Anonymous wrote:I would not leave them alone at all.

You won’t let your teens stay home alone ever? You never go out without your teen to dinner or work?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t leave them overnight at all. Someone responsible needs to stay at the house. You need to wait a few more years. You and DH can handle it.

Are you kidding me. Kid is almost 16 years old. There is something very, very wrong if a 16 year old cannot handle himself and watch his brother overnight. He will be in college soon!

Then, how about waiting until they are actually 18 and in College?

It is irresponsible and poor parenting to leave your 16yr. old alone and on top, caring for a younger sibling for 4 days. See what CPS thinks?,

VA guidelines says a 16yo can be alone overnight and also babysit overnight. 15.5 is not that far from 16yo. These are also guidelines, not the law.

I remember when I was a teen, the kids who had parents who were traveling were the ones who had parties at their house. There were actually a few international students who lived mostly alone during high school. They were minors and under 18. These are not 7 year olds, these are 15-16 year olds.

I would not leave them alone at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t leave them overnight at all. Someone responsible needs to stay at the house. You need to wait a few more years. You and DH can handle it.

Are you kidding me. Kid is almost 16 years old. There is something very, very wrong if a 16 year old cannot handle himself and watch his brother overnight. He will be in college soon!

Then, how about waiting until they are actually 18 and in College?

It is irresponsible and poor parenting to leave your 16yr. old alone and on top, caring for a younger sibling for 4 days. See what CPS thinks?,

Sorry you’ve raised irresponsible and untrustworthy children who can’t handle being alone for a night. And I’m a prosecutor and so stop the chirping about CPS. You sound clueless.

What if one of them needs to go to urgent care? OP's kids can't even drive.

Op here. My kids have good friends in the neighborhood including 5 physicians on our block. We would not depend on them but we have good relationships with many people in the community.

I have decided not to go on the trip and we will not be leaving the kids home alone. It is less about childcare and more about just rescheduling a trip we can go altogether.

My older son is as responsible as one can get as a kid his age. He is more responsible than most college students. I absolutely would trust and be ok with him staying home alone overnight, probably not 4 nights though.

My 13yo is not the same as his older brother and I would not trust him alone and would never leave him alone overnight. It seems to big of a burden to put on his older brother.

MIL said she would come stay with them but we just decided not to do the trip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t leave them overnight at all. Someone responsible needs to stay at the house. You need to wait a few more years. You and DH can handle it.

Are you kidding me. Kid is almost 16 years old. There is something very, very wrong if a 16 year old cannot handle himself and watch his brother overnight. He will be in college soon!

Then, how about waiting until they are actually 18 and in College?

It is irresponsible and poor parenting to leave your 16yr. old alone and on top, caring for a younger sibling for 4 days. See what CPS thinks?,

Sorry you’ve raised irresponsible and untrustworthy children who can’t handle being alone for a night. And I’m a prosecutor and so stop the chirping about CPS. You sound clueless.

What if one of them needs to go to urgent care? OP's kids can't even drive.

And I said for 1 night. Not 4. So read before you react.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t leave them overnight at all. Someone responsible needs to stay at the house. You need to wait a few more years. You and DH can handle it.

Are you kidding me. Kid is almost 16 years old. There is something very, very wrong if a 16 year old cannot handle himself and watch his brother overnight. He will be in college soon!

Then, how about waiting until they are actually 18 and in College?

It is irresponsible and poor parenting to leave your 16yr. old alone and on top, caring for a younger sibling for 4 days. See what CPS thinks?,

Sorry you’ve raised irresponsible and untrustworthy children who can’t handle being alone for a night. And I’m a prosecutor and so stop the chirping about CPS. You sound clueless.

How far away would you go? 4 days is a long time to be away with kids this age home alone, especially if you are going more than an hour's drive away. I would not be able to enjoy any type of getaway like this with all the stress and anxiety I would be feeling. IMO, you don't have kids quite old enough to go away for this length of time, especially if there is plane ride involved.

When my parents left us alone we threw a party!

This is just such a no. Not even a question. You are not a good parent OP and anyone who knew you do this would think so.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the others that they’re actually young for that many days.

It’s ironic that people here are terrified to leave their 8 year olds at a drop off play date but somehow expect young teens to have the maturity and independence to stay home along for several days.

Not the same people. Duh.

This reminds me of the episode of Malcolm in the Middle when Lois and Hal got a babysitter for the boys who was younger than Reese and the same age as Malcolm.

Anonymous wrote:I would be fine leaving these kids overnight. But, ALL of my neighbors would definitely text me if they had people over. I would have the nanny come over for afternoon driving, dinner and stay until 10 or 11pm when she can see the kids are winding down.

I would be pissed as your neighbor that you were irresponsible to leave two kids home alone to go on vacation.

Oh my, how is this even a question?

I would be fine leaving these kids overnight. But, ALL of my neighbors would definitely text me if they had people over. I would have the nanny come over for afternoon driving, dinner and stay until 10 or 11pm when she can see the kids are winding down.