10Yr. Old Wants to Stay Home by Her Self

A 10 yr old??? I would say NO WAY...people are crazy these days and there is no one better to protect our children than us parents! If you feel you "have" to leave her so you can get a job, then hire a high school senior or a young college student to stay with her. Someone at least 17 or older who has a better sense of how to run a house safely. You can probably find someone for $20-30 a day to stay with her. Alarm or no alarm, 10 is too young!

T.,

It's my understanding that Texas doesn't have a legal minimum age posted but they do post guidelines for when it's too early to leave children - especially all day.

Here's an article for you that shows the ages state by state, and a link to the agency that posts the guidelines.
http://www.latchkey-kids.com/latchkey-kids-age-limits.htm

I believe that each child is different and the age at which you'd be able to safely leave them is different; however, I think 10 is too young for anyone. That's a lot of responsibility for a 10 year old.
Good luck with your decision.

off hand, i'd say she's too young and there may be a law that says that too. i'm not sure. but i can say it depends on the kid. my nearing 12 yr old is nowhere ready to stay home solo, but others that i know are. i would think to take it in baby steps. try her alone for an hour, during a trip to the grocery store for example. let her walk home from school one day half way, then all the way. build it up till it is reasonable and she knows how to deal with responsibility.

I think 10 is too young also. Maybe you could get some kind of assistant job in the school so you could be off when she is off.
Lonie

No way would I let my 10 year old daughter stay home by herself for 8 or more hours a day. I might let my 10 year old stay home alone for a few minutes while I went to get gasoline or something, but a full work day alone is not a good idea. If you can wait until school starts to go to work, you should do that. You yourself said you don't want to leave her by herself. Keep listening to that voice. : )

T.,
I would agree with the other mothers, if you don't HAVE to I wouldn't let her stay at home by herself all day. I'd just wait until she goes to school to find a job. It sounds more like you don't NEED to work, so enjoy the summer with both kids...

yes, safety is a big issue here! But also ... that's a long time to be home alone. Wouldn't she get bored all summer long?!? I mean, yeah it might be exciting the first week, but the novelty will wear off. trust me, i remember my mom working and the summers were so boring if she didn't plan things for me to do.

The YMCA has GREAT summer daylong camps - like 7 am to 6 pm or something like that... for different age groups and they take them to places or they have different activities for them to do .... swimming, archery, sports. Contact your local YMCA - i'm not sure where you live... here's the one in plano...
http://www.planoymca.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=Page&Pa...

Your city parks and recreation dept probably has some great day camps too.

We have a 14 yr old daughter and we would not leave her home alone 8+ hours. Our daughter is very responsible and mature but we feel that 8 hours is too long. She stays home alone sometimes but not more than 4 hours.

I think 8 hours is a LONG day for an inquisitive child to be spending home alone.

I know people do it. I let my daughter visit a friend last summer thinking mom was there and later in the day I found out they were alone. Now, both kids are good kids and responsible but still....

I will leave my daughter home alone but it is usually not for more than 2-4 hours. She loves being home alone and I am glad she feels independent about it but I do limit the time.

As for security, we do have an alarm system and protective dogs. My daughter sleeps very soundly and will sleep until almost noon. I know from experience, if I am in the back part of my house, I do not hear someone at the door. I rely on my dogs to alert me....which they are VERY good at. Summertime is also a higher crime time (even small crime) because there are some bored teens who want to have fun at someone else's expense.

Bottom line....everyone is different and you just have to do what is right for your family.

A couple of hours would be fine, but a full day is too long. Do you have a job lined up or are you looking? If you have a job lined up, perhaps they will work with you to put together some sort of flex-time job that works for your family. If you're still looking, it may take a while to find something and it might just work out that you find what you're looking for by the time school starts again. I would look now with the stipulation that you need flex time or will start in August. Good luck!