Home alone question

[Anonymous]

What age can you start leaving your child at home alone to run errands? Or should a parent always be home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What age can you start leaving your child at home alone to run errands? Or should a parent always be home?

I’m wondering what the normal safe and acceptable progression of this concept is?

[Anonymous]

Lots of variables here - time away/trusted contacts nearby/# of kids/maturity of kids

I could probably add 5 more variables. There is no one answer to this question and even giving you my answer would necessitate listing lots of qualifiers.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of variables. For me, it depended a lot on how accessible parents would be when we were done (are we nearby, or an hour away?)

To run to the corner store for one item- gone 15 minutes: age 8-9

Appt or running errands nearby for 1-2 hours: age 10

Appt or running errands further away (across town 45min away) for a few hours: age 12

We did kind of a gradual approach, and every kid is a little different.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the details but without more info: age 10ish

Provided they can easily contact you and understand/follow house rules

[Anonymous]

My oldest, now in college, we did:

Brief errand up to an estimated duration of roughly an hour: between age 7-8 in a fairly safe neighborhood and a kid without notable behavior challenges

A few hours but not longer than about 4 or so: around 10, with food that could be reheated in microwave and instructions not to use the stove/oven

Any length during the day/evening/early night, but not overnight: by 12, if home alone. If babysitting younger siblings or other children not much longer than 6-8 hours.

Overnight home alone: occasionally at 13, by 14 without blinking an eye

Babysitting Overnight: 14-15

A weekend to up to 3 days: not until 16.

There were no behavior problems or major instances of bad judgement, otherwise it all would have been delayed until we thought she was trustworthy & safe.

[Anonymous]

You can find the legal limits for where you live on the internet.

After that, it's wholly dependent on your child. Some kids are cool at age 8, and will have the dishwasher unloaded by the time you get home. Some 14 year olds will take the opportunity to eat all the snacks, rummage through your drawers, and leave the house looking like a bear spent 45 minutes trapped in there.

One of mine was anxious and didn't want to be left alone til she was well into her teens. They're all different. Only you know your child.

[Anonymous]

8, if it's just an errand or to pick up a sibling. It's also going to depend on how responsible your kid is. I could leave my 8 year old for a week and she'd feed my other kids, brush her teeth and get everyone to bed on time. lol (I definitely wouldn't do it!)

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I felt it was their duty to go along and help - load stuff on to the grocery belt or load car or carry heavy things etc. I am no one’s slave. Now they are college kids and they miss going on errands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I felt it was their duty to go along and help - load stuff on to the grocery belt or load car or carry heavy things etc. I am no one’s slave. Now they are college kids and they miss going on errands.

I love this post for the sheer amount of smug superiority and cluelessness in such an economy of words. Congrats~

[Anonymous]

I started babysitting when I was 12.
I know adults I wouldn't leave a kid with.

There are no hard and fast rules here. Every kid is different.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the child and a variety of factors but 7-9 for short errands or walking the dog or doing a quick school pick up or going for a run etc.

[Anonymous]

A parent should always be home. Even if your child is 38. Come on, OP! Don't you have any critical thinking skills? Don't you know it depends on maturity rather than physical age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I felt it was their duty to go along and help - load stuff on to the grocery belt or load car or carry heavy things etc. I am no one’s slave. Now they are college kids and they miss going on errands.

My DD loves to read, but gets car sick. So she could spend 45 min picking up siblings feeling sick or she could just stay home reading. She doesn't even get out of the car during my pickup runs, it's just pure boredom for her.

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, 7 is definitely too young. It’s younger than the legal/recommended limit in some places, too.
We started at age 11 (basically middle school), but I think 10 is also fine. In our case, we don’t have a landline phone, and younger kids don’t have a cell phone, of course.