Younger high school aged kids and "childcare"

[Anycrispsleft]

A bit of a naive question I suppose- I'm a SAHM living abroad and I haven't been able to work because the kids here finish school at 1. I'm thinking about moving back to the UK and this'll be the first time since my kids were 2 that I'll need to think about childcare. Primary school is fine, I get it, you go to after school club, and by the time you're about 14 or 15 of course you can manage to let yourself into the house - but what do people do with their 12 and 13 yo kids? Too old for afterschool, too young (depending on the child) to be left home alone for a couple of hours in the afternoon?

A lot of parents seem to leave them on their own for a couple of hours when children hit high school age.

Why do you think at 12/13 years your child couldn’t be left alone?
Providing they follow some rules ie no cooking / opening the door etc they should surely be ok?

Some schools have 'homework club' which might be letting kids sit in the library. (Maybe not in Covid times), some have other extra curricular activities which if your kids attend limits the amount of time they are home alone.
Some kids are sent to childminders- I think this works best (both ways) when the child has a link to them - was either previously looked after by them or has a younger sibling there.

Or you could advertise for a babysitter to come for a few hours each day to welcome the kids home and cook tea.

I think most people would be happy to leave a 12/13 year old for a couple of hours after school.

Thanks for the replies! Like I say, I am quite clueless on all of this, my kids are only 8 now and it's not been an issue. It just seems a lot of time to be alone if it's every day.

These are really useful perspectives, thank you. I'm planning on going into teaching so actually it might not be that bad - I know you don't knock off at half 3 with the kids but I should have a bit more discretion over working at home after school hours - the first couple of years not, but the kids would still be in primary school then.

Where I live you have to have a babysitter (often a college kid) until the dc are 14 but in the UK it is quite normal to leave secondary school dc on their own for a few hours.

Now that I'm at home all the time, with no potential date for getting back to the office, this isn't an issue for me, but was wondering the same thing OP. My DD will start secondary school in sept and it was slightly worrying me, as both DH snd I work quite some distance from home.

Our 12yo is at home by himself after school however this is ad hoc basis as I am self employed and sometimes work from home. By the time he gets home from school it's almost 4pm and I'm usually home with his baby brother by 5.30, 6 at the latest.
He's a very responsible kid, knows he needs to ask if he goes out with his mates and generally sits and does his homework, plays on his computer, reads a book or watches tv.
We have a ring doorbell at the front of the house and a security camera at the back both of which link to my phone so I can see if anyone comes to the house whilst I'm out and he has our phone numbers and that of the neighbours both on his phone and on the notice board. He also knows which friends parents are home if there was an emergency.

Right now we’re both working from home, so the issue has gone away.
But in normal times-
We encouraged / ordered our y7 11 year old to sign up for as many after school clubs as possible, to reduce the alone time at home before we got back. Things like science club, going to the library or computer room to do homework. Then by the time he had got home, there wasn’t too much time before we got in - maybe an hour max. He would call or text when leaving school and getting home.
Also for a short while, he walked back to our childminders, where his younger brother was still going, and so I could collect them together at end day.
If we ever get back to the office, I think I will be ok with him just letting himself in. He is a v responsible 12 year old. But I would say no friends round unless one of us is at home. It’s harder to be responsible with your friends!! I would let him go round to a friends house as well if I knew the at home parent wouldn’t mind (I’d generally check).