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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At least two of us have posted about how our parents left us home for 10-15 minutes while they took siblings to some activity or another and we've been completely ignored. Both I and the other PP posted about how scared we were, and she said she never told her mom how scared she was and I didn't either. My mom would say "I'm dropping X off for practice and will be back in 10 minutes. Stand here by the door and wait for me." and I remember standing by the door scared to death that someone would come knock on the door and I wouldn't know what to do, or the phone would ring and I would have to answer it, but I was too young to be able to express this fear to my mother. I can't imagine putting my 7 year old in that situation.

Shame on you all for thinking about "oh no, there wouldn't be an emergency" or "Oh but Larla is so independent she would be fine" and not actually really thinking about your children's feelings. [/quote]

I feel like everyone is in tune with their own kids, your mom wasn't, but it is silly to act like this is universal. I am an anecdote in the opposite direction, was left alone all the time and preferred it! Mine were actually excited to do it. Different kids react differently to different things. That said, if I used my child's apprehension as a barometer for whether we should do anything at all then they would grow up not doing much! Pushing them to try even if they are a bit scared and see there is nothing to be scared of IMO helps children get over unnecessary fears. But again if I had a kid who was terrified of this I would not do it. [/quote]

I’m the runner. The strength of the reactions gave me pause for thought. So I asked my then-4yo now-14yo if she remembered how she had felt when I left them a few times to go for a run. She had no idea what just I was talking about. No recollection whatsoever. Probably because they had very little screen time and so were excited to watch TV together while I was out. They would barely look up when I got home. Or maybe because it was no more than a few times.

I’m sorry some of the posters were obviously scarred by their experiences of being left alone. I can certainly imagine being left with nobody else would be scary for a young child. [/quote]

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