6th Grade Girl/ Latchkey?

[Anonymous]

Mom of a rising 6th grade DD here (only child). DH and I both work full-time and are now back in the office. DD is in aftercare at her elementary school, so she’s never had to walk home alone and spend 3 hrs unsupervised after school before.

What do most middle school kids, especially 6th graders at age 11, do afterschool? I know there are clubs some days w/ an activity bus, but I think that returns around 4:30(?) and drops off at an elementary school about .75 miles from our house.

Are 6th grade girls coming home alone? Do most families work remotely or have a SAH parent? Or are people still hiring nannies or sitters at this age?

DH thinks I’m overreacting and that she’ll be fine if we get her a phone. But I remain uncomfortable with an 11-year old girl in this circumstance.

[Anonymous]

What did you do as an 11 year old girl in 6th grade? What do your mom friends and their kids do?

[Anonymous]

Ours came home but we live on a school district where the MS and HS let out at 4pm.

[Anonymous]

Certainly old enough if she is mature enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did you do as an 11 year old girl in 6th grade? What do your mom friends and their kids do?

OP here. I went to an independent school that had an after school activity program that lasted until 6pm. In 8th grade I started walking home from school on my own and was fine.

Other mom friends have kids with older siblings, so the kids aren’t alone. Or they and/or their spouses work remotely and are at home to meet the kid. One has an au pair, but she has 3 kids (elementary- high school).

[Anonymous]

My 6th grade son stayed home alone. And my 6th grade daughter will too.

[Anonymous]

I was a latch key kid in first grade. She'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

She will be fine.

[Anonymous]

I have a 6th grade DD and I am fine with her being home alone: I think that's totally appropriate for her age. And if there were a bus to our street, I would be fine with her letting herself in.
However, there's no bus and the 1.5 mile walk is unsafe in my opinion (large busy roads with some questionable people about) so we do not allow her to walk. I work in person but tweak my schedule so I can start and end work early to pick her up. Otherwise she stays in the after-school program.

When I was a kid, we had no school bus so the neighborhood parents shared carpool. My (working) dad drove everybody in the morning and my (SAH) neighbor picked us up in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

6th graders can and do walk home on their own. If she is responsible, you could get her a simple phone she may have access to. Lots of parents are either WFH or are in the office part-time at our school. Sometimes the parent may be home, others not. If your child is responsible, it can work.

If you would prefer to put her in activities a few days per week and see how she does on her own the other days, that may be a good compromise. The families who choose aftercare every day in MD typically have multiple children on separate campuses, live 30-60 minutes from school and/or are in office most of the time.

DH and his sister were latchkey kids at 10 & 9 and around 6th grade I stayed home alone for about 2 hours until my parents returned from week a few days per week.

[Anonymous]

In 6th grade, my daughter was taking the public bus (we're in DC, no school bus) and then walking home about a mile (or taking a second public bus). Depending on the day, she was home alone for 2 hours or so. Not a problem.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in 6th grade and this is the first year he's home alone after school. It's not everyday, but maybe 2 days a week (after school clubs and I WFH 2 days a week). He either rides his bike, it's almost 2 miles, or gets dropped off by a neighbor. Our district does not have buses. It's been totally fine, we got him a watch so he could check in, he knows the rules about what not use/do and he's managed himself very well.

[Anonymous]

We have a flip phone ("trac phone" brand I think) that stays at the house and we have programmed our numbers into it. It's 30 min a month and the minutes carry over, it's $8 a month. This is our emergency phone for the kids.
If you think your daughter is mature enough then go for it. We go over rules like no cooking, no going outside, no answering the door, etc.

[Anonymous]

3 hours is a long time 1 hour maybe but 3? No.

[Anonymous]

As a latchkey kid a big issue was when I forgot my key. I used to "break in" thru a window but that's not optimal! Make a olan for a backup key or access means.