Our son was about 10 when we started leaving him home alone whilst we drop off at rail station or pop to bakery…normally about 20 mins tops. The younger sister (7) still comes with us.

At the same age, we also started sending him to local corner shop for milk etc…5 minute walk, well at our pace, his pace is a fair bit slower

Left my 1 yo lad alone for half an hour in the flat when I locked myself out once 🙁

tbh I think I’d be OK leaving the bairns alone to shoot over to the shops now, for 5 mins say, and they’re 4 1/2 and 1 1/2. If they were happy playing say.

I suppose the small risk is that something happens to you when you’re out and the anticipated 5 mins turns into half an hour or something.

Mork & Mindy kept me safe 8)

anyway just remember it was all much safer back in the 70/80’s with all those TV presenters looking after everybody….

Makes you shudder when you think what your parents allowed in the 70/early 80’s compared to now.

Makes me shudder when I think how over-protective we are now!

We leave our 8yr old alone when doing 20min trips picking her sister up from ballet or whatever, she’s pretty sensible but I wouldn’t want to leave her for much longer than that. When said sister (12) is with her we’re happy going out for a meal to a local restaurant. The 12yr old has been left alone at home all morning at times, too.

Both of them get sent to the local shop for bread/paper if needed.

anyway just remember it was all much safer back in the 70/80’s with all those TV presenters looking after everybody….

We had TV Government ads warning about talking to strangers, we had constant lectures about men offering sweets, want to see some puppies? etc didn’t we.

There have always been paedo’s out there. All you have to do is spot if your kid is a bit ‘unworldly’ then not let them out.

For some reason my parents thought it was OK for me to walk the mile and a half to school ,including crossing a main road, at 10 but felt the need to give me a baby sitter until I was 14 – worst one was having a 14 year old baby sitter when I was 12.

hora – Member
When I was 6 I used to disapear out on my bike. I rode from Hudds to Brighouse and back knocking on two doors for a glass of water.

Makes you shudder when you think what your parents allowed in the 70/early 80’s compared to now.

POSTED 3 HOURS AGO #

Sounds familiar, thirst was always a problem when out wandering, drank from a cows trough once, my biggest worry now for my kids are the nutters on the roads.

I’ve been run over twice. A Triumph Dolomite and an Allegro.

I’ve been run over twice. A Triumph Dolomite and an Allegro.

both cars escaped unharmed.

I bet the Allegro came off worse ( no offence intended)

A couple of weeks ago we left our (just) 8 year old son for 10 minutes when I had to take Mrscarlos to work , he was full of cold and feeling really crap.He’s a sensible lad anyway and has inherited brains from somewhere that neither of us can work out.

From the age of about 7 I walked the 1/2 mile to school and back everyday but only had 1 minor road to cross at the end of the cul-de-sac we lived in.Leaving my sister and I alone when I was about 9 and she was 7 did backfire on my parents once ,an ashtray had been emptied into the kitchen bin the previous night and caught fire when they went shopping the next day.I called the fire brigade and they got home to my sister and me playing in the fire engine while the fireman were putting the fire out.

mudshark – Member
worst one was having a 14 year old baby sitter when I was 12.

(hand up smilie) me too, even worse depending on your moral stance the same girl was babysitting me when she was 15 and used to bring her mates round and a bottle of cider or 2. Her friends were errm, VERY friendly after a few ciders……………. 😉

It’s not about the age, its about the kid.

This. And it’s how the law works too.

Makes me shudder when I think how over-protective we are now!

+1

The risk of something happening is minuscule compared with the perceived risk.

Three kids 18,15,9 yr old, wouldnt dream of leaving 9 yr old at home alone and also there is no way he would want leaving, would love to know where everyone is going that they cant say stick your coat on we are nipping out for 20 mins!!! as for Garry Lager got to be a troll!!!

wouldnt dream of leaving 9 yr old at home alone and also there is no way he would want leaving, would love to know where everyone is going that they cant say stick your coat on we are nipping out for 20 mins!!!

Yeah, could do that with my 8 year old. But why should I? If it’s raining, and she’s doing her homework… why make her come along? She’s pretty sensible, the worst that’s going to happen is she’ll steal all the biscuits…

As others have said: it depends on the kid.

……Choke on the biscuit with you not there to help her , you get run over, have heart attack in the st, can`t tell anyone that there is an 8 yr old left home alone ……the list is endless, thankfully 99 % of the time nothing will happen but that 1% of the time… fine if you could live with yourself, just think its easier and safer to take them with you. only my opinion!!

……Choke on the biscuit with you not there to help her

But look what happened to George Bush – he almost died choking on a pretzel. If you’re going to go down that route, you’d never let your child out of your sight until you die.

Ours is almost 3 – she gets left in the car when paying for petrol, left in the house while taking the recycling out, left playing quietly in her room for an hour.

She is a very self-composed and sensible child, though – never showed any inclination to put finders in wall sockets, drink bleach, stuff like that.

……Choke on the biscuit with you not there to help her , you get run over, have heart attack in the st, can`t tell anyone that there is an 8 yr old left home alone ……the list is endless, thankfully 99 % of the time nothing will happen but that 1% of the time… fine if you could live with yourself, just think its easier and safer to take them with you. only my opinion!!

Well, yeah, but all that could happen to my 12 year old, too. Perhaps I shouldn’t leave her on her own, either? At some point you have to let them grow up, perhaps your kid isn’t ready yet. But trying to protect them from every eventuality is futile, and in the long run impossible.

Both girls know my phone number, their mother’s number, and are quite capable of opening the door and calling on a neighbour if the worst really did happen.

So I’ve just mentioned to the mrs I could go with her on a couple of runs whilst she’s “training” for her 10k, it was met with a resolute NO! The only way we can do it is if the kids ride with us on their bikes!

At 11, I looked after my younger siblings (aged 8, 6 and 2) for a week, while my mum was in hospital. No-one thought twice about it . . . 🙄

When I was 11 back in the 80’s I had my own key to the house and often would be home alone after school for a few hours before my parents came home from work. Nobody thought twice about it (others in my street did exactly the same). Seems nowadays that it has gone completely overboard with the protecting children. My oldest son is 11 now and I have no qualms about leaving him alone in the house for an hour or two. He’s got a pretty sensible head on his shoulders.

I have an acquaintance here who is a single mother and a home nurse who often left her daughter alone from the age of 6 while she did night work. I am not condoning her actions but the daughter is still here and is a very intelligent and self sufficient 15 year old now.