EIGHT!
Of course, it's only for a couple of hours. And sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. For instance, a neighbor might be close by to keep an eye on the child. Besides, how much trouble can a child get into in two hours? (Snort.)
In Tennessee, there is no legal age for a child to be left home alone. Some states DO have such laws -- Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon, to be specific. Thirteen is commonly believed to be the "magic age" where a child can be left home alone without raising eyebrows. Many parents believe twelve is a good age. Of course, it all depends on the maturity level of the child.
As for the classmates of my co-worker's child, while there is no law against it, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts states on its website: "Obviously, young children under age 10 should not be left without supervision at any time." Maybe they saw what happened to eight-year-old Kevin in Home Alone?
What age do you think children are old enough to be home alone?
35 comments:
My son turned 9 over the summer, so this is starting to be a conversation we are having on a regular basis. We did leave him home while we walked around the block once, but other than that, no. I'm not comfortable leaving him alone for any extended period of time. My guess is around age 12. And even then, we'll just have to see.
My son is 12, and I just recently started leaving him alone. But NEVER for long periods of time, and NEVER at night. But my son is also very mature for his age, in a lot of ways. Every kid is different. I think you have to decide what is right for YOUR kid. I don't know if my 9 year old will be ready to be left alone when he's 12. If not, then he'll be older. Every kid is different. And you need to base that decision on YOUR child. But 8? Yeah, I think that's a little too young!
Just my two cents.
Mich
I'd say about forty-five.
Seriously, though. Eight? Wow.
I understand giving them responsibility and all, and the two-working-parent dynamics that might necessitate this. But I guess I'm old-fashioned. I think 13-14 at the youngest.
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Best to you-
OMG, eight seems way too young to me! I will leave my seven year old alone for "five" minutes, if I have to take my son to the bus stop and she is sick, but that is it!
This is a tricky one, especially as I don't have kids. But I think I'd want my kids to have a guardian with them at home until about the age of fourteen I guess. I suppose to lessen the worry of fire, electricity etc, those things can be turned off until the parent arrives home?
PS - I loved the Home Alone movie when I was a kid :o)
It has to be based on the kid. I would never dream of leaving my 11 year old at home for any amount of time, but I think, if I had to, I could trust my 9 year old to be alone for a little bit. [AKA 30 minutes.]
Leaving a kid home alone at 8 scares me! My daughter is very mature for her age. She's almost 13 and we leave her home. I think the first time we let her was at 10 and that was for a few hours in the day while I was at the church.
The worst that's happened is the washing machine kept filling and she had no idea to TURN OFF the machine! But hey, my kitchen floors were cleaned. :)
My son...he may never get to stay home alone or without his sister. Even when he's 16. My heart just sped up thinking of all the mischief he would get into!
I'm horrified that a parent would think 8 is old enough! They are wrong to do that, period! What's wrong with people to think that's ok?
8? Oh my word - no chance!
That sounds criminal to me, to have a latchkey kid at 8 years old. That's just unacceptable. I was 11 when my parents started letting me babysit my younger brother. But I guess I was a mature kid. It depends on the kid, but I think an acceptable cut-off should be 10 years old. 8 is far too young.
No way at eight. Daycare facilities stop taking kids at age 12. Usually that's the age they go into middle school/junior high and daycares do not provide transportation to those either. So I think that is an appropriate but again it depends on the child.
My child was 12 and that was only for a few hours and he has had a cell phone since he was 10 but that was mainly for us so we could reach him when he was playing at a friend's house. It was years before he actually used for anything else and now I can't get him off it.
Probably 11-12. I remember being able to babysit other kids at 13, and I look at the kids I work with and think NO WAY!!!
yeah... drastically different from kid to kid. I wouldn't do it, but my 8 year old daughter would probably be just fine, if a little lonely. I do not anticipate EVER feeling okay about leaving my son at home, but he is 4, so it's hard to see him as much older than this age.
My husband made his way home at 8, and was there alone until nearly bedtime every night.
My question would be, does an eight-year-old know what to do in the event of an emergency? Could they handle it if the house caught on fire? A tornado warning went off? Someone tried to break in the house?
My obvious answer is "hell no."
I figure once they're old / mature enough to babysit they're old enough to stay home alone, depending on the kid. I'm thinking 12 or 13 years old would be the earliest I would do it.
That's such a good question. Like you said, alot does have to do with the maturity of the child. I also think the child should feel comfortable being alone too. My oldest is about to go into second grade. I don't think I'm cool with him being alone yet. Maybe third grade. I know that in fourth grade, with neighborly check ups, I babysat my sisters at night so my mom could work. So ten...yes, if the child is responsible, I think ten might be okay.
I'd say that 12-13 is good. That's how it was with me anyway. 8 is pretty young but 2 hours isn't really that bad either. Depends on a lot of things.
My kids started staying home "alone" when the oldest was 12. But that also meant that every neighbor knew they were home alone, in case the kids needed help. And they did, on more than one occasion!
I can't believe *any* eight year old is old enough to handle the situations that can crop up in a household! It's not fair to the youngster to burden him with that kind of responsibility. Not to bad-mouth your co-worker, but when we become parents we accept a big commitment, and looking out for our children's welfare is part of it. IMHO, if she can't afford to stay at home, she needs to make specific arrangements for a substitute caregiver, whether it's a neighbour, friend, relative or an after-school community youth group leader... not just someone nearby the child can call in an emergency. I've always felt 12 is the youngest age any child should be left alone for more than a few minutes.
I'm not sure what the norm is now (my kids are still babies), but I'm pretty sure I was home alone before the age of 13. Not sure I was as young as 8, though.
Oh my goodness! 8 years old and home alone?! My niece and nephew are both 7 and I would never want to see them alone. They are great kids but what if there was an emergency of some sort, that's a tough place to put your child.
I was babysitting my younger siblings at around age 9, and now that I have an almost 8 year-old, I think that's way too young! We had a friend's daughter babysitting for us when she was about 12, but only for an hour or so at a time. It's a tough one. I taught 6th grade and there are kids that age I'd trust and ones I'd never, ever consider leaving alone in my house!
Yikes! Eight! We had a neighbor who'd leave her 4 yr old grandson in the care of his 8 yr old uncle. Bad things happened there,let me tall ya.Sadly I've seen younger kids left alone...*shiver.
For our family, it was based on the kid. My son was early,10 but my daughter wasn't til she was 12
I got a cell phone when I was 11, started saying home alone around the same time. That was also the year my bed time was extended beyond 8 pm.
I could not walk four blocks to or from school until I was 12. However, as soon as 8th grade kicked in, I could go around the entire town via bus and stay out however long I wanted, as long as I called.
My parents weren't/aren't very consistent...They still don't want me being the only girl in a group of all guys. They don't even want me being one-on-one with a boy. I'm 16!
Yes, I think it can vary, but personally 8 would be uncomfortable for me. Our just turning 11 year old has stayed home alone for less than an hour while we picked up his siblings from school, and we were not happy about that.
I'm not a mum (yet) but personally I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving an 8 year old home alone. I don't think I was trusted with the house to myself until I was about 12 or 13, and that's a good age to do so in my opinion.
I guess things were different where I grew up. I grew up in a very rural area where the closest neighbors were a quarter mile away.
My parents started going on date nights every couple of weeks or so when I was 12, leaving me as babysitter for my sisters, aged 10, 8 and 5. They would feed us dinner, start a movie and then I was in charge of making sure everyone brushed their teeth and was in bed by 8:30. We always had two neighbors' phone numbers and I assume they knew we were home alone. Nothing bad ever happened.
That being said, I don't have kids yet, but I'm not sure I'd trust my children to the extent my parents trusted us. I suppose it also depends where we live at that point.
It depends a lot on the particular child, the particular circumstances and how long they will be left home alone. I will cop to allowing my 6 year-old to stay at home by himself for 12 minutes when I have run to drop off the other kids at school. Of course, that isn't much different than him being in the house while I am in the yard weeding with the exception that if there were an emergency I would be closer were I in the yard. But really, I think 10 years-old is a more appropriate age. Even then, I would not leave a 10 year-old on a regular basis. I think to be a latch-key kid the child should probably be at least 12. But then, sometimes teenagers and pre-teens need more supervision than younger kids! 8 years-old seems very very very young. I understand that with day care costs it would be tempting to have them just get off the bus and go home but they are still kids and young kids I don't think it is a good idea.
8??? That's crazy! My son is 12, and I'm still not ready to leave him home. He's getting close, but not yet.
I'm cracking up at the comment below. 45! So true! :)
I was 10 when I became a latch-key kid out of necessity. My brother was 8 or 9. I think it kind of depends on the kid as to what is too young. I also think the perceived dangers out there are much higher than the actual dangers kids face. We were pretty responsible kids and my mom knew we weren't going to get into trouble when she wasn't there. Not all kids are like that.
My parents started letting me stay home alone at 12. The house survived and so did I so I suppose I'll stick to that rule :D
My parents started letting me stay home alone at 12. The house survived and so did I so I suppose I'll stick to that rule :D
I remembr being left alone for very short periods when I was 8. However in this day of over active CPS ( except in Caylee Anthony's case) you are afraid to even leave your kids in the car for a minute! My son Is 14, I just started letting him watch his sister on Saturdays while I work.
I'm pretty lucky that I have a close family and you can always leave your kid with someone. Even though I don't have children, the thought of having to leave any child under the age of 12 for a few hours freaks me out.
I remember staying home from school at 11 by myself but I was that kind of child. I could handle myself (I just stayed in bed watching Matlock and General Hospital. But my 8 year old nephew was left alone with his sister for 5 minutes while my sister was in the garage and in that 5 minutes she ate car wax (needless to say she's 3 and gets into EVERYTHING still.) He still does not stay home alone even at 11.
8? That's too young to be left at home alone. My kids were 14 and 23 when I first decided to leave them at home alone. Besides they were responsible and mature enough to handle things by themselves at that age. For their safety, I also registered them to SafeKidZone. This is the site my friend gave me http://Safekidzone.com/. I find their cell phone base protection for my kids very helpful. Once they hit the panic button, it will alert their trusted friends and family members when they are in trouble. If needed, the incident will be escalated to the nearest 911 with complete information. If you want to check out, just visit their site and you will find more of their useful features.
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