Quickie - at what age to leave child at night?

[andwhatnow]

Quick question - is it unreasonable to leave a sensible boy who is 14 in August alone in the evening from say, eight to half midnight. Bearing in mind that I am five minutes drive away and that he seems perfectly happy with it? (and that is something that would not happen on a regular basis obviously).
Thanks

Another one who babysat at 14.

Depends on the child, though. If siblings are prone to fight or misbehave then its another matter. If you are just worried about them being on their own, I'd say they should be fine. I have left mine (who is the same age as yours) on a few occasions.

With mobile phones you know they can call you if they are worried.

Yes, I certainly wouldn't book a babysitter for a 14yr old. I'd feel ridiculous unless they had some kind of additional needs.

Yes of course, if he's generally trustworthy and not likely to play with matches! I too was babysitting much younger children from about age 13. Kids of that age are likely to be either plugged into a games console, watching an inappropriately rated movie or on a computer - he probably won't even notice you're gone!
I imagine my Dsis (14) would feel ridiculously embarassed about having a babysitter. My mum has been leaving her in the evenings for a few hours since she was about 12, and she has recently just come and babysat for my DC!

I was babysitting my little brother at that age until those sort of times so I would say it was fine too!

He will be fine.

Just don't let him put it on facebook.

My 14yo has been babysitting his younger sister for a couple of years.

i say yes as long as he has a bit of common sense and ground rules are sorted. My DD 14 stays alone and is actually more productive if I'm not here. Nothing wrong with a bit of responsibility.

Under those conditions - yes.

yes, when my ds was 14 and my dd was 12 i was working 6pm -12pm 2 nights a week and they were alone, i was 10mins away and always on the end of a phone, rules i had were no cooking on gas cooker, re heating in microwave ok, and no getting in bath and shower. no harm ever came to them.

when my ds was 14 i was working 2 nights a week 6pm till 12pm, he looked after his sister who was 12, they were fine, rules like no cooking on the gas cooker ect. i was 10mins away and they both had mobiles and knew waht to do if a fire ect started.

double post sorry

Thank you for asking this. I've been wondering if it might be OK to nip out to meet a mate in a pub 5mins walk away leaving my 2. Alone (almost 14 and 12) only 2 months to wait.

i think as long as they can contact you is fine, also mine get on really well and there is no real bickering, my dd knows her brother is in charge and does what he says even now they are 16 and 18 she will defer to him, so i had no prob leaving him in charge at 14, i think the worst thing they ever did was go to bed later than they were supposed to..

I would.

Last year, I left DS (then just 13) alone for a couple of hours. I then had a car crash, and he was alone at home until midnight (DH was away on business - typical).

DS coped brilliantly, and was calm and sensible. I told him he could go next door if he was worried about being alone, but he was absolutely fine. It made me realise how grown up he had become.

My parents used to leave us occasionally from the ages of about 13 (me) and 10 (db). We were absolutely fine. Think I would have been a bit horrified by the thought of a babysitter at 14! Like pp, I was sitting myself!

Pretty sure there are plenty of 14 year olds coping with having children. (or at least there were at the school I went to!)

Yours will be fine for an evening.