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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When my husband used to travel a lot for work, I would often leave my four and six-year-olds at home while I went for a 40 minute run. If if they hadn’t been exceptionally well-behaved children, and there hadn’t been good neighbours in our street, I wouldn’t have done it.  If they were kids who broke rules or pushed boundaries, I wouldn’t have done it.

If your kid is going to look for matches, climb out the window, go outside into the street, etc,  
don’t do it, even if they are 8 years old. Eight years is not a magic figure. You need to use judgement based on your child’s maturity and development. [/quote]

It’s not all about physical safety, it’s also about emotional security. I’ll bet the younger child was just fine, but you almost certainly put too much of a burden on your older child. Six is too young to be left at home alone babysitting. I don’t care how you sugarcoat it, you caused your child to have unnecessary anxiety. I wouldn’t be surprised if the effects don’t rear their ugly head in years to come. It could be depression or anxiety or other forms of insecurity. It could develop at any point. And all because you wanted a run?

Why not get a treadmill? Shame on you![/quote]

She mentioned the neighbors -- it's likely her kid was told "if you have any problem at all, Carol is in her garden right next door and she knows I'm out -- you can go to her for anything."

If a neighbor was around and knew the kids were home alone, the kids were not really home alone and the older one wasn't "babysitting." They were just being given a slightly more advanced level of independence than, say, playing in the yard on their own, or playing upstairs on their own while parents entertain in the kitchen.[/quote]

It’s really not Carole’s responsibility to watch your kids and handle an emergency so you can go run multiple times a week. [/quote]

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