Age to leave child alone sleeping in hotel room to go downstairs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a latchkey kid and I think I've ended up with a healthy attitude about things like this. I certainly have limits. My child does not have NEARLY as much freedom as I did as a child, but I'm also slowly giving her more independence (she's 10).

I'm one of the PPs who said 12 for this hotel scenario. For my child, that's reasonable. I wouldn't leave the hotel, I'd make sure DD had a cell phone, and I probably wouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two. I can't and won't keep her tethered to me until she's 18. You set reasonable limits that work for your family, ensure as many safety nets are in place as possible, give all the pep talks and lectures about what to do if they need help, and then you let them try. This is one of the ways we set them up for success as adults.

Right, however, it doesn’t need to be at a hotel. Montgomery county and maybe state of Maryland has under age 13 must be with a supervisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a latchkey kid and I think I've ended up with a healthy attitude about things like this. I certainly have limits. My child does not have NEARLY as much freedom as I did as a child, but I'm also slowly giving her more independence (she's 10).

I'm one of the PPs who said 12 for this hotel scenario. For my child, that's reasonable. I wouldn't leave the hotel, I'd make sure DD had a cell phone, and I probably wouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two. I can't and won't keep her tethered to me until she's 18. You set reasonable limits that work for your family, ensure as many safety nets are in place as possible, give all the pep talks and lectures about what to do if they need help, and then you let them try. This is one of the ways we set them up for success as adults.

Right, however, it doesn’t need to be at a hotel. Montgomery county and maybe state of Maryland has under age 13 must be with a supervisor.

Cannot be left unsupervised until age 14 in state of Illinois.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

.

The drink can wait and you know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

.

The drink can wait and you know it.

Stop focusing on the drink! I feel like Regina George , like, “stop trying to make fetch happen”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weren’t any of you also latchkey kids? I was alone for an hour or two after school in elementary, for years. Everyone seems to have crippling anxiety these days.

^Yes! I think it made us sane (when compared to others in this thread).

Home alone in a familiar neighborhood isn’t the same as in a hotel room alone in a town or city you’ve never been to before.

Sure, but the coping skills are the same.

How? In your neighborhood you know where to run to or where you can hide out. In a new town how would you know? Would you even know if your hotel was known for trafficking or having a rogue maintenance man?

Locally we know for example how Red Roof Inns roll on Richmond Hwy. We know where not to stay. In a new environment, would you really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

.

The drink can wait and you know it.

Stop focusing on the drink! I feel like Regina George , like, “stop trying to make fetch happen”

that PP is so weird. had OP said "coffee," this would have been a 2-page thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a latchkey kid and I think I've ended up with a healthy attitude about things like this. I certainly have limits. My child does not have NEARLY as much freedom as I did as a child, but I'm also slowly giving her more independence (she's 10).

I'm one of the PPs who said 12 for this hotel scenario. For my child, that's reasonable. I wouldn't leave the hotel, I'd make sure DD had a cell phone, and I probably wouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two. I can't and won't keep her tethered to me until she's 18. You set reasonable limits that work for your family, ensure as many safety nets are in place as possible, give all the pep talks and lectures about what to do if they need help, and then you let them try. This is one of the ways we set them up for success as adults.

Right, however, it doesn’t need to be at a hotel. Montgomery county and maybe state of Maryland has under age 13 must be with a supervisor.

13 is the age in Maryland to BE a supervisor of a child under 8. You can be left alone at age 8. (https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfl§ion=5-801)

"A person who is charged with the care of a child under the age of 8 years may not allow the child to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent and the dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle is out of the sight of the person charged unless the person charged provides a reliable person at least 13 years old to remain with the child to protect the child."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just don't. I just have my glass of wine in my room with the kid. They are more important to me than sitting in a dang bar. If I want a night out I get a sitter.

But how old would the sitter gave to be? 21? Because people are flipping out about leaving a teenager in a hotel room.

[Anonymous]

Ever heard of Maddy McKann?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a latchkey kid and I think I've ended up with a healthy attitude about things like this. I certainly have limits. My child does not have NEARLY as much freedom as I did as a child, but I'm also slowly giving her more independence (she's 10).

I'm one of the PPs who said 12 for this hotel scenario. For my child, that's reasonable. I wouldn't leave the hotel, I'd make sure DD had a cell phone, and I probably wouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two. I can't and won't keep her tethered to me until she's 18. You set reasonable limits that work for your family, ensure as many safety nets are in place as possible, give all the pep talks and lectures about what to do if they need help, and then you let them try. This is one of the ways we set them up for success as adults.

That was the age that sprang to mind for me too. In 8th grade we had a grade trip to another city and while there were chaperones staying on each hotel floor, I was sharing a room with other 13yos, no adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look up Madeline McCann. Then ask yourself again if this is a good idea.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

.

The drink can wait and you know it.

Stop focusing on the drink! I feel like Regina George , like, “stop trying to make fetch happen”

that PP is so weird. had OP said "coffee," this would have been a 2-page thread

No, I tried offering them an example of a teen sleeping in while parents went out for breakfast and they still freaked out. Someone just doesn't think teens should ever be unsupervised unless they are in the parental home (or school I guess?). I don't know how to tell them that kids as young as 16 move to new places entirely alone sometimes. One of my college friends was 16 freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a latchkey kid and I think I've ended up with a healthy attitude about things like this. I certainly have limits. My child does not have NEARLY as much freedom as I did as a child, but I'm also slowly giving her more independence (she's 10).

I'm one of the PPs who said 12 for this hotel scenario. For my child, that's reasonable. I wouldn't leave the hotel, I'd make sure DD had a cell phone, and I probably wouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two. I can't and won't keep her tethered to me until she's 18. You set reasonable limits that work for your family, ensure as many safety nets are in place as possible, give all the pep talks and lectures about what to do if they need help, and then you let them try. This is one of the ways we set them up for success as adults.

Right, however, it doesn’t need to be at a hotel. Montgomery county and maybe state of Maryland has under age 13 must be with a supervisor.

13 is the age in Maryland to BE a supervisor of a child under 8. You can be left alone at age 8. (https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfl§ion=5-801)

"A person who is charged with the care of a child under the age of 8 years may not allow the child to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent and the dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle is out of the sight of the person charged unless the person charged provides a reliable person at least 13 years old to remain with the child to protect the child."

Bingo! And I’m absolutely 100 percent confiscate leaving my children in a hotel room while we go out nearby (not in the building) and have done many times uneventfully starting when the youngest was eight. Leaving for a trip tomorrow and we’ll likely do it again tomorrow night. To be honest I’m shocked at how uptight people here are and what unrealistic views of risk they have!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children are safer now than they have ever been. Yet we argue about things like this. I think social media (and the 24/7 availability of awful news stories) has made us very bad at analyzing risk.

That's clear (see also: any DCUM Covid-related thread)

.

The drink can wait and you know it.

Stop focusing on the drink! I feel like Regina George , like, “stop trying to make fetch happen”

Tell that to the parent who wants to leave their kid.