What age can children be legally left...?

tobyjug

Thank you for all your thoughts.

I think that a few dinners around at our house will help to keep a bit of a watchful eye but also find out the facts.

It certainly helps to share some things doesn't it?

jellyhead

our school lets children from year 3 walk home alone, ages 7 and 8. there's nothing they can do if no parent comes to pick up a child. some year 3 kids walk home alone, most don't. lots of them probably would be walking alone if their parents weren't already in the playground to pick up younger kids.

mine's in year 4, i suggested he could walk alone and he was horrified. mind you there have been some flasher and kerb crawling incidents recently and a 9 year old kid was almost kidnapped last year coming home from school but he managed to fight the man off. not all at our school but the police always come in to talk to primary school kids when something has happened in the town. the flasher was actually in my street, i only found out because the childrens mother told me. she'd decided her year 5 and year 6 girls were old enough to walk to school alone. no roads to cross and they have to go to high school alone in year 7 anyhow.

i still think 8 is young to go to an emply house though, poor kid. mind you there are a couple of kids in our street (most kids play out on the street all day) who find their house empty and come asking me for food/drink/toilet because their mother went out without them knowing. i know a friend actually called the police and social services when she found a 7 year old crying asking to use her toilet and desperate for a drink, her mother was nowhere to be seen. nothing really was done.

Spendless

Our school is a seperate infant/junior. You have to pick them up in infant school but not in junior (year 3 ). A few years ago under a differnet head they just let the infants out into playground too and didn't check if anyone was there to meet them.

I know cos i picked friends kids up from school without school being informed (i didn't have kids at time - so didn't realise what a bad idea this was), friend had had to go off at last minute to sort something out.

My own son who is 4 (and i've previously posted what a livewire he is!) asked if he could start walking home by himself when he was in nursery!! I live only 2 minutes away from school but you have to cross a road to get to it. The road is only a side road but very busy with cars at school time and there is no lollipop lady or crossing.

I have to take son into his classroom too in a morning- one day he went in door as i was taking his siter out of pushchair and i overheard the head asking him where i was.

I babysat at an early age as per a previous post but i was always responsible, i know older teenagers who i wouldn't leave in charge of a goldfish!

Keep us posted Tobyjug.

Glad

8 is definitely too young to be left alone or to be going home to an empty house poor thing,
what's also worrying is mariauk saying "...........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."
does that mean he is alone when she goes out to work or alone all night??

a lot does depend on the children and their maturity level, mine are 12 and 11 and for the last 12 months I've left them at home if going on quick trip to supermarket etc only in daytime though and they have to txt my mobile every 10 mins

daveboy

I've always held the belief that 13 or 14 is acceptable, any younger than that and I wouldn't leave them alone.

I am 24 and childless at the moment, so it'll be a while before I come across this one personally.

jellyhead

i was 14 when mum got a job in a pub and left us at home. the youngest was 4. mind you even older kids aren't always responsible enough to look after younger siblings. last year in our town a teen was looking after an 11 year old and decided to take her to a party. they got drunk and the 11 year old got locked in a room with a boy 'for a laugh' result - pregnant primary school kid. she started high school 8 months pregnant and will never escape the stigma. mind you if you know your own kids you'll know how responsible they are and if they can be trusted.

i think at 11 i'd have been fine alone in the house - looking after younger kids caused more of a problem though.

Glad

thats a sad story jellyhead, I'll bet that mother never forgives herself

Edinburghlass_2

My daughter is 14 and while quite a sensible child and able to be left alone herself for short times I wouldn't like to see her babysit for someone else. Personally I would be too worried that in a crisis she made the wrong decision.

She does often look after younger children when they are outside in the summer but then if she wants to come in for the toilet say, she doesn't always remember that meantime she has left the smaller one for even a short time.

Bennifred

I agree with the above posters that a child of 8 is way too young to be home alone - how sad. I would leave my 12 year old whilst I nipped out to collect other child or to pick up papers but not for longer than that. I do leave him with his (very sensible) 15 year old brother for a couple of hours, but I'd think twice about leaving him with his (not-so-sensible) 17 year old brother!! I guess you just have to know your kids..... and carry a mobile phone!

sunflower_2

this is a really scary topic

my son is 8 and i wouldnt dream of leaving him in the house alone - it makes me so sad to even think about it

sometimes on a morning if i am running late i park outside the school and let him get out of the car and run in.
the doors are open and even though i can see him enter the school - i still feel like a bad mother

when i was about 7 i used to walk to school on my own (it wasnt far but there were a few roads to cross).
maybe i have gone to the other extreme...

i do try giving him a bit of independence - like when he gets up at 7 on a sunday morning i just let him go down and watch tv on his own out of the goodness of my heart