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Parents' Guides
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Leaving Older Children At Home Alone
When is a child old enough to be left at home alone? Can you leave older children at home during the school holidays? The answers to these questions really come down to your own discretion as the child's parent but there are many things to consider, and such a decision should not be made lightly.
You can check with your state's Department of Social Services to see if there is a legal age at which children can be left alone.
Child's MaturityAlthough some social service departments will be able to give you a minimum age for a child to legally be left alone, a lot will not as there are too many other variable to be considered. First of all is the child's maturity. Each child progresses at a different pace and just because a child reaches a certain age, does not mean they have the maturity to be left unsupervised. And the same can be said for a child that is beyond their years in maturity. If you, as their parent, believe they are mature enough, why should they not be able to stay at home just because of an age requirement that is set to fit a broad spectrum of people? Even though a child may meet a legal age requirement and may have the maturity, it isn't advisable that the child care for younger siblings.
External InfluencesChildren and teenagers have so many things that influence them outside of the family unit and belief system and they are highly impressionable so it is always a good idea to remember that when considering whether to leave them unattended. Your child may be the well behaved, straight 'A' student, completely trustworthy child. However, all that could go out the window when your model child is faced with unsupervised freedom. They may go completely AWOL and throw a big party and trash the house after crumbling to the pressure of friends, or it may be something as simple as surfing the web and getting mixed up in undesirable sites. The point is, if you're not present, you won't know and you lose one of the levels of protection we have to protect our children from the world and themselves.
Safety IssuesThere are also safety issues to consider. What if your unsupervised child is injured? While it's true that at some point we have to let our children out into the big wide world, it is also true that it is our job as parents to protect them until they are at an age that they are capable of doing that for themselves. And yes, chances are that if you consider your child old and mature enough to be at home alone then surely they are able to use the telephone to call for help if they are in trouble, but what if they are unable to? Leaving children at home alone for extended periods of time relies on your judgement as a parent. You know your children better than anyone else, you know their maturity and capability levels but ensure you consider all the possibilities before you make a decision.
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Last Updated on Friday, 03 April 2009 00:10 |
