Would you ever leave a 15 yo home overnight?

Think it's fine if she's sensible and knows who to contact in an emergency

Surely most emergencies are call 999, call the grid… call mum.

Not that much explaining to do. Fire out 999, break in get out call 999. Trapped under a unit shout to Alexa to call 999 and to then call me. First aid cupboard is where it’s always been and let me know. Smell gas out and call the grid and me. Water leak the stop cock is in the cupboard under the air fryer turn left.

Your starving? Foods where it’s always been 😂

locks broken. Call me ill send the locksmith.

I don't know where our stopcock is . Thankfully it's never been an issue in our 18 years at this house.

I would
but put anything valuable away, The 'empty' at that age is a rite of passage.

At university you are usually in halls of residence or at least living with other people, so you are not on your own if something goes wrong.

And presumably on your school exchange you had a host family.

And I didn't have any need to leave my ds before he was 17, or for more than one night.

I don't think people care who's "liable", they don't want their kids (or the house) to come to any harm.

By the time you've called your mum and asked what to do, the ceiling would have come in. You need to know what to do right away.

There are some very smug parents on here. Well I am not so sure that you've run through every single emergency that could arise and who to call in each one. But perhaps you have!

Of course she will be fine. She's 15 not 5

Reading this www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/FPI%20is%20it%20legal%20Feb_08.pdf - whilst it says there is no legal age limit for a child to be left alone, the parent is responsible up to age 16.

I am all for age appropriate freedoms. However in the vast majority of cases, it's hardly babying to have an adult there at night for an under 16, and we didn't leave DS home alone until that age.

OPs circumstances are different as the DF is round the corner, but I hate this idea that not letting 15 or even 14 year olds be home alone is symbolic of modern mollycoddling.

That's a different scenario. There's an adult in the house.

I have left my DS aged 15 overnight. They are both sensible and respectful. I have friends round the corner and my sister five minutes walk away. It was all fine.

I'd say it's fine. I was left at that age (and younger).

You say she likes her alone time, finds dad 'a bit annoying' at times, and that his house has a baby and toddler. I think that's where I'd look for the reasoning.

If he lives nearby, I'd trust her sensibleness and leave her to it.

No I'd wait until 17.

Those saying the parents will be liable if the kid has an accident- no they wouldn't, unless the accident was predictable and/or the teenager was clearly not mature enough to be left (so one with LDs or serious MH issues or some ND conditions for example)
if a NT reasonably mature 15 year old has an unavoidable unpredictable accident the parents are not legally liable.

Agree with have it’s not long they will be independent so if your answer is “no way” if no additional needs etc it would be quite concerning that a nearly 16 year old needs constant adult supervision. Sorry but anecdotally I do think our generation babies our teens - far more than our parents did us anyway.

I think the house trashing is more of an age thing.

Most 15 year olds haven't fully discovered alcohol and majority of DPs still have curfews and rules for that age.
It's leaving them alone when they are 16-18 possibly older,when the house parties are likely to start.

No I wouldn't.

It wasn’t even a question to me…surprised by some of the responses. Appreciate there will be exceptions but unless you have child with additional needs or they are particularly rebellious I can’t see that it’s reasonable not to let her stay home.

I stayed home alone for a week at 15. We lived pretty remotely so less chance of trouble but still. There were emergency numbers and I knew all the basics at home.

Would you not expect your children to start going on trips or things from 16 onward? As soon as friends started driving we started doing weekends in different bits of the country and I went abroad alone with friends for a week at 17.

An unexpected accident at home could happen in half an hour alone or a month. You can control for that, you can only prepare your child. If they break your trust by being irresponsible then they lose the chance to stay home in future?

If her father is just around the corner and agrees to be available to help out if necessary, I think it's fine. If she doesn't like being alone midway through she can always go round to him.

Dd1 at 15 definitely yes absolutely fine. Dd2 probably ok yes if a school night but can be scatty with keys etc so would need back ups in place.

Agree having a load of mates over to trash the house is more of a 1990s thing

When I was 15 (and a few months, so not even 15.5) my mum went abroad for the whole summer holidays to my dad ( who lived abroad). I wasn’t even asked! I had 2 older siblings who were in different towns far away who dropped in for a few days, but I was alone in the fall house for the vast majority of it. I loved it ( and didn’t have any friends to stay or parties or anything.)

I think you're wrong actually....this may have been the case when we were all young but this generation is quite different.

Don't you think that's OTT?

Or maybe kids nowadays genuinely aren't like my generation. We'd chuck a party any time our parent went for a long shit.

Depends on the 15 year old but unlikely. 15 Yr old + empty house = party. Even if she didn't plan one but tells her friends she'll be alone, there'll be about an 80% chance she'll have lots and lots of friends popping by to 'hang out'.

People think the reason to not leave a teen home alone is they'll get frightened, they're too young, what if there's a fire etc etc. Hahaha. Nope. It's the party. Sorry, the 'couple of close friends popping by for a latte totally unexpectedly'

I was regularly left in charge of my younger sis overnight when I was 13 (no choice... mum was widowed and had to work nights for a while). No harm accrued.