Ok to leave a 16 year old?

This thread is over a year old. I'm sure it was fine

These threads always make me laugh. If the OP asked what should a 16 year old be doing around the house the answers would be laundry, cooking a meal for the family including all the clearing away at least once a week , walk the dog, feed the cat and wallpaper Buckingham Palace in a day and a half.
Suggest going away and suddenly this 16 year old wouldn't know how to close the door let the dog out for a wee or know how to phone 999 if they need to.
Of course its fine to go

Oh, and 16 is fine. People used to leave home and work at that age …people saying no are helicopter parents
they’ll make mistakes, but you’ve got emergency back up plan nailed

Word of the wise
i thought my DS was same , non party type…he may have been but when his mates found out he did have party. Not big. But various minor damage done which is how I found out…chair and ketchup sauce bottle was worse!
it doesn’t n m she me think I was wrong to leave him…but I was wrong to think it would be no parties …I should have issued house rule for party /no party much more strongly

Of course it's fine.

We left my eldest at 16 because he wanted quiet to revise and we wanted to take the other kids on holiday.

Another chose the day we were going away to simply refuse to come with us. Fine. Bye.

When we got to the airport and said we weren't all flying, the woman on the Check In rolled her eyes and said, "Did one of them just say he wasn't coming? Happens all the time."

All of ours have been left at 16 and we haven't had a single negative incident beyond one of the boys not having flushed the toilet for several days. Which was grim but easily solved.

I was married with a baby at 16. My husband worked on oil rigs and was away for 6 weeks at a time. I was on my own with a baby. A 16 year old can get married, in half of the UK they can vote. They can get a job. Why on earth would you think being alone for a few days is a bad idea?

He is old enough to get married here in Scotland !

Absolutely yes. Give him experience of coping in his own in a safe environment.

Sounds like he'll be busy and have plenty of company and help if needed. Absolutely I would leave him.

I left home a few weeks before my 16th birthday. My parents regularly left me at home to go on holiday for up to two weeks from 14. 16 is fine.

I leave mine alone but she's very sensible. I've never left her longer than two nights though. She's 17.

Only you know your child, but I’d think it should be fine. Maybe just have clear discussions about things like locking doors/windows etc.

If he’s sensible enough then yes. But it’s ludicrous to expect other people to feed him. Teach him how to cook easy meals

Goodness, you sound so very reactionary!

We really are not pathetic as a society, our young people are fantastic by and large.

Society was no better 30 years ago, it is just middle-aged people were young then and still had a positive attitude!

I knew someone who had a serious fire in the house when left home alone, I knew many who had very unsuitable people turn up, and I had my own experience of being left alone.

As I said upthread, I wouldn't leave mine because I was left, I know this has skewed my thinking - but often people who have seen bad things are more wary, and people who haven't had those experiences assume all will be well.

Worry is not necessarily a sign of a soft disposition, it is often a result of lived experience. Once bitten, twice shy and all that!

What do people think will happen?

My parents left me home alone for 10 days when they went on their summer holidays when I was 16. No one checked in on me (other than them via text) or supervised me at all, and it was perfectly fine. They did know I was very boring and not the type to have a wild party while they were gone though.

the fact it's even a question is indicative of how off-centre and pathetic we're becoming as a society.

Thankfully my grip is fine

Depends on the 16 year old. But in general yes: if he is happy to be left and you basically trust him to be sensible then I think that's fine. You are not out of the country and there are people you trust near him.

“Yep.. the root cause of all societal issues are those pesky 16 year olds not being left home alone for days at a time.

Seriously, get a grip"

Get a grip? Hmm.

How weird is it that we worry these days so much about leaving 16 years for a few days when we're so much more easily contactable, 24/7, pretty much anywhere, in many different ways?

My ds is ADHD and autistic, he is sensible and I would leave him a couple of nights if there was someone nearby in case of emergency.

Yep.. the root cause of all societal issues are those pesky 16 year olds not being left home alone for days at a time.

Seriously, get a grip

The fact this is even a question shows how fucked up society is..

of course it should be fine to leave a 16 year old