by Elizabeth Wordsmith

Created on: January 27, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Deciding when to allow your children to stay home alone:

How often have we heard of some tragedy happening due to a child left home alone? Making the decision to entrust this responsibility to your children is a serious one with unknown consequences. Parents need to evaluate both the child's maturity level and trustworthiness, and the environmental risk factors of the home and neighborhood.

Among the numerous questions a parent should answer before making this decision are:

1. Do you have a neighbor who is willing to check in on your children? This can give you some peace of mind, especially the first few times you leave your child home alone.

2. How accessible are you by cell phone and how soon could you get home if there is an emergency? When a child is first becoming adjusted to this responsibility, minor things may seem major. They need the added sense of security knowing their parent is just a phone call or minutes away.

3. What inherent hazards are there in your home such as a swimming pool or high traffic areas surrounding your home? Do a survey and put hazardous materials and belongings under lock and key. If you have a pool, make sure you've talked about water safety and what the rules are while you are away. Address each risk and have rules and systems in place for dealing with them.

4. Do you have a security alarm and good locks? In addition to these precautions, discuss how your child should handle unknown visitors and phone calls.

5. How well behaved are your children for sitters? When your children are responsibly behaved for a sitter, they are more likely to give you less trouble when left alone.

6. Have you trained them for this responsibility? They need to know what to do in case of various emergencies: how to provide emergency first aid for minor injuries, how to use a fire extinguisher, how to call 911 in case of emergency, and so forth. If they are in charge of any siblings, they also need to be able to manage the younger children.

7. Have you thought through various scenarios and made a thorough list of rules? This might include such things as who is allowed in the house, whether or not the computer may be used during your absence, whether or not your child is allowed to use the stove or microwave, and so forth.

When it comes to the safety of our children, leave no stone unturned. The unexpected events seem to occur more frequently when we haven't planned for them.

Having raised four children, I have made my fair share of mistakes. The first was to

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