Would you leave a 6-7yo home alone for 10-30 min?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kid. The one who spent all day reading at that age? Yes. The current almost 7 year old who tries to turn on the stove or cut his own fruit? No way.

[Anonymous]

No way

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kid. Seems a bit young. I started with all 3 of mine around 8ish.

[Anonymous]

Is it a house or a condo/apartment with trusted/available neighbors home?

In isolated emergency situations, I have done this briefly (ie. Sibling was very sick and needed to be seen at pediatrics office and they wouldn’t allow well siblings during the height of Covid), but alerted a neighbor and essentially had supervision from a distance.

For a routine situation like not wanting to tag along at a drop off or not wanting to help walk the dog, I would not agree to this request. If one of the older siblings was home, then yes, briefly.

[Anonymous]

You know your child best. We're just starting to leave my almost 8 year old home for quick trips, but don't have older siblings who did it before or their sports practice drop offs. If she's a responsible rule follower, has a way to contact you, has a designated neighbor that she can run to in an emergency, and you've seen her handle other situations maturely and independently, then sure. Mine would have been fine a year ago under the circumstances you describe, they just didn't come up in our family until now.

[Anonymous]

NO.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we would and we do.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would leave mine alone 10-15 minutes to walk the dog, for example. But I am still close.

[Anonymous]

For 10 minutes, yes.

[Anonymous]

No. Not worth the risk even though the risk is minuscule that something happens. Could you live with yourself if something happened?

[Anonymous]

Not sure what jurisdiction you are in but it’s illegal to leave a kid home in MD before the age of 8. I recently let my 8.5 year old daughter stay home alone for 30 minutes and I would not have been comfortable at 6 or 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Not worth the risk even though the risk is minuscule that something happens. Could you live with yourself if something happened?

Parents today with adult children who freak out upon entering the world alone do not look back and wonder if they can live with themselves for never giving their children a sense of independence.

Nothing will happen in 10 minutes with the average child (and of course this does depend on the kid I know some 6 year olds where this is a hard no and some, like my rule follower son, who would have no problems). If something did happen I think it would genuinely likely be a relatively freak event. My kid spends two hours after school every day occupying himself, sure he checks in with me to ask questions but there are plenty of 10 minutes that are no contact and virtually never something of urgency. Never anything life threatening.

[Anonymous]

I would if my neighbors were home. We live on a cul de sac where everyone has similar age kids and our elementary school is a 6 min walk / 2 min drive. If I was running over to pick up the older kid, I could leave my 7yr old for 15-20 min. with the instructions to go next door if he needed something. I would check it was ok with the neighbor first, but she leaves her kids with me or in her yard for similar reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 kids ages 6-14. Youngest is almost 7. As of now, we have never left her home alone. We have left her home with older siblings for short periods of time.

When oldest was 8, I started leaving him home when I drove younger sibling to sports close by. I would be back within 10-20 minutes. My middle child was not left home alone until he was 10. My youngest is very well behaved and rule follower. She has seen siblings stay home and now also wants to stay home while I drop off siblings at sports.[/quote

No way

[Anonymous]

yes