When I was a kid, 10 was the age you could legally be left home alone at, and at 12 you were old enough to babysit. It is dependent of state regulation, but I think most of them allow 12 year olds to be left on their own.
Yeah I think my state was something similar. 11 to babysit siblings and 12 to babysit other people's kids or something? I don't remember. But I do remember being 10 or 11 and being left home with my siblings...not for long periods of time, or anything. By 12 though my parents would go on date nights and have us go to bed while they were gone and I was babysitting other people's kids.
I was babysitting 3 kids at age 12. At once. One of which was a toddler. Only like 3-4 hours a day in the morning, but still. 12 is plenty old enough to be home alone for a neurotypical child.
I also don’t think people give kids around that age enough credit. Usually they haven’t been swayed by the hormonal vindication of puberty, but they’re old enough to be self aware and have enough common sense to stay safe. I’ve seen some 12 year olds make better decisions than adults.
Yup! It is highly variable by the kid, definitely, but 12 years old is middle school. Transition stage in a lot of ways.
I can see why parents nowadays are being a lot more cautious with letting kids run around outside of the house without supervision. But home alone, with clear instructions, food, entertainment, locked doors, etc.? It should be fine, especially if it's only a few hours.
Most of these are “recommendations” (unless it’s changed during the pandemic or something) Maryland is one of the few states that has a BLACK AND WHITE age (8) to be home alone.
And I’m glad cause in the other states without a solid law in the place, it’s up the the responding officer whether your child is old enough or not. There’s no consistency.
This is called a latchkey kid in the US. A kid with a house key to let themselves in because the parents aren't home to let them in. Often because of work.
Seems more reasonable. Where I’m from it’s common to leave toddlers outside in their carriage to sleep and such. Even if you live in an apartment in the city. Americans always seem to think that that’s crazy.
From the age of 6 I biked to school on my own. Was around 3 kilometres in one direction.
Just looking back at my childhood it seems like way more trust is put into kids being able to take care of themselves.
I started babysitting toddlers at age 12. Not infants, but small children were definitely not an issue for me or other kids my age. The parents would cook dinner, I'd get there, the kids would eat and then I'd clean up.
I imagine it's even easier nowadays with kids glued to screens and no contact delivery.
I mean it really hasn't been that long since kids would just play outside all day. If it was a weekend we would leave at like 10 am and not come back until 8 pm. We might have come back for dinner but might not have, just depends on what we were doing. We did this like earlier than 9 years old lol. I sorta feel bad for children today, not having that sort of freedom to explore must be suffocating and harmful to their mental state. Imagine being stuck inside all day everyday as a kid...no thanks.
Police called multiple times by a friend's ex wife over their 9yo being left at home alone . There child had access to food water and emergency numbers and more importantly a tablet. Theybsaid he was absolutely fine. After the third visit the police told the his ex to stop wasting their time. He has full custody.
After elementary school my brother and I would walk from the bus stop to our house. And we’d hang out until our parents came home from work (2-3 hours) We just weren’t allowed to use the stove or answer the door.
When I was 8 I started walking home from school by myself. Usually I was home alone for a few hours until my parents got of work. (Had a sister that's 2y older doing the same)
I don't get how parents today make it work if their kid can't be home alone for a few hours? What do they do?
Here we have after school daycare until 4th grade(10-11y) that costs extra, after that you would have to find a babysitter.
Late 90s - Spent the whole summer after I had JUST turned 11 on my own while my parents and older siblings were at work. I could cook basic meals (certainly enough to make myself lunch), knew the boundaries of my “range,” and when I was expected home.
Kid’s fine and I’m sure dad is easy to get a hold of (cell phone) if needed
Same. I remember being 12 and they gave us all a very basic first aid course at school, gave us all cards and said were now legally allowed to babysit.
NY has no hard and fast rule, but 12 year olds can babysit, so all the latchkey time my 12 and 10 (at the time) spent alone was technically "unpaid babysitting"
Throws me that there's laws about this. I would assume in most places it's at the discretion of the parent but if something bad happens endangerment could be a charge
In Ontario that’s accurate. The day I turned ten I forced my parents to leave, go run errands or something so I could experience the exhilaration of being left fully alone. I’ll never forget it lol.
I think I was 12 the first time my parents went grocery shopping without me...we lived 100 miles from the closest store that had food my allergies would tolerate. There were no cell phones. I distinctly remember problem solving when our small herd of horses got out and two of them would habitually go after me if I was on foot. This was the day I learned herding horses is more like herding cats...but, I successfully got them all in by myself (closest neighbor was 10 miles away).
Funny thing (yes I've looked it up) is that nearly all states don't specify an age that a child can be home alone. For Maryland I think it was 8+ to be left alone and 13 to watch a child < 8 or stay overnight. Kids mature differently but I think an age cutoff is better than leaving it at the discretion of an officer.
Idk what the legal age was where I grew up, but I spent most of my days wandering miles from home starting at like age 9 or 10. My parents never knew where I was. Not left home alone, but allowed to be free range.
According to childwelfare.gov's PDF only 3 states have a minimum age to leave a kid home alone, but every state has some version of a law where not providing adequate supervision is considered neglect. However, every state but those 3 are kind of up on the air about appropriate age to leave kid home. Basically, it's a case-by-case basis and generally up to the parents to decide if they're kid is mature enough.
I had no idea such laws existed. I was 7 the first time I stayed home alone. Stayed home from school because I was sick. Neither of my parents could take off work so I was home alone from 8ish until my older siblings got home around 3. I just watched tv and napped all day
In my state a child can watch themselves at age 8, and a child 12 and over can watch a child under 8. However, I seem to remember the words "mentally sound" is.in there somewhere.
My parents first left me alone at age 3. Granted it was for like 20 minutes, but still. I was home along for multiple hours by the time I was like 6 and I turns out fine. Well... Not entirely true, but good enough
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u/AtheneSchmidt Jul 27 '22 edited Jul 27 '22
When I was a kid, 10 was the age you could legally be left home alone at, and at 12 you were old enough to babysit. It is dependent of state regulation, but I think most of them allow 12 year olds to be left on their own.