When did you leave your child alone at home overnight?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

Is there any guidance for this or just depend on the child?

I was first left home alone overnight at 14 but that was the 90s.

16, with a friend though I did get in at 3am. 17 for 2 nights

14 is really young!

I’d be happy to leave 17y/o DD now, it never arose last year but I’d have left her from 16.

@DowntonCrabby just for one night or longer?

www.gov.uk/law-on-leaving-your-child-home-alone

The guidance is 16.

We left our teenagers alone for a night last year when they were 15 and 16. They knew they could contact our neighbours if they were worried about anything.

One son was 18, the other 16, when we left them alone - came home to find a lovely tidy house, but a hole in one window, and a broken chair, after they'd had a party. It could have been much worse

[quote bendmeoverbackwards]@DowntonCrabby just for one night or longer?[/quote]
I’d leave her for the weekend to see how it went but would leave her for a week if a trial weekend went well. I trust her implicitly, she’d probably have a friend to stay if longer than a night.
I’d have trusted her at 15 for an overnight but she wouldn’t have been keen then.
My friends and I were all left at 15, had several massive parties and caused a hit of havoc, I know she absolutely wouldn’t do anything like that but we have a younger DS I can imagine not trusting until he’s 37

16, the summer after his GCSEs for one night with the next door neighbour knowing and on standby.

I was left alone at night from 10 years old (no choice, my mum died and my dad had to work some night shifts), and I have life long issues from that.

The summer after my GCSEs I had moved out and was renting a flat alone and working, but my last issues meant I was a wreck still.

Ds didn’t even notice I don’t think.

16

Never. I like my house

16 is fine if they're OK with it but you need a back up plan until they're 18. So would they be able to go to your dm in an emergency ect, how far away would you be.

15 (nearly 16) as a one off when my sister went into labour and I had to go and stay with her older child. DD was already asleep so I left her a note. She was fine, she knew it could happen at any time so we had discussed it. She’s 16 now and I haven’t needed to leave her again but she’d be fine if I did. Don’t think I’d do it for more than one night.

I was 17 when my parents went on holiday for a week, my 19YO brother was left ‘in charge’.

My parents got home before he did.

I will wait until ds is 17. No family nearby and the neighbours are in their own worlds.

That said he could probably cope now. He is 16.

This being Mumsnet, I’m waiting for all the ‘Tarquin has been left alone overnight since the age of 4. He’s amazingly independent and has been cooking meals since he was two and living in his own apartment over the coach house since he started school. He does all the family ironing and frequently drives me to the supermarket.’

17 and 15

I told them if they had a party that was fine, but any trouble id know from the neighbours and then it would be far from fine

Neighbour reported a lot of comings and going's but no problems at all. House was fine. Fridge and cupboards were stripped bare

I left ds for one night when he was 15, from just before school one morning until dinner the next day. He was quite happy, and out at school for most of it anyway.

I wouldn't have left him longer than 1 night at that age but now he's 17 I leave him for a few nights with no concerns. He's sensible and just stays up late watching movies with the dog, no wild parties or anything like that. Or if there are he cleans up really well and doesn't disturb the neighbours.

Eldest is nearly 15, I think she'd be fine for one night on her own. But also have 13 and 9 yr old so it's gonna be a while before we leave all 3. Perhaps when eldest is 19 and youngest 14? If eldest is willing to be in charge

My parents left me at 15 onwards for 6 weeks in the summer holidays. A friend usually moved in for the holidays and whilst I didn’t normally have parties except a BBQ for my birthday one year, there was lots of coming and going, particularly of boys (mostly friends but occasionally boyfriends) because I wasn’t actually allowed boyfriends and got into trouble if my dad saw me speak to a boy. We did have a millennium party when my parents went away for NY though. They’ve never mentioned it, so I assume they never knew.

I’d leave DS1 for one night at 16 (he is 15).
DS2 is 14 and far more likely 17-18 and he will definitely have people round, but prob not a party if DS1 is home.DS3 is only 11 and I can’t imagine him ever being old enough.

My parents are a 20 min walk/5 min drive away and I don’t think I’d go overseas like my parents - though we were fine and I have fond memories of those summers.

DD was 15, 2 weeks before her 16th birthday. She was pretty much begging us at that point to just leave her to have the house to herself in peace so we dutifully complied

At 16 we left her to go abroad for a couple of days, but GPs were five minutes drive away and our house is alarmed, CCTVd and behind electric locked gates, and she’s mature for her age, so not an issue. She enjoyed the time to herself, kept the house clean and tidy, walked the dog, and baked cookies for when we got back.

A friend of mine left her DD at 14 overnight when she had to go into hospital, and she was fine.

That said, I only become comfortable doing it at 16 onwards.

@DoctorSnortles

This being Mumsnet, I’m waiting for all the ‘Tarquin has been left alone overnight since the age of 4. He’s amazingly independent and has been cooking meals since he was two and living in his own apartment over the coach house since he started school. He does all the family ironing and frequently drives me to the supermarket.’

😂😂

First time it happened for us was last year, dd1 was 17.
Just one night, we had been away for a long weekend and she needed to get back for work on the bank holiday Monday. We did discuss that she could just book the day off work and stay with us but was keen to get back for the double time pay!
She was fine, she’s very sensible anyway so we weren’t worried.
A couple of months later dh and I were going away for the weekend. First night dd1 and 2 (16) both wanted to stay home alone (second night my sister came to stay here with them and my youngest ds).
They enjoyed it enough but it’s not something that will happen on a regular basis as we still have ds who’s 10 and it’s just a bit of a ball ache trying to organise different elements of childcare around their social lives.

I was left at 14 and feel it was too young. I’d probably say 16 is fine for most but 15/15 might be okay for a few and later for others. There’s a lot of variables (how comfortable they are, how near you are etc).