How old to leave a child home alone for 10-30 minutes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was once meeting with someone and they casually mentioned after about an hour that their children (4, 8) were home alone watching television. You know...just a few blocks away.

Ahh!

That's illegal. That mom could be accused of child neglect for that. You cannot leave a child under the age of 8 alone with a child under the age of 13 in Maryland. You never know what crazy loony tunes will call CPS. I wouldn't go around advertising that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:11 WOW! Your kid was a 4 year old kindergartner?

She's so smart!

I was a 4 year old kindergartener....what's the big deal about that?

In this area (VA and MD) they no longer allow 4 year olds to start kindergarten in public school, except under very rare specific situations.

So being a 4 year old kindergartner is a novelty, and not the average.

What are you talking about? I live in VA and my kid is starting kindergarten at age 4, turning 5 after the school year begins. I am not a "very rare specific" exception.

You'd be rare in MCPS. isn't your child going to be at least a year younger than a lot of kids in her class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:11 WOW! Your kid was a 4 year old kindergartner?

She's so smart!

I was a 4 year old kindergartener....what's the big deal about that?

In this area (VA and MD) they no longer allow 4 year olds to start kindergarten in public school, except under very rare specific situations.

So being a 4 year old kindergartner is a novelty, and not the average.

What are you talking about? I live in VA and my kid is starting kindergarten at age 4, turning 5 after the school year begins. I am not a "very rare specific" exception.

You'd be rare in MCPS. isn't your child going to be at least a year younger than a lot of kids in her class?

Not all states are Maryland. The cutoff in Virginia is September 30.

[Anonymous]

That's illegal. That mom could be accused of child neglect for that. You cannot leave a child under the age of 8 alone with a child under the age of 13 in Maryland. You never know what crazy loony tunes will call CPS. I wouldn't go around advertising that.

It's not illegal in Virginia.