When did you let your kids stay at home for short periods of time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These recommendations seem so old. 7 seems old enough to stay home for an hour. My 7 year old is pretty responsible and I would trust her to watch her 5 year old sister while I walked the dog around the block. I haven’t yet because they always want to come, but if the 7 year old didn’t want to, I’d feel comfortable leaving her at home.

That's insane to leave a 7 and 5 year old home alone. That's neglect.

You’ve got to be kidding me. If your kid is 5 right now they probably just finished preschool, yes? You would leave your first grader in charge of a preschooler while you left for 20 minutes? JFC

[Anonymous]

Never for my just turned 8 year old. I'm not at all comfortable with that yet.

[Anonymous]

Over 9, yes. But like others, not with the 6.5 year old. I have both these ages in my house.

[Anonymous]

We didn’t start leaving both home together until the oldest was 12 (5 year age gap). The youngest is now 9, and we do not leave her home alone yet. Maybe at age 10 or 11. We don’t have a landline, either.

[Anonymous]

My kids are so different. The oldest (11 now) was comfortable at 7, but we just started with experimenting trips to the corner store - I can see it from our house - before staying alone. I started doing a bit longer time away around 8/9.

The younger one (7) will let me go to said corner store on my own, but she has zero interest in being left home alone.

[Anonymous]

7 if I'm walking, going to corner store or visiting a neighbor. 8 if I'm going grocery shopping, 9 with a phone if I'm going shopping or for an adult lunch/dinner. 10 I would leave for 3 hours with a phone to contact me. By 10 I would also be ok with them having friends if I am not gone more than half an hour. My kids look forward to it but they're also responsible.

They have some friends I can understand why others would not leave them home alone due to anxiety in the child or tendencies to get into trouble/ make a mess. I hated being left alone so I triple check they are ok with it and they say they have no fears/ worries about it and would rather stay home than be dragged around town.

As tweens/ teens I think I am becoming more apprehensive about leaving them home alone.

[Anonymous]

Around 9 just to pick up sibling from around the corner. No more than 10 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With summer here, my husband thinks we can start letting my 10 and 6.5 year old stay home for small chunks of time (1-1.5 hours). It would be no more than a couple miles away and could be home within 5-10 minutes. I told him I’d be more comfortable next summer. FWIW, I trust them to not answer the door and think they would make good decisions, I just think they are still too young.

Too young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it highly, highly depends on the kids.

+1 and local community. I was left alone and alone with my sister much younger than 11, but we also knew which neighbours to go to in an emergency (either in person or by phone). That matters a lot too. I wouldn’t leave my kids where I currently am — they’re very responsible for their ages but while we’re on nodding terms with our neighbours its not trust you with my kids terms.

[Anonymous]

The fall we left my newly turned 11 year old alone with my newly turned 7 year old from 7pm-10pm when we went to a party a few houses down. It was fine. I fed them and they got showed and into PJs and then they watched a movie and played video games. They had a phone to call me.

My 11 year old has been staying home alone since 8 (started for short periods)

[Anonymous]

Alone, started leaving my kids at 9 for very short bursts.

Together, they both need to be older. It's actually a much bigger deal to leave two kids together. A 10 year old should not be responsible for a 6.5 year old.

I just started letting my almost 14 year old be home alone with younger sibling. You need to be confident youngest will listen, they won't fight, your oldest can handle anything that comes up with younger, and that older and younger are both totally comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it highly, highly depends on the kids.

+1 and local community. I was left alone and alone with my sister much younger than 11, but we also knew which neighbours to go to in an emergency (either in person or by phone). That matters a lot too. I wouldn’t leave my kids where I currently am — they’re very responsible for their ages but while we’re on nodding terms with our neighbours its not trust you with my kids terms.

This. Mine were 12 and 8 but the 12 yo could have stayed home alone at age 10 if an only child. I just didn't want the older one to have to be responsible for the younger quite yet. Very different children.