Leaving 6-year-old home alone

I agree, you are onto something here. If you left your child, it’s always possible you might get held up. So many variables … the personality of the child, their experiences, the surroundings, the length of time, and what to do if something unexpected happens.
Theres no one size fits all. I guess that’s why we know it’s risky to leave young children unsupervised.
On the other hand, as children get older they do need to gradually snd appropriately learn to cope with situations without always having mum or dads eyes on them.

@JussathoB I think the 10 minute time has confused the matter as there are few places to go and be back in 10 minutes. Drive three minutes to the supermarket to buy milk maybe? The 10 minutes is not guaranteed though, there could easily be a hold up.

I think location is more important, so at a corner shop a three minute walk down the road, at a neighbour's, elsewhere on a rural property, is different to being a three minute drive away in my opinion. I wouldn't do the latter until I was happy to leave the child for an hour in case of a delay.

Child neglect

6 is a bit young to leave alone at home probably. However I’m a bit concerned by MN posters who seem to think that going into your own garden means leaving your child alone at home and is wrong. This just has to be an exaggeration!
Babies and toddlers clearly need to be closely supervised all the time, but older children should usually be okay to not be being watched for short periods eg a five or six year old playing with toys in one room while parent is in another room nearby. Ofc it does depend on the child and some children have special needs or behaviour which might mean there are more safety concerns than average. But generally going into your own garden for a short while does not mean you have ‘left your child home alone’. They can shout for you or come find you, you can pop back in to check etc.

I left DS, as in he couldn't have just come and found me, but had a phone, for an hour at 8. This was in line with ss guidelines where we lived. There was nowhere, aside from getting a parcel from a neighbour, I'd have gone in 10 minutes. I'd just have taken him with me before I was happy to leave him for an hour as I could be easily held up, car not start or something.

In the 1980s? Knock yourself out. No bother at all. Now? Absolutely not.

I sometimes go across our field to deal with livestock (max 300m from the house and they know where I am). 8yo. I wouldn't pop to the shop in the car or be somewhere so far away they couldn't shout for me. Mine are very sensible tho. So I think it depends a lot on the child and what you were doing in your 10minutes. I am pretty sure that when my husband looks after them solo he has locked himself in the bathroom for poo's that took longer than 10 minutes since they were tiny!

Never

Yes if they were nearer 7 than 6 and I was for example just next door, depending on the child.

My DD2 would have stayed in front of the TV for 2hrs without budging to watch a film.
I wouldn't have left DD1 until quite a bit older.

My DD is 7. I definitely wouldn't leave her home alone. Realistically she would be fine but if something went wrong, she is still a young child and wouldn't know how to cope. I have been debating what freedom I can give her e.g. walking to the toilet by herself when we are out somewhere and they are out of sight. Tbf I wasn't allowed home alone or to go to the local shop by myself until about 9, and definitely not off on tubes etc, so it's not that different from my upbringing.

We have family in Germany. They allow their kids to walk to school from 6. They allow their 7 and 9yo to go to the park together (10 min walk away through a quiet village). They have left the children at home in bed to drive to the station and back (20-25 mins trip). I'm fascinated by the cultural differences in what is acceptable.

Where can you go in 10 minutes? I'd collect a parcel from a neighbour, or drive on my own property if on a farm. I don't count that as leaving alone if a child knows where I am and can come find me easily.

@iwantawisteriathisyear what were they charged with?

No. I grew up in the 70s so my parents had, y'know, a more 70s style of parenting. They would never have done this either.

No, too young. My 9yo is very sensible and I would leave her now, but not before.

No

I'm pretty laid back for MN but it's too young.

Never

No way!

At age 8 or 9 then possibly 5 minutes would be ok

Age 6 definitely not.

For 10 mins - like actually 10 mins? In the daytime, like to drop something to a neighbour, sure, I'd have left my 6 year old.

In lockdown I had to leave my (at the time) 7 and 10 year olds either alone in the house while I went shopping, or alone in the car - eventually I got a second mobile phone, but I felt that they were safer back home (10 minutes away funnily enough) where we could be talking over facetime while I shopped if they were worried, than sat in the carpark with no way to contact me until I was out of the shop (we tried both ways, and the kids also preferred home).

Not unless it’s to be at the end of my garden lol . Sorry 6 year olds havent got the maturity to stay alone

australia. some states its technically fine but not in nsw.

Where do you live, out of interest?
I find it a little OTT to be honest. I could see her and her me, the car was locked and it was less than 2 minutes. I could get to her faster than if I were in the garden, where the majority of people think is acceptable to be without your child.

Nope

10 minutes is a very long time for something to happen 😔

Surely it depends on where you’re going. A nearby shop on a busy road, of course not. It takes me ten full minutes to walk to the end of my driveway or out to do something animal related though and I don’t mind leaving my 6 & 8 year old DC “alone” in the house as I could still hear them if they called and they can see me the whole time.

No. It's not 'would they be fine if everything went OK', it's 'would they cope if there was an emergency'. No way a 6yo could cope with a situation like a fire, being unwell, a random stranger at the door or anything else that may crop up.