I'm in MD, and my child is only a few months past her 6th birthday, so haven't considered this, and don't have much "need" to do it, but... Now that I think about it, once we get a landline, I *would* do this, if it were legal, with explicit instructions, "soon."

That is, if it were legal, I'd feel confident (okay, you can never be 100%) that my kid would be totally fine either now or by 6.5 or 7 at the absolute latest. But my kid is very mature about these sorts of things. I wouldn't exactly call her a "rule follower," because she'll challenge ones she finds unfair, but once she's bought into them, she admonishes US about following the rules, LOL. She's pretty level-headed, in general. The most likely Bad Thing That Could Happen would be her getting out our pets from their cage and one of them getting lost, but she's not really that impulsive, so if I told her "no" and only left her for 30 minutes, it probably wouldn't happen. All of the other things that could happen are so unlikely, and I'd have drilled her on them... I honestly would leave her for <1 hour if it were legal.

When she was 5.5, I did leave her sick on the couch and listening to an audiobook while I got medicine for her at CVS and her father was napping upstairs. It was about 20 minutes. Obviously she wasn't technically alone, but she was "unsupervised" and her dad didn't know I was leaving (I didn't want to wake him up to tell him, because he was sick, too). Obviously a different circumstance, but she was younger and she was fine (her dad never woke up while I was gone).

So my TL;DR answer is that I will discuss all the rules and emergency situations with her and happily leave her alone the minute she turns 8. And I will not hesitate to do it sooner if it's an urgent or emergent situation, legal or not.

Age 9. No landlines, but uses a gizmo.

Above PP again, we do have a landline and she knows how to use it to call me, wife and 911

I have left my just turned 7yo alone for 10 mins to walk the dog a handful of times now. It started when it was pouring with rain and they wouldnt go out in the yard.
DD was totally fine with being left and was fine and calm when I got back. I am thinking when she is 8 I will leave her to run to the grocery store or something.

There is no law in MD as such but there are guidelines, the guideline says 8 to be left alone for short periods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you without land lines, what did you do?

My kids can call me via Alexa or their iPads using FaceTime.

Do they have the ability to call 911?

We started at 9 and only if we were going on a walk and the oldest didn’t want to come or if she was staying home from school sick and I still had to drop off the other. She will be 10 in August and could probably handle longer spans now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 8 for half hour.

I’m in MD where it’s legal to leave an 8 year old home alone. I would start with like 20-30 minutes and think he would be fine, but we have a 15 yo dog who can’t be crated or separated from people when we’re home. The majority of the time he just sleeps, but I feel like it’s a little different leaving an 8 year old home alone by himself and an 8 year old home alone while responsible for a dog. Do you think this makes a difference?

I don’t understand the concern. Would the dog require active care or just be there?

He may require active care. I'd of course walk and feed him before leaving, but sometimes the dog barks at the person there to be fed more or for something else. If DS was sitting there watching TV or something then there's a 75% chance the dog would be napping. But there would be a 25% chance that upon me or DH leaving that the dog would be barking at DS for him to get him something. Of course DS could feed him, but if there were needs past that then he probably wouldn't be comfortable handling them.

Mine was 9 before he felt ready. We have a landline with multiple phones in the house. At 10 DS walks home from camp and stays alone for 30 minutes until we get home from work.

Anonymous wrote:For those of you without land lines, what did you do?

My kids can call me via Alexa or their iPads using FaceTime.

Anonymous wrote:For those of you without land lines, what did you do?

I have two cell phones for this reason. Why I upgraded I kept the old phone as my ‘land line.’ If you are married, I’d leave one of your phones with the kids - just make sure they know how to call you. .

First kid or second kid?

First kid the answer is around 14, by the second+ you start thinking a 7 year old would be fine...

When they’re together (3rd & 6th graders) we’ll leave them for a couple hours. When it’s just the younger one i worry as much about my distance as time alone. I’d rather leave him for two hours while i run errands nearby than for 45 mins to drop the other one off somewhere 10+ miles from home.

8 or 9 in theory. But I don’t think my 9 yo would want to stay home alone, and we don’t have a landline phone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 8 for half hour.

I’m in MD where it’s legal to leave an 8 year old home alone. I would start with like 20-30 minutes and think he would be fine, but we have a 15 yo dog who can’t be crated or separated from people when we’re home. The majority of the time he just sleeps, but I feel like it’s a little different leaving an 8 year old home alone by himself and an 8 year old home alone while responsible for a dog. Do you think this makes a difference?

I don’t understand the concern. Would the dog require active care or just be there?

For those of you without land lines, what did you do?

8, 9? Can't remember.