At what age is it ok to leave children home alone?

oystercatcher

ClareEmily wrote: »

Very confusing, I was babysittting for neigbours at the age of 13 and the boys were only 6 and 8.

And would you have known what to do if there was a fire? Or they had a fight and fell downstairs and got injured?
Could you have coped if one of them got vomiting and diahorrea and made a terrible mess?

Maybe you were lucky

Oystercatcher

suki1964

My sisters and myself were home alone all week Sunday to Friday - ages - 15,13,9

Only once did anyone enquire - a HV when I had attended the GP alone, three times in one wek. Still no action was taken, we were left to it

bestpud

Here's my opinion, as that is what it comes down to at the end of the day given there is no clear legislation in place:

I think a mature 14 year old is ok to be left with a 3 year old who is already tucked up in bed, or a three year old for short periods during the day.

However, I do not think a 14 year old should have responsibility for this on a regular basis.

An 11 year old is not old enough to look after a 3 year old imo.

The 14 year old and 11 year old may be ok left together but it depends how mature they are and, more to the point, how well they got on!

A mature 11 year old would be ok on their own, as would a 14 year old, but that is different from being responsible for another child.

silvercar

oystercatcher wrote: »

And would you have known what to do if there was a fire? Or they had a fight and fell downstairs and got injured?
Could you have coped if one of them got vomiting and diahorrea and made a terrible mess?

Maybe you were lucky

Oystercatcher

But I know parents (in their 30s) who would "fail" in this regard.

thatgirlsam

when i was 15 i used to look after my 5 year old brother if my mum went out for the evening , i was responsible enough -
-
my goodness i left home at 16 and had friends having their own babies around that age ... i think it really depends on the young person in question

michellen34

Thanks for the replies everyone,

There is no way I would leave my 11 year old looking after my 3 year old, she is quite mature for her age but I know she wouldn't like to be left in the house by herself anyway and would panic if anything happened to her little brother, my 14 year old is mature for his age but tends to get caught up chatting to his m8's on his xbox easily so I wouldn't leave him in charge either. My worry is if this is what she is telling people, someone might take this as gospel and leave their children alone when they go to work, not good!
I have to go to the job centre on Monday, so think I will mention it to her,

Thanks again for your opinions

Lunar_Eclipse

oystercatcher wrote: »

And would you have known what to do if there was a fire? Or they had a fight and fell downstairs and got injured?
Could you have coped if one of them got vomiting and diahorrea and made a terrible mess? /quote]


Without meaning to be contentious, I would like to think that both of my children would be able to handle those emergencies admirably by the age of 13. In fact, my 9 year old would cope well with it now, she's calm, mature and very practical/logical. All they really need to be taught is to 'call 999' if they cannot get hold of the parents/their own parent.

Whilst I don't necessarily agree with leaving children at a young age, we need to prepare our children for the world they live in, just as our parents did.

I've just remembered that I was left to look after my 3 year old sister once a week when I was 8! We would report to a neighbour at 8pm (too late in itself!) to be walked home, get ready for bed and then she'd leave around 8.10/15pm. I can remember having to put on a brave front for my sister, when in reality she was probably less scared than I was! My parents were out from 6-10pm (on Wednesdays for squash!)

anonymousie

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

oystercatcher wrote: »

And would you have known what to do if there was a fire? Or they had a fight and fell downstairs and got injured?
Could you have coped if one of them got vomiting and diahorrea and made a terrible mess? /quote]


Without meaning to be contentious, I would like to think that both of my children would be able to handle those emergencies admirably by the age of 13. In fact, my 9 year old would cope well with it now, she's calm, mature and very practical/logical. All they really need to be taught is to 'call 999' if they cannot get hold of the parents/their own parent.

Whilst I don't necessarily agree with leaving children at a young age, we need to prepare our children for the world they live in, just as our parents did.

Ditto. My are 15/13/9 now and my 9yr old is the one with the most common sense!! They are left to "babysit themselves" intermittently now for a few hours- but they are all "responsible for themselves" noone is left alone until they can be trusted firstly not to do stooopid things like play with the cooker or kitchen knives and they have had the basic "what to do in an emergency " chat- and when we do this it is generally of the "tell me how you would cope" form rather than me telling them what to do, as I think they them are more likely to work things out in a crisis that isn't the exact senario we have sketched out. I agree with telling them it is OK to call 999 too- for sensible kids need to know actually if you think it is an emergency you should trust your feelings and deal with it- you will probably be right, and if you really thought it was an emergency noone would be mad at you if it turned out no to be.

minimoneysaver

I think we are going to see and hear a lot more about this with the new income support rules. I work and my daughter is in nursery while I work. I wouldn't leave her in a young babysitters care under any circumstances.
I really would question the job centre persons comment.

top_drawer_2

When I was 11 I started babysitting for my sister (newborn) and around 12 I was loaned out to babysit for my Step-dads nieces children; 7 mth, 3yrs, 6 and 8ish every Saturday night while she went out and got p!ssed. She did get robbed one night (a saturday but I wasnt there).

I think it depends very much on the child but be aware that should anything happen you will have to justify why you thought the child was mature enough. Could you honestly live with yourself and say you did what you could to care and protect your kids? I dont think my Mum nor my SD's niece could have if something had happened.

Jen