How old were your kids when they stayed home by themselves?

Question

Just curious how old and mature my kids have to be before they start watching themselves. My son is 7 and my daughter is 4. They are both well behaved and mature. I'm thinking around 12 yrs old.

Answer 1

my parents left my house when i was 5 and they still havent come back, wats up with that?

Answer 2

I would come home from kindergarten (about a block away) and wait for my mom to come home about an hour later sometimes. We lived in a small town. So I guess it was safe.

now that I'm a mother...I can't BELIEVE she did that! The law states 10, but that might not be mature enough for some kids. However, my oldest son was 10 when we started leaving him home alone for a few hours at a time. We set rules of course, to limit the probability of disaster. By the time he was 11, he was able to watch his 8 and 3 year old brother for an hour until I got home from work a hour and half later. he's now 12 and he baby sits upto 6 hours and is red cross certified for infant CPR through community education. he also baby sits other people's kids for cash!

Answer 3

i think that 7 and 4 may be abit young they need to be able to handle emergency situations well and know what to do when something goes wrong, it would be good if you had a next door neighbour that could check up on them if you do decide to leave them. But i was about 10 or 12 when i used to be left home alone until my mum came back from work. i wouldn't leave them alone at night though but during the day may be ok that's only if they were a little bit older- You have to condiser many other things not just wether they are well behaved and mature, like is your neighbourhood safe, do they know how to use the phone well etc

Answer 4

I think a lot of it depends on their comfort level. I agree around 12 is a good age to start leaving them home for an hour or so. I would never leave a 12 year old and an 8 year old home alone for much more than a couple hours.

They must BOTH know to never answer the door or tell anyone on the phone that you are not home. We also had the rule that they could not be outside. They had to stay indoors with the doors locked. I used to have my kids tell callers that I was in the shower and would call back later. This eventually posed a problem because my daughter called me on my "lying".

Once my daughter told me she got nervous and locked herself in the bathroom while I was gone. This was a good sign that she was not ready to home alone, despite her age.

Answer 5

I would highly recommend that you contact the local child protection service before even considering leaving them home at the age of 12 to 13. In some states it depends on maturity and how close the nearest neighbor is for help and the access to phone numbers for emergencies if needed.
But you have a long way to go before then so why even consider it now???
No matter how mature they act in front of you, there is always that little devil in all kids that want to see how much they can get away with.
I have five and mine all show their manners and responsibility to me and everyone who sees them, but turn your back and give them the room and they will try you to see what they can get away with without being caught.
Our children can love and respect us, and then turn and do what they really want when we arent looking.
I know, mine range in age from two years old to seventeen.

Have fun.

Answer 6

A lot of this depends on the state you are in, but you can leave the kids home alone for 2 - 3 hours when they are 9 or 10, the oldest can babysit another child at age 13 (especially after a Red cross Babysitting class). So check with your state these are the rules for KY and OH. Mine children are still very young all 4 or younger so I don't leave them home alone.

Answer 7

My son is 10 and in Jr High, He rides his bike to and from school and calls me from his cell phone when he gets there. Hes alone for only about an hour, until I get home from work, and I always find him at the dinner table finishing up his homework and having a snack. I think it depends on the maturity of the child and where you live. I live in a nice subdivision where I know all of my neighbors so I have no worries.

He knows NOT to open the door for anyone OR answer the house phone.

Answer 8

For a second I thought you were going to say you let your 7 year old son stay home alone.

I have no children of my own, as I am 17, but I believe my mom let me stay home alone when I was around 12. Like you said, it depends on how mature your children are, and I also think you need to consider how safe your neighborhood is.

Answer 9

IN Canada they must be 16 which i don't understand because a 12yr old can be more mature and responsible tha a 16 yr old , check with you department of childrens sevices to be safe. I have a 12yr old and she has been left at home alone for breif periods like 1- 2 hrs but if caught she would be talking away in a heartbeat

Answer 10

I believe I was around 9 or 10 when my mon left us at home because we were good kids and it was just a couple of hours here and there and she had rules like don't answer the phone or the door, and she would call us and check up on us. I was 11 when I started babysitting.

Answer 11

I was my sister's guardian (she is 17 years younger than I am) I was allowed to leave her home alone for a few hours when she was about 9-10 years old. When she was 13 she took the babysitting course offered by Red Cross and was allowed to babysit. I could leave her for a whole day (I had to work) when she was 13, but I usually had her signed up for activites so that she couldn't call me and complain of boredom.