We plan to start this year when our daughter is 7.5. She HATES getting in the car every morning to come with to drop her sister at daycare a 3 min drive away (I don't blame her). So we're going to start with letting her stay home then. We are divorced and live across a park from each other so other parent is always close by and my lifelong best friend who the kids consider "Auntie Larla" is a couple houses down.

Anonymous wrote:Counties have published guidelines, at least Fairfax County does. I looked at them and thought they were helpful

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/familyservices/children-youth/child-supervision-guidelines

8 years old and younger should always be in the care of a responsible person. Children this age should never be left unsupervised in homes, cars, playgrounds or yards.
9-10 years old may be ready to be left unsupervised up to 1.5 hours during daylight and early evening hours.
11-12 years old may be ready to be left unsupervised up to 3 hours during daylight and early evening hours.
13-15 years old may be ready to be left unsupervised more than three hours but not overnight.
16 years old and older may be ready to be left unsupervised overnight for one to two days, with a plan in place.

Age 8 ( that’s the law in MD) we started leaving DD for 20 mins. We gradually upped the time to an hour then 2 hours by about age 9/10.
By 11 we would occasionally leave her for 3.5 hours while both at work but this wasn’t a daily occurrence.
We have a dog, she’s not an anxious kid, and we have great neighbors close by.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What age can you start leaving your child at home alone to run errands? Or should a parent always be home?

Completely depends on the child.
Some kids are mature enough by age 5-7 to be left alone or allowed to go camping alone even.
Other kids are too immature even in their late teens to be left alone without trashing the place with a party.

5-7 year olds going camping alone?? What are you even talking about?

Ha! Yes! Can pp explain this?
Maybe she meant that she would let them sleep in a tent in the backyard??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I felt it was their duty to go along and help - load stuff on to the grocery belt or load car or carry heavy things etc. I am no one’s slave. Now they are college kids and they miss going on errands.

I love this post for the sheer amount of smug superiority and cluelessness in such an economy of words. Congrats~

What? I bring the kids on errands too. I’ve never left a child under the age of 12 alone. If two or more kids one would have to be about 10 years old.

Anonymous wrote:7-8 - probably 30 minutes or so

9-10 - 1-2 hours

Totally depends on the kid though. And I would never, ever leave mine alone together.

+1

Same timeline, more or less. And siblings dynamic plays a big role.

That said, I have two DS who are < 2yrs apart and even when they were old enough to stay home alone in their own right….i didn’t leave them “alone together” for more than a very short time until they were quite a bit older. Not a combination I trusted alone- too much potential for rambunctiousness together. Alone apart they were totally fine.

Depends but I started when my oldest started 6th grade and my youngest was 9. Drive the oldest to school for 20 minutes.

7-8 - probably 30 minutes or so

9-10 - 1-2 hours

Totally depends on the kid though. And I would never, ever leave mine alone together.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What age can you start leaving your child at home alone to run errands? Or should a parent always be home?

Completely depends on the child.
Some kids are mature enough by age 5-7 to be left alone or allowed to go camping alone even.
Other kids are too immature even in their late teens to be left alone without trashing the place with a party.

5-7 year olds going camping alone?? What are you even talking about?

9

Counties have published guidelines, at least Fairfax County does. I looked at them and thought they were helpful

Anonymous wrote:What age can you start leaving your child at home alone to run errands? Or should a parent always be home?

Completely depends on the child.
Some kids are mature enough by age 5-7 to be left alone or allowed to go camping alone even.
Other kids are too immature even in their late teens to be left alone without trashing the place with a party.

8-9 for quick errands - less than an hour. However I would not leave them in charge of a younger kid at that age. I would not have them alone with a younger sibling until the younger one was 8-9 or the older was 12+.

My kid is 7, extremely responsible and reliable, and follows instructions well. This year we have started leaving her home alone for 5-10 minutes while we run to the corner store (truly around the corner) or a neighbor's house. It's gone well and we intend to expand on this a bit as she turns 8, maybe increasing this to 30 minutes.

We have to figure out the communication aspect before we extend it. Right now she has the ability send a message to us via the iPad if necessary, but no ability to call us. We'll have to figure this out before we can go beyond 15 minutes, or before we go anywhere more than a block or two away.

So many variables.

If I had to give a number I would say 8 minimum.