I am planning to start this coming school year, letting my son stay home while I leave for 15 minutes to get his sister from day care.
He will be in 3rd grade, 8.5 yo. He is a very responsible rule follower, and we have good friends who live next door and wfh, so he knows he could go to them at any time.
I suspect this will be on the earliest edge of the responses you get.
David is 7 and I know he can handle it, but he's too young. I think he's getting close, though. He can definitely stay in the house and we would trust he'd be okay but, 7. I think by 9 I might be okay with it if he is. Is that flamefu? IDK. I was left alone at such a young age, I don't even know what's normal, lol.
Post by trytobearunner34 on Aug 14, 2016 18:56:34 GMT -5
I wanna say my mom starting doing things like that when I was in 4th grade (little brother would have been in 2nd and little sister would have been in K). I was responsible and we all got along fairly well.
I am planning to start this coming school year, letting my son stay home while I leave for 15 minutes to get his sister from day care.
He will be in 3rd grade, 8.5 yo. He is a very responsible rule follower, and we have good friends who live next door and wfh, so he knows he could go to them at any time.
I suspect this will be on the earliest edge of the responses you get.
I also think the type of kid you have also determines the age for me. I know my kid. He is also very responsible and a rule follower. I feel like it's different for each kid.
Maryland has a law stating that you can leave kids alone for a very brief time (I want to say it's 30 minutes?) starting at age 8. SIL told us about it when nephew was 8. That's the extent of my knowledge on this, lol. We live in SC now and I don't think there is a specific law, at least not that I've seen. Our kids are 4 and 5.5, so it won't be for a long time!
Post by oliviapope on Aug 14, 2016 19:03:21 GMT -5
I was left alone so early I don't know what normal is. I don't think Texas has a law for minimum age, but I think I'd be okay with it at 8. But I really think it depends on the kid.
My 4 year old would be fine now, but I won't actually do it. In our state, I have to wait until she is 8, and I'm sure it will be fine then too. My older kid has profound special needs and will literally NEVER be left alone. 24x7 care for life!!! :-)
I will say that I think having a special needs kid makes me super excited (instead of nervous) to see all my younger child can do. I want to encourage as much independence in her as possible.
Ds1 is 10 and can handle it, but I don't feel like opening the door to him complaining that he should always be left home when we have to go somewhere he doesn't want to.
My oldest is only 5, but I suspect I won't feel comfortable until 10'or so with him. He is very unfocused and I think he is going to take longer To develop the critical thinking needed to know how to respond to an unexpected situation. I think plenty of kids would be fine at 8.
Post by imojoebunny on Aug 14, 2016 19:28:39 GMT -5
I have google the guidelines for my state, and found them lacking, so I go with a county nearby that has a Department of Child and family services guideline. It is from age 9-12 kids can be left home alone for brief periods (up to two hours). I leave my 10 year old alone for a max of 30 minutes to drop DS somewhere, but she would be fine for hours. DS is 7 and I will leave him with her to drive 4 blocks to the store (sub 15 minutes), but that's probably not legal. Both of my kids are pretty well behaved, so it isn't them I worry about. In my old neighborhood, where I knew all my neighbors and they were usually home, I would be more comfortable. Here, I only know neighbors that are further away, and we have had 5 fires in 2 years within 6 houses of ours, which makes me extra nervous.
I've let DD stay home for 20-25 minutes during the day by herself a few times in the last few months, so about 7.5. She's a rule follower, and generally just curls up in bed or on the couch with a book, the phone, and a paper with my cell number and our address on it. FWIW, VA state guideline (not law) is around 8 for no more than two hours during the day, depending on the child's comfort level.
At this rate, DS is never staying home alone. OMG.
Post by cinderbella on Aug 14, 2016 19:34:56 GMT -5
We've been leaving Molly alone for quick trips since she was 8. She's 9 now and we leave her and Lucy alone together for short trips - no more than two hours and a phone call to check in after an hour.
Honestly I could leave Jack in front of a video game and he would be fine for hours lol.
Joanna gets up at 7 and sometimes we don't get up until 10. She just plays and watches tv. I mean, i'm not going to leave my 4yo alone in the house, but she'd probably be fine.
Honestly I could leave Jack in front of a video game and he would be fine for hours lol.
David wouldn't even know we were gone, lol. Unless he wanted something to eat that he couldn't reach.
A couple weeks ago I was doing laundry in our basement. That is where Jack's game system is at. I hit my head realllly hard on our wooden laundry chute as I was picking up laundry. I screamed and no one reacted. That is when I realized if I died I better hope my kid is not in front of a screen because he will not notice lol.