by Sarah Bammel

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: November 29, 2010

Deciding when a child is well behaved enough to stay home alone for any given amount of time is a tough decision for any parent. Parents always worry about their children and the children always think the worrying is unnecessary. It’s just the way things are, because children are always rebelling against their parents.

In caveman days children would not be children as long as they are in today’s society. Children today know little about responsibility, and everything about play. Society takes its toll on children with both parents working, or now with one or both parents being laid off and trying to find jobs; children are left with a sitter or at daycare. But when can you cut the expense of daycare or sitters and leave your child home alone?

No matter how old you are there is always the possibility of danger of some magnitude just around the corner. Even an adult could accidentally start a fire while cooking, or slip in the tub and be seriously hurt. The difference is an adult knows how to handle the situation, put a pot lid on the fire, or have your cell phone within reach when taking a shower alone and call for help.

When to leave a child home alone depends on the child. When spending time with your children you can get a feel for how responsible they are, and while doing activities like cooking you can ask and test their knowledge making sure they know what to do in the event something goes wrong.

You can test your child to see how they do while you go to a neighbors for an hour. Or invest in hidden cameras so you will know what is going on at home and what kinds of messes are being made or if homework is being done. With the added bonus of surprise check ins, which may help give subtle motivation for the children to behave themselves while the grown ups are away.

Children should probably be at least 12 or 13 years old before a parent considers leaving them alone. By this age, what to do in the event something goes wrong should have been drilled into their head so to speak. The final decision though remains with the parent or parents. Only the parent could know if their child is ready to be home alone for a few minutes, or a few hours.

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