How old were you...

[Pom]

When your parents left you home alone? I bet I was 6. My parents farmed and there were many times I came home, ate some cereal and then did chores like gathering eggs, etc. Times have changed.

[dorothyinAus]

I had an older brother, so it might be a bit different. I would say alone at home during the day, he was around 8, so I was 5-ish. We were older when we were left home alone at night; I'd guess he was around 10, so I would have been about 7.

[flex]

5 or 6.

[mrsukyankee]

I grew up partially on a boarding school campus so I was surrounded by kids and adults - so I was left alone very young (I know I was running around campus as a 5 year old on my own w/o any problems). When we moved at age 7 to more rural place (our own house), I know I was left for short periods then and I walked home about 1/3 mile from the school bus with my little brother probably at age 9 (we had to cross a major Route to get home) once my mom went back to work.

[TBM]

I don't really remember being alone until I was around 10, when my mom went back to work after having been a SAHM and part time school nurse. I also had older siblings and a dad who could easily schedule his appts and work from home to be there before and after school, and we lived in a neighborhood where all the kids were the same ages as my brother and I, and most of the moms were SAHM....it was the 60s. Once I was left alone, I still wasn't alone that much since my mom got off work fairly early and had days off during the week sometimes, but I was home mostly alone during the summer because my siblings were in high school and had jobs or activities that took up their time.

The flip side is that we were given a lot of freedom around the neighborhood without supervision from a pretty early age,since it was a safe area, and later in the extended neighborhood where we had few food places (a popcorn business, a soft serve ice cream place and a burger drive in) and convenience stores that we could walk to, as well as walking to and from school (maybe a mile away, across a really busy road).

[Gato]

I don't really remember being left at home alone much. My mom didn't know how to drive until after I turned 5, so she was around the house most of the time. That said, there were a couple hundred acres of open land behind our house, and I remember my brother and I exploring those unsupervised for hours at ages 3 and 5.

We also walked alone to and from school, and around the neighborhood, at age 5 and up.

[mryrcn]

At least 4. I had to get on the school bus by myself.

[scout8]

I don't remember for sure, but I think about 8 or 9. My mom worked three days a week so those days I was alone before and after school. I was a latchkey kid. Isn't that what they called us?

ETA: Like everyone else, I had lots of freedom to play outside by myself and with friends at a young age. I feel like I was doing that by age 4 or 5. 

[malibu]

I started babysitting other people's children when I was 8. My mom left my brother and me home alone for about a half hour when I was 6, he was 3. He had (what we now know was) the Rotavirus, and she had to get some medication for him and did not want to move him, since he threw up if he even rolled over in bed. I remember just sitting there, frozen, hoping he didn't throw up the entire half hour she was gone.

[pinkdutchtulips]

10 ?

im the oldest of 4 and my parents would leave me in charge of my younger siblings when they had choir practice on thursday nights. practice was at church literally across the parking lot from our house.

i was also a mother's helper at 10, babysitting solo at 12

[stever]

7 or 8. I started walking 1/4 mile the bus stop when I was 7 and remember letting myself in to the house after day camp every once in a while not long after.

[Deleted]

I was a latch key kid starting at age 9 and started babysitting around that same time as well.

[Linie]

My mom was a SAHM. The first time my brother and I were truly alone was when she was in hospital, we were 12 and 14. She died soon after and from then on, we were alone on Wednesday afternoon and after school (5.15 pm) until my dad came home around 9 pm.

[daisyn]

I'm too old to remember lol

[Queen Mamadala]

I was 6-7.

[mryrcn]

Four. I had to get on the bus by myself. I turned 5 about 2 months after kindergarten started. My parents had both already left for work.

[dragon's breath]

My mom was a SAHM, so being home alone was rare. Dad was a cop, so that added another layer. First time I remember was when my little brother got 3rd degree burns from some coffee, and they had to run to the ER. I was instructed to turn on the tv and not leave the living room/answer the door for any reason. I was 6.

Before that, I was left home with older siblings often (they weren't home). My parents also left me with a teenage baby sitter when I was a day old, so it's not like they hovered, it just hadn't happened that they need to until then.

[4speedy]

I don't remember if it happened earlier but it definitely happened by the time I turned 8. My mom went back to work as a teacher when I was 8. If we had a minor cold that required staying home from school, my mom would set us up on the couch in the family room and we would snooze there all day while she was at work. She would come home to check on us at lunch. We may have been left home before that for random errands, etc. I just can't remember.

[pinkdutchtulips]

About 10 and I was in charge of 3 younger siblings as well

[moolarkey]

3rd grade. I walked home from school and was home for about 2.5 hours until my parents got home from work.

[treedimensional]

Ha! I was youngest of four children. I wasn't alone until I moved out.

[marg]

Hope I'm not too late to join-in on this conversation? If so, please let me know.

I would have been around age 8, though I do remember being a shade younger when mom would run to the store for cigarettes, leaving me and my baby siblings home alone.

I started helping with the care of baby siblings at age 8, and by age 11-12, remember staying at home (Friday nights) to babysit, while mom and dad did their weekly shop. At that time, baby brother and sister were babies and both still in diapers (cloth diapers), and I was well-trained and adept at performing all domestic duties. Diaper changing, feeding, even making homemade baby food and formula, so no problem there, and we had trusty neighbours all around, so had I run into any sort of issue all I would have had to do was make a quick call or run next door for help.

Also by age 11-12, I was babysitting outside the home for neighbours in and around our hood... also babysat for an aunt (two baby cousins).

An important little something to add, I was MILES ahead in the maturity department compared to my counterparts. Always was, even from the time I was in my single digits.