How old before leaving kids "home alone"?

[flakey chick]

The cell phone thing can be managed very differently. They do make childrens cell phones that are very safety oriented. They can only call a few numbers, including 911. The parents can choose what numbers can be dialed and from what phone #'s calls can be received. You teach your children address and phone # in case they get lost. This is one step up from that- almost like a child locator. We were taught to always carry change for a phone call. The problem is you just can't depend on finding a pay phone anymore. Shoot, that's the reason I first got a cell phone.

It is ridiculous for young children to be chatting with or texting their friends on a cell phone.

The MP3 players are just entertainment. I think the equivalent status symbol when I was a kid was a watch. That was just before digital watches became ubiquitous and there was an "educational factor" in being able to tell time.

 

[arlee453]

I will leave my almost 12 yr old daughter home alone now for VERY short periods of time - like less than 30 min. I would NOT be comfortable even having her come home in the afternoon to an empty house on a regular basis if I had a job where I wasn't able to be home.

Having said that, paid afterschool care is pretty much non existent for kids over the age of 12 or after 6th grade, so if I was working in an office, I'd have very little choice OTHER than to let her come home alone this coming school year as she will be 12 and in 7th grade. Thankfully I work from home, so that's not an issue.

I remember back in the good ole 70s, that many of my school mates had keys around their necks and stayed home alone afterschool until their parents came home from work. They were called 'latchkey' kids back then...these were kids as young as 2nd grade that I knew personally.

Today, I'd never DREAM of leaving my kids alone at home that young. If something happened while I was gone, I'd never forgive myself. Even though I know my daughter is VERY mature and responsible at her age, I still won't let her stay alone more than around a half hour at a time.

As far as a cell phone..... a lot of my kid's friends - as young as 8 and 9 have cell phones already. I won't be getting my kids one. Nope... won't do it. ONLY when they are old enough to start spending some time outside of having reasonably close adult supervision will they have a cell phone, and then maybe not even then (I'm thinking 15/16).

First, I'm not made of $$, second if they don't have a phone, most of their friends will, and 3rd I just don't see the point of a phone if they have appropriate adult supervision.

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

My oldest son is 17. He just got a cell phone last year. He bought it himself because he wanted a different one than my DH and I were willing to buy and he pays all but 25.00 of the monthly bill. My two oldest boys the 17 yo and an 11 yo have mp3 players. The 11 yo got his for his bday in July and we haven't heard much from him since. (we should have bought it sooner

)
As for staying home alone, my oldest son is extremely responsible. He is a great student, gpa of 4.29 and involved in alot of afterschool academic programs. He is allowed to stay at home by himself whenever we go places. As a matter of fact we left him home alone for the weekend a while ago. It worked out great. My other two boys..ages 11 and 8 are total opposites. They cannot be trusted. They are not home alone for anything other than a quick trip to the farmers market or to deliver eggs, that kind of thing.
I really believe that you have to know your children and know wether or not they can handle the responsibility that comes with being home alone.

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Just out of curiosity, I looked up Maryland and Illinois laws. Maryland says age 8 (and you can't even leave an 8 year old in a car alone of you are out of sight), and Illinois says age 13.

Interesting that the age range is so big. To me, there's a lot of difference in the maturity of an 8 year old vs. a 13 year old.

 

[olp_63]

I think my parents left me home alone with 3 younger siblings to babysit when I was about 12 or 13. But it really does depend on maturity and how responsible the child is. My younger brother is almost 15 and our parents are still weary about leaving him at home alone even with out the added responsibility of watching the 2 younger kids.

 

[mmajw]

Maine doesnt even have a min. age

 

[DTchickens]

Well, im still young.. 13... 14 in october and stay home alone all the time.. But my brother was allowed to stay home since he was 14 (17 now), and watch over me.... of course he never did, i've always taken care of myself and played with my chickens all day or play games. or get on the comp. Had a MP3 player for awhile now i really dont think there should be a Age limit on them as.. What are they gonna do?. You just put music on them and let them use it, Just as long as they know how i see no harm, A cell phone. No reason to give a kid a cellphone unless you let them travel off with friends. relatives. ETC, Only reason i have one now is because my mom got all 4 (mom, dad, bro and my) cellphones for free of course, I use it BUT, i guess i could be called responsible since i take care of my animals/myself. and do what im told etc Lol.

-Daniel

 

[mmajw]

Good for you Daniel. Glad to see you are responsible and take care of the things you own.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I didn't get a cell phone until my 17th birthday...which was the same day I got my driver's license. I didn't really need one before that. Either a friend always had one, another adult, or my mom let me borrow hers. The only times I really needed a cell was on the days I had to be picked up from school or a friends house, etc.

As far as MP3 players go, I didn't get one until I was a sophmore in highschool and had saved up for it myself. I suppose I could have asked for one for Christmas or something earlier, but at the time they were close to $350, if not a little more. (I still have that darned thing LOL) Now of course when I was really young we had only tape players, and I had one of those for awhile. It was a little hand me down thing that I started using. At around age 9 or 10 my parents got me a little cd player and I used that ALOT! I guess it's no different then giving your kid an MP3 player. Back when I was 9 or 10, I had never ever heard of an ipod or mp3 player.

As for staying home alone...I starting babysitting when I was around 13 or 14. I began doing it every day after school when I was in eighth grade. My parents really didn't leave my brother and I home alone until I was about 13 or 14. I have a brother two years younger than me and I suppose I was around 16 or 17 when they started going on weekend trips and leaving us home alone. We had to be older because there are quite a few animals here at the house that need to be taken care of and my parents wanted to make sure we were able to do it all.

These things are all up to individual parents, but I feel my parents did things in a very fair and safe way. I will probably follow in their footsteps when I have children of my own because I feel their guidelines worked great for me as their child.

 

[Alaskan]

Quote:
What web site? does it list all states?

That is so interesting....that Maryland is 8 and Illinois is 13. Wow!

I started babysitting in 7th grade (so how old was I?) but I was never left home alone.

Isn't that funny?

As to all the gadgets...I just wouldn't buy any. I am a firm believer that kids should spend all their time playing and doing chores (mostly outside). No electronics for them.

But my DH loves that stuff....and will probably buy them for the kids at some point.

But right now the kids don't have any, and the oldest is almost 10.

Interesting that you can't even leave them in the car... I do that all the time when running errands.

At this point we have left the 9 year old alone for short periods of time, but never when he had to watch his younger brothers.

Unless you want to count "You watch all your brothers while I mess with the horses" That could take a hour, I can't see them while I am with the horses, but I am within shouting distance.

Oh, I do let them all (ages 9, 7, 4, 2) go walking or biking without any supervision. But they are just doing a driveway loop (almost the entire way within shouting distance), or walking from my house to the neighbors.

Hummm,

I guess that does count as unsupervised.