Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in MD your child needs to be 8. Probably depends on child and circumstances, but 8 seems perfectly appropriate. Why is this in the tween/teen forum?

Maybe because it’s about a tween? OP said her daughter is going into 6th grade.

My 7th grader babysits. How is a 6th grader not able to stay home alone for 1 hour lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please clarify if this student is coming home to an empty house and will be alone for an hour or kid home with a parent and that parent needs run out for an hour.

OP here. Empty house some days until parent can drive home early from work. Most days, either DH or I would be there, WFH, but this won't be possible every single day. DD is 11, going into 6th, and has a watch phone for emergencies. OK to be home alone sometimes?

That’s completely fine. 11?? I wouldn’t think twice. 9 would be case by case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please clarify if this student is coming home to an empty house and will be alone for an hour or kid home with a parent and that parent needs run out for an hour.

OP here. Empty house some days until parent can drive home early from work. Most days, either DH or I would be there, WFH, but this won't be possible every single day. DD is 11, going into 6th, and has a watch phone for emergencies. OK to be home alone sometimes?

Of course op!

OMG we go out for the evening at kids age 10! It depends on the kid. But ours can contact us easily and we know unless the power goes out all that will happen is them glued in front of their iPad!!! lol that's your babysitter there. You think they're gonna burn down the house or something?

at our school, K and 1st grade kids are either put on the bus, in a car, or picked up to walk home by an adult. Starting in 2nd, the kids can “self dismiss”. Meaning the walkers just walk out the door and the bus drivers no longer have to make sure the kid has an adult at the bus stop to get them. So for the person who said 2nd grade- that sounds fine. One of my kids could have done all of this in K. The other kid is a 5th grader and I still don’t want him home alone. It depends.

Depends on kid but DD age 8 I think and DS age 10.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember, probably first or second grade? But really depends on the kid. One of ours was scared to be home alone.

Um...WHAT? Are you trolling? It's not funny.

NP. When I worked as a classroom monitor during Covid one of the 2nd graders in the classroom I was assigned would walk himself home every day. The school was told his parent was there working from home, but I don't think that was ever verified. At least in FCPS they can walk home alone as young as first.

Our MCPS kid walked alone in 1st and in K walked back from the bus alone. Why wouldn't this be allowed?

Our buses will not let 1st graders or kindergartners off the bus unless an adult is there for the child. Some neighborhoods have massive houses set way back on five acres, no sidewalks. Who knows what a kindergartner would do if left alone with no way into the house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age 8 I would be ok with now and again.
Every day though , maybe 10.
My 12yo has a friend we dropped off at home ( alone) last week after an outing and she couldn’t get in the house. The code on the door was jammed or something. I ended up keeping her 2 extra hours.
Make sure your kid knows what to do if where to go if they can’t get in for some reason.

Really? Was it extra hot or is this a bad neighborhood? When our child got locked out at a younger age they just waited in a quiet spot.

Are you seriously saying that some ahole adult dropped your child off without making sure she could get into the house? Or worse, knew she couldn’t get in the house and left the child there anyway? What kind of uncivilized people do you associate with?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age did you let your kid be home alone after walking home from the bus after school, about 30-60 minutes?

Umm go in the elementary school forum pls.

Walking home from bus stop
to a parent at home? 1st grade

Walking home using pin pad garage and parent not home for 30min? 9yrs old

Weren’t you all latch key kids. Stop coddling your kids

Ummm no everyone wasn’t a latchkey kid. I know the mothers who don’t work at my daughter’s school and they are home for their elementary school kids. My daughter went home occasionally to an empty house starting in I think 6th grade. I just don’t think it’s good for a younger child to come home to an empty house too often.

We never locked our doors so the kids didn’t have keys. The housekeeper accidentally locked the door once and my daughter called me, locked out. It was a frigid day with a wind chill factor of zero. I felt so bad but was able to reach a neighbor to take her in. I would have felt worse if she been 7 or 8.

Anonymous wrote:Age 8 I would be ok with now and again.
Every day though , maybe 10.
My 12yo has a friend we dropped off at home ( alone) last week after an outing and she couldn’t get in the house. The code on the door was jammed or something. I ended up keeping her 2 extra hours.
Make sure your kid knows what to do if where to go if they can’t get in for some reason.

Really? Was it extra hot or is this a bad neighborhood? When our child got locked out at a younger age they just waited in a quiet spot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember, probably first or second grade? But really depends on the kid. One of ours was scared to be home alone.

Um...WHAT? Are you trolling? It's not funny.

NP. When I worked as a classroom monitor during Covid one of the 2nd graders in the classroom I was assigned would walk himself home every day. The school was told his parent was there working from home, but I don't think that was ever verified. At least in FCPS they can walk home alone as young as first.

Our MCPS kid walked alone in 1st and in K walked back from the bus alone. Why wouldn't this be allowed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what age did you let your kid be home alone after walking home from the bus after school, about 30-60 minutes?

8.

Because that’s the law in Maryland.

+1
Exactly this. Child could have stayed home alone before that. I think it really depends on the kid though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please clarify if this student is coming home to an empty house and will be alone for an hour or kid home with a parent and that parent needs run out for an hour.

OP here. Empty house some days until parent can drive home early from work. Most days, either DH or I would be there, WFH, but this won't be possible every single day. DD is 11, going into 6th, and has a watch phone for emergencies. OK to be home alone sometimes?

Of course op!

Anonymous wrote:I think in MD your child needs to be 8. Probably depends on child and circumstances, but 8 seems perfectly appropriate. Why is this in the tween/teen forum?

Maybe because it’s about a tween? OP said her daughter is going into 6th grade.

I let mine come home alone at age 9, when I would be home within an hour.

This is in tweens and teens so your answer should be "now" OP, all things considered normal.