What age is reasonable for a child to be home alone after school?

[Fortheloveofpizza]

Another price increase email from after school today. As of next year I will only have one child left needing childcare thankfully.
I have always kept them in until P7 which is 11/12 . My youngest will be 8 next year and I will only need OSc one day for an hour. He’s a short walk home. What age do you think a child can let themselves in and be alone for an hour?
Appreciate not 8 but interested on what ages.

I said may and yes you can, coming from a detective in safeguarding. I would not recommend leaving an 8 year old on their own as I have interviewed suspects for this. So yes you can. Each officer has different rationale and it may be the officer or supervisors discretion but you certainly can't say that no one would make the decision to lock them up as I may myself

I think around 10-11 is ok, maturity-depending. It's good for Year 6 especially to get that sense of independence.

11 at the earliest, I would have thought.

We started leaving DC1 in Year 5 (aged 9) for up to half an hour while we collected DC2 from school clubs - so never more than a 10 minute walk away, and he had access to a device that could make calls to us. We talked through what to do in an emergency and he had nice neighbours he could have gone round to if there was a major problem.

We have only just started letting him
come home to an empty house and be alone for an hour at almost 11, as next year he will have to do that when in secondary. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable at 8, personally. I might have felt comfortable doing this in Year 5 with a different, more competent and confident child!

Where I live (England) our school allows them to walk home from Yr4 and obviously doesn't ask questions about what happens when they leave the school gate. Our DD started to walk to local shops and back in year 5, but we only started leaving her alone for short periods like to collect DH from the station, pop to the shops when she was in year 6 age 11. I think end of year 5/year 6 for a mature child is probably fine to walk home and be there for an hour or so as they are likely to have or know how to use a phone. It feels more risky than leaving them there home alone when you have been there and know they are already home safe.

But presumably there were other factors in those decisions to interview? I find it hard to believe that the police have time to deal with 8 year olds walking home from school/ being at home for short periods of time but not with rampant shoplifting or teens roaring around on modified e-bikes as is allegedly the case.

I went to and from school alone aged 5 and I'm still alive. Always lots of other kids walking to and fro, just went with them.

Interesting! Our school allows kids to leave unattended from P4 (around 8), my eldest is P5 and I allow him to walk to/back from school/clubs, nip out to the shops or go to the library - the furthest is about 10min walk. A lot of his friends/classmates do the same.

I’m a SW and this is absolutely not ok

Only you know when your child is ready to be alone and capable of doing the commute from school.
may e start practicing occasional short periods alone and build up. I’d probably leave it until next spring for lighter nights too.

Many years ago my children were allowed to walk home by themselves from year 5.
My kids from ages 9 and 11 regularly stayed home alone from 3.30 until l got home 3 hours later.
The just ate a snack and watched kids tv.

I said 'may' which also indicates they may not. However if I was to knock on a door and find an 8 year old home alone, I'd be entering the address for a welfare check and conducting through the eyes of the child by looking around the house. I'd be looking into the parents/guardians previous history and contacting social services and a safeguarding referral would be submit. The parents would be spoken to and could be arrested and interviewed. I can't answer questions based on every circumstance, nor can I tell you each officer and Sergeants decision making however someone asked a question around leaving an 8 year old home alone and I wouldn't recommend it. Not just this but if there was to be an emergency, an 8 year old would not be able to react as an older person would

From 9 if DD didn't want to come shopping with us (groceries, not a big shopping trip). We had strict rules about not opening the door and she basically just read/watched TV and we were away around 1/2 hour or so.

From 10.5 after school in preparation for secondary school. She was alone around 2 hours then. But we have neighbours who are SAHM/work from home and she always had the choice to go to her childminder if she wasn't feeling it.

Honestly - by 10.5 she was desperate for independence. And she had several classmates walking at least part of the same route.

Firstly for sure it depends on the child – will they be sensible and how do they feel about it?

My DC all walked home after school and let themselves in from year 5 which is 9yo/turning 10.

Before that they were left for 10-15 minutes while I walked a sibling to Beavers etc – the left child would be 8/9 and more than happy to watch TV rather than trek up the road.

I think it needs to be done in gentle stages towards independence. Walking home from school, with friends, other families, is IMO a very safe way to start the process.

Overall I think a 9yo is fine to be home for an hour as long as they are happy with it and can contact you if they need to.

I'm surprised someone has suggested 8 years old. That's far too young and if a police officer knocked on your door to find an 8 year old on their own, you may find yourself locked up for child neglect and a referral to social services.

Highly unlikely tbh thank goodness. "Far too young"? What age is OK then? My DC knew the right thing to do in an emergency at age 8. @Naffatthinkingofnicknames you must know that leaving an 8yo child alone is not illegal? What is illegal is neglect. I don't think the examples given here are neglect.

And the shock about schools allowing them to leave alone – schools vary and plenty of junior schools allow DC to leave on their own.

I'm more shocked that a PP says they are not happy to leave a 13yo for an hour tbh.

I leave my 10 and 1/2 Yr old DD alone for short periods (if going to shop and she doesn't want to come etc) she is also allowed to walk to the shop occasionally (5 mins walk away and no big roads to cross) she is very mature and sensible for her age and the youngest of 5 so I feel like I have relaxed a bit more as the family has grown.
I wouldn't leave her for longer than an hour and she does have a phone so I check every 20 mins or so by messages.
I wouldn't be happy with her coming home to an empty house or anything like that though. I like to check all doors/windows are secure and she is settled watching a film or similar before I leave.
She knows exactly what to do in emergency and her godmother lives next door and all neighbours are friends really

I think years 6s would mostly be okay with this, so 10 - 11.

Our school allows you to sign a permission slip for your child to walk home alone from year 4, so 8-9, which I was personally surprised at as it felt too young for me!

Told my very trustworthy year 5 DD I would be happy to sign her form from spring of this year, even just to wait for her dad who picks up her younger brothers anyway, as she is the last of 3 and sometimes gets sent to the office, and she didn't even like that idea! So it depends on the child and not just in terms of sensibleness but also confidence and happiness to be alone.

My 8yo DC gets left at home one evening a week whilst I collect older DC from a club. They have access to the emergency phone (no landline) and a tablet with a kids messenger app. They know our neighbours and our family rules. (No leaving the house unless it's on fire. Phone my sister if I'm not back when I say I will be etc)
I'm all for teaching and encouraging independence. Some may argue that DC is too young, but if they weren't happy with the arrangement, they wouldn't ask to stay home whilst I collect their older sibling.

We gave our DCs keys when they went to secondary school, they were both 11 almost 12 by then. No after school club at our secondary and they absolutely would not have been happy carrying on with the childminder! Does depend on your DC though and whether they are mature and sensible enough to cope with being alone.

At our school children can walk home on their own from year 5 so age 9

9 or 10 years old seems reasonable to me.

Mine did from about the summer term of year 5. He was 10.5 and very sensible-knew not to use the cooker, open the door, play with knives etc! I was also only on the other end of a phone at work if he needed anything.

My eldest was P7 when we let her stay home herself- was just while I took her sisters to their dance class and because it was too hot to take our dog. Then from there she’s been at home herself for an hour or two.
we’ve got amazing neighbours in our square so they’d be there in seconds if she needed anything.

That said I’m not sure I’d trust her younger sister at that age - she’s so accident prone and does first then thinks 😂🤦‍♀️

When mine were at home at that age they would be instructed not to open the door and especially not to let anyone in the house unless we had explicitly told them to expect Jane-next-door whom they knew well.

At 10/11 they are going to secondary school and should be taking themselves and able to function independently. They don’t learn that overnight, they need to have small periods of independence to learn to manage being without their parents.

Most DC will be fine for an hour from about yr4. Some younger some older. Extended infantilisation of DC increases risks as they grow older.

My sensible 10, almost 11, year old, I'd have felt comfortable with him doing it from 8-9. My spirited 9 year old - not for the foreseeable future!

For my child it was from when they started High School. Before that, I had a childminder collecting from school.
It depends on the child in general but 8 seems really young.