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He is rewarded or disciplined, depending on his actions. He knows how to contact us as we have taught him proper manners for using the phone. I say make the kids responsible for something if they wake up and help develop their maturity. With some exceptions, the law leaves the question of kids home alone largely to be answered by parents, who will hopefully make smart choices for their children. Every parent eventually faces the decision to leave his or her child home alone for the first time.

This talk of “can you trust you neighbours not to snitch” is really disheartening and eerily reminiscent of other eras. I know, thanks to the stories shared here, that it’s sometimes a “necessary” precaution, but I’m convinced those people are the loud minority. I think, depending of course on the maturity of your individual children, kids who are 7 and 9 should be more than capable of staying alone for an hour. Especially if you’re so close by and they know how to find you. Seven and nine can be perfectly responsible ages to be left alone, and with all the alarms and neighbors, it sounds like a reasonable idea. To me it also makes a difference that there are two of them — as I see it, a much safer situation than one alone.
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(Yes, she is on the ground floor and we sleep with the windows open – it saves energy to cool the house.) The difference is where she is in her sleep cycle. I live in a suburban area with many at-home moms whose schedules are dominated by driving the kids to and from school and activities. Think of all the thousands of cars we could free up from the roads if some of those trips were done by kids getting from point A to point B on their own. You know, the way we all did for decades until CNN hit the airwaves. I owe it to my wife and my self, and I don’t apologize for it. Let other people consider it a badge of honor to look like a hag or get a beer gut because they’re totally into nothing but the kids 100% to the exclusion of an actual adult life.
The only problem was the 2 year old woke up from her nap hungry and my kitchen was a mess when I got home as my 8 year old KNEW that you don’t leave littles hungry. By “safer” I don’t mean in any emotional sense, although there are a lot of emotional arguments to be made for allowing kids some freedom and independence. Kidnappings, chokings, and fires are all very, very rare. Car accidents–that kill innocent children, within just a few miles of home–are comparatively much more common and much more likely.
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While I’d be comfortable leaving my 7 year old briefly while awake, I wouldn’t consider doing so while she sleeps — like most children, she sleeps through the smoke alarm. I think leaving them home for an hour at the ages you listed is fine. In general I wouldn’t leave someone under 5 home alone for any time frame on the other hand sometimes things come up and you find it necessary to push your safe zone.

Therefore, if you are planning to leave your child home alone you need to ensure that it is legal to do so. There are guidelines determined by each state to help avoid any safety concerns once leaving your child home alone. Every state in the United States has laws that make leaving a child home alone without supervision illegal. There are several factors that determine when leaving a child home alone is illegal.
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Not only can a neighbor be a good resource in the event of an emergency, it can help alleviate potential calls to child protective services by unaware neighbors. Yes, it is essential to have the assistance of an experienced criminal lawyer if you are facing any charges related to child abandonment or leaving your child home alone. An attorney can review your case, advise you of your rights, and represent you in court, if necessary.
Plus they get access to both TVs so there is less fighting, lol. I believe in the free-range ideas, but practicing them is harder. But one rainy morning I was reluctant to pack up the whole family to take husband to work. (He works 3 miles from our house and usually bikes in.) So after practicing the phone rules and discussing door rules, I left them home alone for the 15 minute trip.
When I was young in the late 70’s my dad left both my brother home every morning around 5 or 6am while he drove my mum to work. Trust them and they will live up to that trust. My now 9 year old son has been staying home alone since he was 5. I would leave him at home, run to the store with cell phone in hand and my number on the speed dial.
If you are that selfish and immature, you should have waited to have kids. I know it is hard lugging kids around in the car , but people -WAKE UP! Like one other poster said, you could be in an accident and the children would be at home alone for who knows how long. At ages 7 and 9, they should be capable of being at home without supervision for an hour. It sounds like they’re prepared and know what to do if any unlikely and unexpected things happen.
There were very clear expectations of conduct while I was gone. They had chores to do or, if no chores, they could play, upstairs with no rough-housing (yeah, right!) with the admonition against coming to the door or any of that. As for my kids, when I am gardening, or working on fencing or animals or something, it may be an hour or two before I check on them.
In the ACT, Care and Protection can remove children from situations where their immediate safety is in danger, and there is no responsible adult or guardian present. In Victoria, the penalty for leaving children unattended is a fine of 25 penalty units, imprisonment for six months, or both. According to the 1900 Crimes Act, parents can be charged in Canberra with an offence if children are left in a dangerous situation and are not fed, clothed or provided with accommodation. Care.com does not employ any caregiver and is not responsible for the conduct of any user of our site. All information in member profiles, job posts, applications, and messages is created by users of our site and not generated or verified by Care.com.
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