I know times have changed but would this have ever been OK, even in the 80s?

[Duckcurtains]

I friend of mine, now mid 50s, parents split when he was young. Mum moved abroad with new man and he didn't see her again until that relationship broke down, when he was 23. That's not the bit I'm asking about though.

He and sister, three years younger, stayed with Dad, who seems to have raised good kids. They're all very close still.

However, when friend was 14, Dad's employer moved their base 200 miles away and Dad was working away M-F , leaving friend and 11yo sister to look after themselves during the week.

It sounds like they were fine, they both see it as dad doing what he needed to do, but shouldn't "someone" have been on that?

Knowing what happened in my family and with friends SS probably wouldn't have been interested until after early 00s as long as the kids weren't getting into trouble.

Even now if the 14 was on their own, going to school, doing ok at school, not getting into trouble and there was an adult e.g. neighbour they could call on in an emergency they would likely turn a blind eye.

My mum died when I was 12, my sister was 14. It was the late 70s.

My dad went out to work at 6am so we were left to get ready for school, feed ourselves and walk to school.

In the evening we would see dad briefly before he went out to the pub to see his friends. He got back when the pub closed.

Obviously it wouldn't be allowed nowadays but, we turned out ok - it made us grow up fast, be independent and savvy... if not a little wild - we were in and out of nightclubs at 14 (me) and 16 (DS). I once saw one of my school teachers in a nightclub but nobody ever questioned me about it.

Looking back, it wasn't right and shouldn't have happened.

I had a friend whose parents left him and his siblings in their uk house when they moved back to a European country. He was 16.