What age can children be legally left...?

tobyjug

Does anybody know the recommended ages to leave a child at home alone.
Are there any good websites for guidelines about babysitting ages etc, have done a basic search but have found very little...

Any help would be appreciated...thanks

Sarahsaver

i think (will have to check) its 11 purely because thats the age when they start secondary school. I would not have anyone under 18 babysit my kids, except the daughter of a friend who is 14 and VERY trustworthy.

trafalgar_2

http://www.childrenslawcentre.org/babysit.htm

Guidelines on babysitting

tha nspcc recommends that babysitters should be 16 or above and anyone under sixteen cannot be charged with neglect or ill-treatment of a child left in their care.


I believe it is illegal for a child under 13 to take part-time work which is what babysitting technically is ,but it is recommended the age be 16 for young children.

jellyhead

at 13 i babysat regularly for neighbours and friends and was paid for it. the youngest child was 4 though, no babies. i looked after my brothers and sisters though, perhaps from 11 onwards. i know that i was alone in the house with my brother when he was under 1, so i would have been 11 when he was injured because i sat him on the kitchen worktop (how stupid ?!) while i made a sandwich. he fell off the worktop onto the tiled floor. his head needed stitching and he still has a scar on his chin but i don't know how he managed to get that while falling. i was chopping bread with a butchers knife (how dumb was that?!) at the time and sliced the end of my thumb off when i turned to see if he was okay so we were both in casualty for a few hours. mum must have been doing something with the other 2 kids, i was the eldest but am pretty scatty, hence all the stupid things i did that afternoon! it didn't happen often while i was 11, maybe mum realised it was a bad idea after that incident lol! we were very close to our neighbours though, always in each others houses so mum knew if i needed them i only had to bang on the wall and they'd come round.

at 14 i was babysitting my brothers and sisters while mum worked in a pub at night. i think there's a big difference between 11 and 14 though, and while an 11 year old as daft as me couldn't safely look after a baby (i did all the feeding, changing and sterilising though) i could have looked after myself perfectly well.

tobyjug

what are everyones thoughts on a child being left alone at home though, I know every child is different...

Is there a stated legal age?

trafalgar_2

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/home/needadvice/childrenathomealone.htm


"There is no law that states the minimum age that a child can be left alone. However, it is an offence to leave a child alone when doing so puts him or her at risk. "


It all depends on the childs age ,maturity ,how long and where.


I have never left my children alone under 16 or at least until one was 16 and the others were above 8.

trafalgar_2

tobyjug wrote:

what are everyones thoughts on a child being left alone at home though, I know every child is different...

Is there a stated legal age?

Are you worried about a child that is being left alone tobyjug

tobyjug

I have an 8 year old whose friend walks home by himself to an empty house its 2 roads away from the school and I dont think anyones in when he gets home because my son says he has his own key....

He seems so young so just wondered if there were any rules out there???

Also because of this my son is using this as leverage when I go into the supermarket, corner shop etc and he wants to stay at home "because ----does"

I cant imagine leaving him at the moment or am I being over cautious!!

Sofa_Sogood

Eight is far too young for a child to be left alone. So no, you're not being over-cautious. The other little boys mother must be putting that child at some risk if he has roads to cross? Let alone just being left on his own as a latchkey kid.

What's up with some people?

mariauk

Hi every one

My son is 11 and I know he wouldn`t feel right being left for a long period of time. I have been to the shop at the end of the road and within 10 minutes he had rang my mobile and asked how long I would be. Saying that a friend of mine works nights and if her eldest son isn`t at home, her 11 year old stays at home with the Dogs and seems to be very happy with the situation. ( I think it bothers me more than it does him) I also have a 14 year old daughter who is very sensible but god forbid if I ever left them at home alone for more than 10 minutes. I would come home to find the murder squad in the living room :rolleyes: I think it depends on the child, but I agree a child of 8 shouldn`t be alone, especially after a day at school. It makes me sad just thinking about it

jellyhead

8 is far too young, poor kid :-(

after school's bad too, nobody would know if the child didn't make it home from school, or even if he didn't make it to school in the morning! at our school some 8 year olds walk home alone (but not to an empty house) but are in the minority. is it even legal to be a latchkey kid at 8?

if you do decide your son would be okay at home while you nipped to the corner shop it's best to ensure he knows that if there's fire etc. he has to get out of the house rather than cowering under his bed, whether he should answer the phone or door, which neighbours doors he can knock on if he needs help, phone numbers for grandma etc. if you haven't arrived home again before scooby doo finishes, etc. etc. - you never know you could get mugged or run over and your kid would be in the house alone for however long it would take before somebody else came home/called round. would he feed himself, call someone when he got hungry?

i'd drag my son along with me to the corner shop (in case he's as dopey and accident prone as i was when i was a kid!) but might have a rethink when he's 9 maybe. i know all the other kids his age play outside on the street and never know if their parents are home or not but it doesn't seem right to me, besides which the home can be quite dangerous.