Would you let your 8 year old stay home by herself after school for an hour a day? I know every child is different, just trying to get some thoughts. She is responsible. TIA
I think it is a little too young. She may be very responsible, but there are certain situations that could happen that she may not be able to handle or know how to handle. Every child is different, but I think 12 or 13 is a better age to try staying home alone.
I have to disagree with most of the posts. My dd is now 11 (almost 12) and my ds is 7 (almost 8). When dd was 8 we started leaving her home alone for very short periods of time. I would call constantly to check on her. We would start to extend the time period gradually. The longest we got to was one hour. We did not leave her with ds just because he is a handful. Well, now that she is 11, she babysits her brother all the time. Never for a terribly long time but for 2 to 3 hours while dh and I go have dinner or something. If you feel that you can trust her and make sure you discuss all of the situations, then I would try it. Maybe have a neighbor that you trust keep an eye out and make sure you check on her but I feel that if you think it is ok, it is.
H.
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NOPE:) I have a nine year old, who is the oldest of 5, and very responsible, but I would still never leave her alone. While 99% of the time things would likely be fine, I would never forgive myself for even the smallest chance of something going wrong. I dont think they have the judgement to know how to handle situations that are out of the ordinary. One example I always give is that if she were home alone and a man in a police uniform knocked on the door, chances are she will open it. However, we all know he may not really be an officer, but to a young child, he is an authority figure and they cant imagine a police officer doing them any harm. They dont know enough about how bad things can really be (nor should they) to use good judgement. Obviously, that is my opinion, but I dont think they should be alone for several years to come. ~A.~
I agree with both of your previous posts. 8 is too young and I personally feel any child under the age of 15 should be left with a sitter if possible. I have a very responsible (almost) 8 yr old that actually asks us if she can just be left home alone sometimes when we need to run errands and it would NEVER EVER happen.......so while it may be convenient for you to let her stay home alone for the hour, in no way is it 100% safe so I would make different arrangements if you can. Take care!
i barely leave my almost 12 yr old boy alone for 30 minutes to an hour solo or with little brother. no, 8 is too young.
I can see the temptation there because it's just an hour a day, but an hour is a long time for anything that may come up out of the ordinary routine. I was a very responsible kid, but was 12 before I was allowed to stay home a couple hours, and I'd stick with that. I'm sure there's someone in your neighborhood that could keep an eye on her one hour a day.
I agree with the other posters... 8 is too young for any "situation" that may come up. No matter how much you tell her not to answer the phone or door, if she sees someone she knows, she may answer anyway (and we know that statistically, most child molesters are people kids know). Also, people are bound to find out that she's home alone, whether they see her walking home by herself, or just hear from a friend of a friend.
In addition, you never know what might happen. As an adult, I've had situations that I've had to react to, that a child might not know what to do (house was hit by lightening, water pipe broke, light switch shorted out and started smoking, neighbor hit and demolished brick mailbox, etc.) - all things that could happen to your daughter while she was home alone.
As the other posters mentioned, chances are that 99% of the time things would be fine, but you can never foresee what might go wrong and prepare her or every contingency. At 8 they simply don't know how to make those quick, emergency decisions (that adults sometimes struggle with). I'd wait until she was 12.
I'm obviously more lenient than some of the other moms who answered. My DD's only 2, so I'm going from my own experience as a child. I was a very responsible kid, and when I was 6 I would come off the school bus and be home by myself for 10 minutes until my M. got home from getting my sister at preschool. At 10 and 12, my sister and I started being home alone from when we got off the school bus until my M. got home from work at 5:15. I started working as a mother's helper at 11, babysitting on my own at 12. When my sister and I were younger and stayed home by ourselves, there was always a next door or across the street neighbor at home that we knew we could call on for any thing--even opening pickle jars (seriously!). We also knew to NEVER EVER open the door for anyone we didn't know, regardless of who they said they were, and never ever tell anyone on the phone that our parents weren't home--they were always in the bathroom! So I think it depends a lot on the kids, the neighborhood, and the support structures you have around you.
