My 12 almost 13 year old has a few weeks off this summer. I can work from home 2 to 3 days a week, as the biggest issue is that he gets lonely (that could change soon). But I think it is good for kids to have unstructured time. The challenge is getting him to do something with it other than play video games.

Anytime after 11 is fine, imo. My kids did this, except they didn't, ds has a sports camp that he wanted to go to, dd has less activities, but still did ice skating. When I was working in the summer, grandma would be at home with them, but kids would run around the neighborhood. My kids were restless and love activities, but around that age waking up early became a loathed thing, and I agree it is terrible to wake your kid up at 7am when they are preteens to go to same lame camp. I did this too... but drove my bike around the whole city, played with cousins, had a ball. Being at home today is different, especially in urban environments. I am not sure how healthy it is to watch tv or stare at the laptop all day long.

Anonymous wrote:My parents let me sit home all summer by myself- there were no other kids in the neighborhood and it was HORRIBLE and I hated it then and I don't see how any decent parent would allow it now.

I never complained or got into trouble but that doesn't mean it was right. I was bored to death and lonely because that's an age where you should be engaging in social interaction and doing things even if you don't want to.

Np: as an introvert, I loved being home all summer by myself, it was heaven because I could go what I want and never felt lonely or depressed.

I have 12 year old twins (13 in Sept) who are home alone for some weeks this summer. However, each day they have something scheduled that they bike themselves to for a few hours: a class, baseball practice, etc.
There's always something they leave the house for. Then other weeks they do camp, including a few weeks of sleep-away camp.

Depends on the kid. My youngest would have been fine staying home all day for the summer at 11, but my oldest probably wouldn't have until 12 or 13. Of course I would never allow my kid to do that at those ages, but they would have been fine had I allowed it.

It's a long summer to be home all day every day with nothing to do. I can see a week here or there with nothing planned but not all summer. There are still camps for kids that age. My 14 yr old DS is at a study skills camp and a coding camp. He could've signed up for archery which he does during the rest of the year but it conflicted with study skills. He is also helping out in a camp for 2 weeks in a sport he does- fencing. His friend is volunteering at a nature camp. There are plenty of things to do for older kids.

I have a rising 6th graders who is in various camps all summer but I’ve been thinking about this too. It’s not so much that I don’t trust her, it’s more that I don’t think being alone all day with nothing specific to to is great. I wouldn’t want her to be on screens very much, but how do you monitor/enforce that if you aren’t home.

I have a 14 yr old rising sophomore. She is doing a couple of longish camps as a counselor and then getting some academic tutoring for next year. We will sneak in 4-5 days of vacation time as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. He'll be 12 next summer and he really wants to stay home. DH thinks it would be fine.

I agree with all you guys saying that's too young but I'm not sure I can articulate why. I do trust him to not get into trouble. And I know that he hates situations where he's meeting people for the first time, so he would hate doing a week here and then another week somewhere else. I can't be home 4 hours a day, but he does like shooting baskets in the backyard so he'd do that on his own. And he would play electronics. He doesn't like to read so wouldn't do that willingly.

I don't know, it just seems lonely, sad and not productive.

Agree with you, it seems lonely and sad. Also, 12 is the age where my son (who has always been a rule-following, responsible kid) came across, and then started looking up, inappropriate stuff on the internet. I underestimated how around 12/13/14 kids become a lot more complex in terms of social life, hormones, mental health -- I just don't think it's a great age to have nothing at all planned and no interactions for 8+ hrs/day.

I also agree. Just does not seem mentally healthy.

Anonymous wrote:Never. Spending one day home alone doing nothing? Fine. Two days? Fine. More than that? Nope.

This, except that I may allow a full week or two (separated, not two weeks in a row), but otherwise I think they need to be doing something. If too old for camp, Counselor in training or babysitting or cutting lawns but not hanging out on the couch all day.

Never. Spending one day home alone doing nothing? Fine. Two days? Fine. More than that? Nope.

My parents let me sit home all summer by myself- there were no other kids in the neighborhood and it was HORRIBLE and I hated it then and I don't see how any decent parent would allow it now.

I never complained or got into trouble but that doesn't mean it was right. I was bored to death and lonely because that's an age where you should be engaging in social interaction and doing things even if you don't want to.

I think it's a TERRIBLE IDEA

A few weeks NP.

I know two parents that let their teen do this. Both kids were hospitalized with depression.

DS is turning 12 this summer, going into seventh grade, and there are 2 weeks that he will be staying home by himself. They are both short weeks--the holiday week and the last week of the summer where I will be off one of the days. I'll probably also telework my normal day each of those weeks, too, so we're really only talking 3 days each week. There just weren't any camps that made sense for him those weeks in terms of interests, location, and price. I would not allow him to stay home alone all summer at this point; I just don't think he's ready for all of that alone time. Younger brother is still going to camp every week.

Anonymous wrote:My 13 and 11 year olds are doing this now. They can walk to our swim club, and have to do swim and tennis in the morning, but after that they are free to do whatever. The 13-year-old basically sits at home the rest of the time. The 11-year-old sits at home some of the time and hangs out at the pool the rest of the time.

Would you feel differently if there were no swim club in walking distance?