments for big bro, plus my two youngest tend to not listen to oldest.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Annie Laurie

[Julie in CA]

That pretty much never happens around here because there's always more than one person home.

 

In thinking about it though, I'd leave my 12 yo home alone for an hour or so.

With more than one kid home together, I'd be comfortable leaving them for the day.

 

I don't leave them home at night unless the 17 1/2 yo is home.

 

Dh and I can leave for a weekend if the 17 1/2 yo is home with the other kids.

(That's an amazing thing after so many years with 5 kiddos)

[hsmamainva]

My oldest is 17, so I've been very spoiled for the last four years! She's been able to stay home with her younger siblings since she was around 13.

 

When she isn't home (which is quite often, now that she's a teenager with a driver's license!), I don't hesitate to leave my 14 year old home with his two younger siblings IF we're driving less than 30 minutes away.

 

I wouldn't leave my 9 year old home alone, unless it was a short trip to the grocery store and back...and I CANNOT leave my 6 year old alone at all because she has autism.

[hsmamainva]

Dh and I can leave for a weekend if the 17 1/2 yo is home with the other kids.

(That's an amazing thing after so many years with 5 kiddos)

 

Isn't that nice???!!!! :thumbup:

 

We just did this last weekend!!! We were invited to a party with some dear friends of ours who live 2 hours away and we didn't want to be driving back home at midnight, so we spent the night, and my 17 1/2 year old was in charge at home. It was lovely!!

 

(I'm going to miss her when she leaves for college next year!!!)

[TraceyS/FL]

I've left mine a few times when i had to run to the store - gone nom more than 30 minutes, with DH like 5 minutes away. That was about 6 months ago.

 

I wasn't overly excited about it.

 

I"ve since done it a few times - BUT, we have had some issues going on in our town that has me NOT going to leave them for awhile.

 

Daytime break-ins..... strange guy casing houses during the day.

 

Nope, not going to happen right now. It's just pretty isolated here at my house - no neighbors to hear if they were screaming or notice a problem.

[angela in ohio]

I have a very responsible 12 yo dd. I just started leaving her very occassionally with 10 and 6 yo for up to an hour during daylight. We live in a very safe rural area. I don't usually need to leave them, but if I need her to finish up some housework and I need to run and pick up a last minute grocery item, it becomes necessary. Otherwise, I just take them all with me. We have so much fun grocery shopping and running errands; I wouldn't want to miss that.

[AuntPol]

It's amazing to me how different things are today than when I grew up.

 

At 6, my mom dropped me off in morning at a friend's house (also 6). We walked to school together. I walked home alone and was there alone at least an hour.

 

We moved in the middle of my first grade year to another school. I rode the bus home and was alone. I remember once that my father dropped me offf at school before ANYONE else was there. It was early and it was cold and I had no jacket. I remember that my mom got a call on that one. (My parents were seperated).

 

 

At 8, my mom got me up in mornings before she left for work. I was responsible for getting dressed, getting my sister (age 5) up and getting her dressed, feeding us both, getting her on the kindergarten bus and me on my bus. (Special note -my sister had just been diagnosed with leukemia too so she had needs for me to deal with). I came home on bus alone. My sister was picked up by my Grandma (K was half day at another school).

 

At 9, same thing continued but my sister was on my bus. I watched her. My sister had a lot of doctor's appointments in evenings. On those days I walked to the town library after school and read until someone could pick me up. It was probably about a 2 mile walk from school to library.

 

Somewhere around 9 or 10, my mom started a part time evening job and we were left alone then too.

 

Around 11 or 12, my mom and her best friend went out bar hopping once a week on either Friday or Saturday. My sister and I stayed with her friend's daughter (same age as me) until they got home.

 

My oldest is 9 and my youngest just turned 8. I seriously doubt they could do what I did. I have left them alone for up to 30 minutes though. Both of them have cell phones and my neighbor is next door. I don't like to do it though.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

I have left my 10 yr ds a couple of times. It was for about an hour and a half. He had the phone. He had assignments to do. A neighbor was nearby and on call. He did great. He knows the rules and follows them well. He called me a few times. And dh called him a couple of times to check in.

[elegantlion]

Our ds just turned 11, we have not left him alone yet. We talked about doing it for short periods of time.

[Trivium Academy]

I allow dd8 to stay at home alone but no longer than 30 minutes. She's not to answer the phone or door and has to stay inside. What's funny is that I'm struggling with allowing her to ride her bike around our block (sidewalk) by herself.