What age can a child stay home alone?

Question

I was just curious on what the age is. I'm not talking about a whole day, just an hour or two. What is an acceptable age?

Answer 1

Depends a great deal on your child's maturity and responsibility levels.
Suggestion: The first few times you leave your child 'home alone' have someone close by (grandma, neighbor, etc.) call your house while you are gone and just chat with your child for a few minutes. You can then see how he/she handles phone calls, what he tells the caller about how he/she is doing, whether he/she if afraid, etc.
This will help you judge how well your child is handling the new 'grown-up' way of doing things.

Answer 2

In some states there are laws on what age a child can stay home alone for a few hours, I'd say 13 depending on how mature the child can be.

Answer 3

12

Answer 4

18

Answer 5

Some states have laws about this and others don't. It also depends on maturity. I started leaving one of my daughters home for short periods of time at the age of 11.

Answer 6

I only let my 2 oldest stay home alone they are 16 and 12.Now my 10 year old 9 year old and 7 year old can stay home with them if they are home but no alone..So probably 11 or 12

Answer 7

It's according to the child. But, I think 12 is a safe age.

Answer 8

In CT, there is no legal age but the DCF reccomends the child is 12, depending on the level of maturity of the child. You know your child best, so its up to you.

Answer 9

I'd say 11 for an hour or two, but only if you were reachable by cell phone and you were able to get home quick in case of an emergency.

Answer 10

I think that it depends on the responsibility, except if you are under 10 years old I think you should not. So my guess would be around 12 or 13 but it can be younger, depends on the responsibility level. Hopefully I helped.