when would you leave a child home on there own

[tammerisk]

one of my parents and me were having a convisation the other day about when a child is old enough to leave at home one there own

she works 9 til 4 and in the school holidays they come to me they are 7 and 8

she says that the law says 12 they can be left on there own
i said will acording to the social worker i talked to a few years ago there is no lawto say how old it is when you feel the child is mature enough and you also have to consider if the child knows what to do if you don't return and if there is an emergancy would they know how to handle it e,g fire brack in e.c.t.

so i take it she will be leaving them at home when they reach 12 while she is at work all day.

i would not dream of leaving my daughter who is 10 now at home all day when she is 12 i have left her for an hour but i locked her in (she can get out of the back and down the ally if a fire.)

just wondered when you would leave your child on there own and if parents have aproched you with this

[Hebs]

my daughter is 12 and yes i'd happily leave her at home BUT she is sensible and my neighbours would always help her if she needed it

she locks the doors when she is home alone but leaves the key by the door in case she needs it

before i was childminding she had to come home by herself as i used to work late, she would be alone for up to 3 hours each night, she would just slob out infront of the tv :thumbsup:

i have also left her with mark for short periods (5/10 mins while i nip to the shops) but no longer :laughing:

[Pedagog]

That's right there is no law on the age at which a child can be left. However if reported to social services they can make the decision that you are neglecting the children.

My own children are now DS 17, DD 15, DD 11 and DS 9, my eldest was not left home alone till 16, second eldest is occasionally allowed to be home alone for up to an hour. Younger two have in an emergency been at home alone with one of the older ones. It's not my children I don't trust, its their friends.

[ORKSIE]

It is true, there is no law!! Find this quite profound:panic:
I left mt DS when he was 13 but only for a couple of hours, while i went shopping, he hates shopping :(
My DH and I went out last Saturday for a meal and a drink for the first time in years, left DS and DD at home, they are now 15 and 17. Had to ring after a couple of hours to see if they were ok :blush:

[carebear25]

I always thought it was 14.

My step son is 12 wil b 13 in sept, am happy 2 leave him 4 half an hour or so but not al day even though i know he will just play on xbox an not move even 2 make him self sum lunch.

[sonia ann]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Yourchildssafetyinthehome/DG_070594

see this link:)

also good safety advice at bottom of page

[FussyElmo]

The reason there is no set age is because of the maturity of the children. One very mature 11 year could put some childish 14 year olds to shame but it is true that social services can still investigate you.

There was a thing on bbc news last year about it.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7501031.stm.

My eldest dd is 9 and she could quite easily look after herself not she will ever be allowed to till shes at least 21:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

[Hebs]

thats SO true

my daughter is very mature for her age, yet my friends daughter is 14 and can't be trusted AT ALL :thumbsup:

[FizzysFriends]

My parents were reported for leaving me and my brother at home, they didn't do anything though (we were very capeable of looking after ourselves). They said until we are 14 if anything that happened to us (such as us setting fire to the house) my parents could be done for neglect/poor supervision.

[Megan]

One of my parents is a Child Protection Officer in the met and she says: There is no age for a child to be either left alone or babysitting, should anything happen then the law could prove that they were not old enough (mentally) to be left or in charge of another sibling.

Personally my own children were not left more than an hour until they were 15/16.

Megan

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I thought the same as you when my daughter was 10 BUT they mature very quickly once they move on to secondary school. My daughter is 13 next month and I have no problems with leaving her at home - could be up to 4 hours sometimes with the doors locked and she will answer the phone.

I don't like leaving her at night and her brother stays in if we go out.

Trust will come into it when you get this far - it does seem unreasonable at the moment but you will understand when she is ready

[tammerisk]

thanks for your replys i personaly think my daughter is to imature as i keep her quite young in bringing her up as i wanted her to be a child for as long as poss but now i see that sometimes that makes it very hard for her with her friend as she can understand the way they behave or the things they talk about.

but i don't know she is very scared of groups of 2 or more children even if they are her own age so i not sure how she is going to cope with catching a bus to secondry school in sept 2010.

i don't want her to grow up it is so scary for me let alone her

[Chatterbox Childcare]

It will all fall into place, including confidence in herself when she moves up to "big school"

Don't worry for now it is a while away

[Megan]

I have a very very cautious 10 year old grandchild who wouldn't be out of our sight, then about 3mths ago he started to look for his independence, however he wanted to run before he could walk lol. We started being in Town with him and sending him off on errands and arranging to meet him 15 mins later.

He loves doing his little jobs but the urge to 'fly the nest' has gone lol

Megan

[Hebs]

It will all fall into place, including confidence in herself when she moves up to "big school"

Don't worry for now it is a while away

i couldn't agree more Debbie, my very young innocent immature little girl turned into a mature young lady in what seemed overnight once she started the "big school"

i would NEVER leave them overnight or leave them alone at night, but day time it's fine IMO

:thumbsup:

[mushpea]

my daughter is 10 and has just started playing out with her mates, but i still wont leave her at home on her own for any length of time, our garage is in a block and i might pop to that and leave her for 5mins whilst i fight with the junk in the garage and the other day she came home from school early as she had a stomache and headache so l left her on the sofa for 10 mins whilst i grabbed the others from school, she had her mobile with her and she wasnt acutaly ill it was her 'time of the month' but as for leaving her for any longer i wuldnt feel confident doing that yet which is silly really cause i am happy to let her go out with her mates on her own for a couple of hours??