What age would you leave your child?

[Threedoa]

Debate with DH tonight. What age would you leave your child home alone to:

a) drop a sibling to school under 5 minute walk away
b) pop to the shops for approx 10 minute round journey but in the car
c) collect other parent from the train station, approx 15 minute round journey.
d) get a sibling a hair cut, maybe 5 minutes away but gone for approx 45 minutes

And would it make a difference to you if child was asleep or not?

erm 9/10 for a and b
11 for the second two once they’re at secondary school

A- 8
B- 9
C and D-10

However, only when they are awake and know where I am and it's light. I would only start leaving them in the dark once at Secondary school.

I'm missing the point, but what is the scenario where one kid would be at a school less than 5 mins away and needs accompanying in the walk, but the other child was staying at home? Why is the other child staying at home in this.scenario and not at /on their way to school themselves?

Agree with the others, 9 for a and b - recently started doing this with my almost 10 year old and only during the day (her faux nonchalance at being home alone is funny). For the others it would depend how they handled the first two but I would be reluctant to be more than 10 minutes from the house at 9/10 I think.

Personally around 10-11 for all options.

DD is old for her year so when she was 11 in year 6 we started leaving her for very short periods, then around an hour the summer before secondary school.

All of those depend entirely on the individual child.
It really does.

Probably 8 for a, increasing to 9 1/2 or 10 for d. We have a landline and dc have an app and can msg so I feel they are OK. We also have neighbours that know us well that they have been instructed to call on in case of emergency.

The first time I left DS 8 to run DD 5 mins up the road to training, my car broke down. I had to call a neighbour to get him. There was another time I popped something into the oven and told DD I would be back in 20 mins as I was collecting DS but got stuck behind a crash and had to ring on the landline and talk her through how to turn off the oven. It's always important I think to have a plan for when things go wrong.

Upper primary, around 9/10 depending on the child and the wider environment. Maybe a little younger for A.

I would only do this during the day though, not if the child was asleep.

Dd has been walking home from school alone since the start of year 5 so age 9 and staying by herself until we get home around an hour later.

A 5 minute trip up the road I’d leave them from 7/8 ish.
Dd is 11 now and I’d leave her up to 2 hours maybe longer. She’s not yet at secondary school

It really depends on the individual child, my daughter is 8 and I would only feel comfortable with option a. with her, however my nephew is the same age but much less emotionally mature so if I were his mother, I'd probably say at least 10 for a.
I'll answer the rest with just my own daughter in mind and with making assumptions seeing as she's only very recently at the stage where I'd feel comfortable leaving her to nip to the local shop for 5 minutes.

B & C probably between 9-10 (based on the fact that I live in a fairly rural location so the risk of any road traffic incidents are minimal - I'd potentially re-evaluate this if I lived somewhere busier)

D 10-11 just based on the extra length of time she would be on her own

Indeed. Emotionally I could have left my 10 year old to do all that, physically she is disabled so we didn’t start leaving her for 10 minute stints until she was 13 and far less likely to fall over, and could get her self out of the house if she needed to.

Very true, my niece is the same age as my daughter and I wouldn't leave her home alone.

Around 9/10. However my eldest is 11 and hates being left alone so it rarely actually happens (she’d always choose to come with me), and my 9 year old would love to be left alone all day! All kids are different.
I wouldn’t leave them while they were asleep.