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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a child of 8 should not be left

64 replies

notnow2 · 22/01/2015 12:46

To walk home from school, and stay alone until 18.30. Someone I know says that this is the age that kids can start to do this as childminders don't take children over 8.

OP posts:
SunnyBaudelaire · 22/01/2015 12:47

Someone you know has obviously not had a run in with social services. They are talking rubbish.

Favouritethings · 22/01/2015 12:50

Childminders do take children over 8!!! My son is 8 and I would most definitely not leave him home alone for 3 hours!!

HowCanIMissYouIfYouWontGoAway · 22/01/2015 12:52

AFAIK, There is no law that says under X age children cannot be left alone (although maybe there ought to be!) but if something happens to the child then the parent is held accountable and can be charged with neglect.

8 is very young to have to do that.

Childminders absolutely do take children over 8.

skylark2 · 22/01/2015 12:52

There is no legal age. Children shouldn't be left alone unless they're considered old enough and responsible enough to do so.

What age that is will depend on the situation. It'll be different for a child walking home 3 miles to a house with no neighbours than for a child who lives next door to the school in a flat with a trusted next door neighbour who will be in from when the child gets home until a parent does. I can imagine 8 being a suitable age for the latter.

Original poster
notnow2 · 22/01/2015 12:53

Her kids are young 2 and baby so she has no idea really. I google childminders over 8 and there are different requirements so that must be where she is confused.

OP posts:
ghostyslovesheep · 22/01/2015 12:53

my 12 year old still goes to our CM after school - with her 10 and 6 year old sisters!

8 is too young unless she's a very mature 8

Chavaloy · 22/01/2015 12:54

Child minders will take children of any age - as long as you are paying them.
There is no law saying the age a children may be left alone at home. Some 8 year olds are indeed very responsible.
Some 8 year olds are probably very capable of walking a short way home, and being at home alone for 2-3 hours. Some. But not very many and none that I know! I know our school wouldn't allow this - at the age of 8 you have to be collected from school by a parent/carer/minder etc. I wouldn't have it any other way and I wouldn't contemplate leaving my child home alone for 2-3 hours.

Anotheronesoon · 22/01/2015 12:56

Eight is far too young. Social services and child protection services would have a field day.

Jackieharris · 22/01/2015 12:56

The law leaves it up to the parents to decide.

treaclesoda · 22/01/2015 12:57

The walking home from school bit wouldn't concern me, at my DD's school it is pretty standard for 8 year olds to walk home from school without an adult.

But coming home to an empty house doesn't sound at all sensible for an 8 year old. And as for childminders not taking children over 8? I know 14 year olds who get off the school bus and go to a childminders house until their parents can pick them up after school.

SunnyBaudelaire · 22/01/2015 12:58

yes it does but the reality is that parents can be in trouble with ss if what they are doing comes to the attention of the authorities. It happened to me when I left my two ten year olds at home alone for about an hour and a half.

5madthings · 22/01/2015 13:01

Walking home from school at eight is fine, my ds3 has done this, but being home alone til 6:30 is a bit much imo.

Summerisle1 · 22/01/2015 13:03

There's no legal bar on leaving a child of 8 at home alone but even though I was a fairly liberal parent, I wouldn't have considered leaving either of mine for that length of time. No way. Walking home alone would be OK depending on the safety of the route but even a sensible 8 year old is too young to be coming home to an empty house for several hours.

Of course childminders take children over the age of 8!

Original poster
notnow2 · 22/01/2015 13:05

I think she had been looking for a cm and seen the rules were different and was trying to "help" me save money on after school care!! I use a club that takes up to age 11 so I don't know much about cms

OP posts:
Blackout234 · 22/01/2015 13:06

I believe you can be prosecuted if your child (We're talking about anyone under 16 here) is injured or worse when they're home alone. walking home from school if less than a 2-3 mile walk, fine. coming home to an empty house... nope. recipe for disaster

mynameissecret · 22/01/2015 13:07

Childminders in England just don't have to include children over 8 in their ratios they can still take them.

RoundRobinSparkles · 22/01/2015 13:08

I wonder if there's been crossed wires? CM absolutely can and do take children over 8 but you don't have to register as a cm if you're only looking after a child over the age of 8. Maybe they heard this and thought that CM don't take 8 year olds Confused.

Hoppinggreen · 22/01/2015 13:11

My daughter is a very sensible 10 and I wouldn't do it

grocklebox · 22/01/2015 13:12

Thats what I did when I was 8.

LisaMed · 22/01/2015 13:13

My eight year old would hate it. He loves the company and the reassurance of mum being around. On the whole he is sensible enough to manage to make himself a snack and a drink, although he would have me do it for him (working on that) but what if something went wrong? What if the water went off, or there was an accident because he was doing something that was normal for an eight year old? What if there was an opportunistic burglar, or something got stuck, or a meter reader?

I think, theoretically, if everything was okay, my eight year old would be fine, but he would be unhappy and I'd never put it to the test.

theendoftheendoftheend · 22/01/2015 13:13

There isn't a law specifying an age, but there are guidelines and if you don't adhere to them and something goes wrong that's when you find yourself in hot water

MyballsareSandy · 22/01/2015 13:14

14 year olds going to a child minders ShockShock.

Number3cometome · 22/01/2015 13:15

My DS (12) picks up my 7 year old DD, gets on a bus and travels home with her twice a week. They wait at home until I arrive home from work.

My DS and DD are both very mature, both have mobile phones and neighbours they can speak to should anything happen.

Would I allow my 8 year old to walk home from school and let herself in?
No, I think that is a tad too young, however it is not illegal.

Childminders do take children over 8, but the parent may not think this is necessary. Just because you couldn't imagine your child doing it, doesn't mean another child is not mature enough.

(FYI I would not leave DD at home on her own without DS there at ANY time)

SurlyCue · 22/01/2015 13:15

My ds is 9 and absoloutely could be left alone from 3 til 6.30 after school, i know he would get himself a snack and do his homework and he knows all the neighbours, we are on good terms with them. He is very sensible. But there is no way i would ever do it. So he goes to the CMer with his brother.

treaclesoda · 22/01/2015 13:17

well, in fairness to the 14 year olds I know who go to childminders, the situation is that we live in a rural village, and the kids live a few miles outside the village in the country. The bus home from school only comes as far as the village, so they have no safe way of getting those last few miles home. So they go to a childminder's house where they sit and do their homework and have a cuppa until their parents can collect them on their way home from work.

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