How old were your kids when you started leaving them on their own at home?

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

How old were your DCs when you started leaving them at home on their own? For any be 30mins or an hour if you pop to local shops which are 1 mile away? Or 5 min drive in car?

did you run through what to do in am emergency e.g fire and use of phone for emergencies?

10 when I was gone less than 20 mins to pick sister up from a club. She had a phone and had already eaten dinner. Possibly 9 on occasion when dropping sister at school but it's literally over the road so gone less than 10 minutes.

I left DD age 8 for up to 15 minutes while I popped to the local shop. Now aged 9 and I think the longest I've left her is 45 minutes. I wouldn't leave her if I was going outside of our very small town though.

She can phone me and her dad on Alexa and we live in a quiet cul de sac where we are friends with all our neighbours and someone is always home.

DD has a list of rules to recite before we leave her (don't answer the door, no cooking, no Gymnastics etc) and knows that if she gets worried or we're not back by soon after the time we say that she should call us and/or go to one of the neighbours.

We always lock the front door but leave the back door unlocked in case she needs to get out.

She's happy with developing her independence in this way (and the peace and quiet I think!). We wouldn't do it if she wasn't comfortable.

Around 8/9 but there were 2 of them (twins) so it was a little easier. Mostly for a few mins while I dropped brother to training. Longer periods like going to an appointment or grocery shopping was when they were 9 and a half. We have neighbours who know us so they always knew where to run in case of emergency. We have a landline too that I can ring them on or vice versa.

Ds is 11 in December. Year 6. We started leaving him for 15 to 20 mins over the summer holidays. Now for about an hour occasionally and he's just started walking home from school by himself.

He's fine. He currently goes to after school club twice a week and we are considering stopping that after February half term. Dh will be in about 5ish so an hour and 20 mins alone. I'm not convinced but saves £80 a month and builds independence and ds would rather that than be at after school club.

I've started to leave DS age 9 for up to half an hour to pop to local shops or even Tesco to collect a click&collect order.

I only do it in the daytime and don't leave oven/washing machine on, and DS knows not to use toaster or microwave so any risk of fire etc is very minimal, but he knows the neighbours and can call me if anything was to happen.

Some people quote the NSPCC which say children shouldn't be left until age 12 but the reality is that there are limited childcare options from age 11 onwards and from that age they can be letting themselves into an empty house after school. Much better imo to build up to that gradually so it's not a big adjustment in Y7.

At almost 11 I've started leaving her occasionally for 20 minutes which is just to the corner shop.
She also started walking back from school at the same age (20 minutes as well but on main road for half of it).
At 10 and a half she went to the corner shop and back but herself.

I was 8 years old when I first was let alone at home. DM got a job in the city centre meaning 7:30am starts - leaving home just before 7. I was only at home for about an hour and 30 mins before I needed to leave to walk to school. DM worked 3 days a week. DM;s job was 42 weeks of the year so tried to book leave around half term - as she was working still and the other holidays - not. I stayed at home for the first time about 4 months later when I was 9. DM finished work at 2pm so she left me some lunch - sandwiches or cobs with yoghurt and fruit. I just amused myself with TV, reading books or playing with toys.

First time I was alone all day and night was 11. Parents had a funeral to attend about 300 miles away and stayed o/n at a hotel. By that time I knew how to operate the oven, hob and microwave. DM left me something to heat up in the microwave.