Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reschedule. There's the safety of the 11 yr old, but also it's not fair to the painters. I do some contract work and would be angry if parents set me up to be in a home with a child that age and no other adults. There are false accusations made all the time.

I wouldn't be worried about a stable child making random false accusations against a home contractor they don't know. But I just think the contractor would feel uncomfortable like they were suddenly in charge of the house/safety of the kid bc that's the adult/kid dynamic by nature.

What? THis makes no sense. The painters have no idea if the child is stable. They have every right to refuse being placed in this situation.

I leave my 11 year home alone with a known contractor. I know the contractor better than I know his coaches, camp counselors, teachers, and parents of his friends.

I wouldn’t leave my 11 year old home alone with someone that I never met and who I didn’t have a continuing relationship with (for example, I would leave him home alone with cleaners that I know who come every week, but not an HVAC person for a one time service call).

That being said, my kid is probably safer with the strangers than the known entities, strangers with extremely limited access aren’t typically molesting kids. Pedophiles typically have continuing access to kids, such as coach, doctor, relative, priest/pastor, etc.... and are trusted.

Hard no.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Shelly

Nope. Lots of people in the trades, particularly in the lesser-skilled trades have criminal backgrounds. Anecdotal, I know. But true.

No for all the above reasons. I had a great painter that I used regularly and we became friends. He’s the first to tell you that painters often have drinking problems, so there’s that too. And as much as I liked and trusted him, it would still feel wrong to leave a kid home alone with him.

If you have to ask then that’s your answer.

Anonymous wrote:I actually don't think the painting company would be cool with this either. No adult (male) wants to be in this position, OP.

My family runs a construction company and this would be a no. My father has had to deal with this before. He doesn’t want the liability of someone saying something happened. He does this to protect his workers who are great people. I am sure your kid is wonderful but again it is a risk for both sides.

Another fairly laid back parent here and, again, a hard no.

Lots of good points from contractor and kids perspective.

And, oh my gosh, until reading this thread, I nearly forgot about a story from like 1982! Three of us 11/12 year old girls were at a friends house and a contractor was working in the kitchen.

We went to get snacks and chatted together and with him. Polite and friendly as you we’re supposed to be. It started to progress to mature things.... he stopped working and had a mature “you Girls really should know” quality as he delved into dating, boyfriends, kissing.... you can tell if somebody has had sex, and more.... I recall being intrigued then feeling uncomfortable and slowly backing up and easing out of the kitchen with another girl. But, one of the girls wanted to remain talking...... we finally said “come on” and dragged her out. I don’t think we’d been schooled in this, but two of us kinda had our antenna up enough to know this was a “not supposed to” convo. It never occurred to us to tell her parents. I never I mentioned it to mine. No harm thankfully, but with phones and potential ongoing contact between teen/tween and adult... not a good idea.

Man, I need to have a conversation with my kids about the recognize your instinct and keep us posted!!! Good luck.

Lazy parenting

I won't leave my DD home alone with her ACT tutor who we have known for years. More for his comfort than hers.

Even my teen’s music teacher requires a parent to be present for in-home lessons.

That might be against the painting company policy. I am a nanny and when I was younger and looked it I would get asked if I was a minor because certain places would not let there employees into homes where a minor was if an adult wasn’t present.

How is this even a question.

Very laid back parent here, DH s biggest complaint is I "don't worry enough".

This is a hell no.