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Original poster

What age for First House Key?

102 replies

Lockdownbear · 08/04/2021 18:33

Thinking about a thread by an employer suggesting parents WFH can not be keeping an eye on their school aged kids and they should have childcare in place which to me is just nuts. I'm thinking back to days of old and the 'latch key' generation.

I got my key when I was 10, I can't imagine giving my 10yo a key. However he is more than capable of entertaining himself while I work. I just wouldn't trust him completely alone.

How old were you when you got your key and how old were your kids?

OP posts:
OutsidebutnotAlone · 08/04/2021 19:07

9 years old, I was in a 3 tier system so i went into year 5 at a middle school while my brother was still at First School and needed picking up so I walked myself home, entertained myself for 30 mins while my mum finished work and picked my brother up.

By 12 (year 7/8) I was being left alone for 2-3 hours at a time and keeping an eye on my brother (2 years younger). We were good kids though and never fought (would ignore each other mostly),

My DDs 6 and I can't imagine giving her her own key in 3 years time.

3CCC · 08/04/2021 19:09

I was 9

My parents got a new front door with a new lock so they included me when they put the order in for the number of keys they needed

Tbf rarely needed it until I was in my late teens but was handy when I did

MojoJojo71 · 08/04/2021 19:12

My DD asked me this the other day and I said when she is 11 and starting secondary school. ‘Wow’ she said ‘starting secondary will be awesome because you’ve already said I can have a mobile phone and my ears pierced then and now I’m getting my own key too’ 🤣

HerRoyalNotness · 08/04/2021 19:12

I would have been 5 and my brother 6. We often walked home from school and let ourselves in.

My oldest was 10. I had to give him a key and a phone as his dad was working away and thought he should have them for emergencies.

RedMarauder · 08/04/2021 19:14

I got a key when I was 8.

It was really a spare as normally one of my older siblings would collect me from school, or I would be walk home with a friend's mother and someone would be in.

Randomly one of my older siblings, who were mid-teens and older, would turn up at my school to ask me for my key.

It took until I was 10 when I actually had to use it consistently.

Beetlewing · 08/04/2021 19:16

This made me remember my exh said my son at 12 could "sit in the garage" until I got home but he wouldn't let him have a key.

BrumBoo · 08/04/2021 19:17

11, officially. We moved, previously lived a street away from my grandparents. I'd have been waiting for my mother to come home for a minimum of 2 hours (often 3) outside otherwise.

Unofficially, I was left with a house key from aged 6 as my mother 'popped out' occasionally. I was warned only to unlock the door/leave in an emergency though. She could bothered to walk me to her parents house...

Thepilotlightsgoneout · 08/04/2021 19:17

Mine are 10 and 11 and have keys but they aren’t letting themselves into an empty house. Someone is always here, its just to save me having to go and let them in!

billy1966 · 08/04/2021 19:19

Key boxes are THE best thing.
Agree a code and everyone in the house has access.
Simple and so handy.

moochingtothepub · 08/04/2021 19:20

10, when they went to high school (change a year early here), dd1 sometimes beat me home as I had to pick up dd2. Dd2 "reminded" me (aka whinged until I got one cut) when she was 10 despite they fact I was at home

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 08/04/2021 19:20

Summer holidays before secondary along with mobiles.

Kdubs1981 · 08/04/2021 19:21

12, first year secondary

Peachypips78 · 08/04/2021 19:22

We just leave our doors unlocked all the time (bumpkin)

BackforGood · 08/04/2021 19:22

Mine were 9, as I felt it was a good idea for them to be used to opening the door, before they were on their own, when they went to secondary school.
I would have been 11, when I went to secondary, as my Mum worked at the same Primary school as I attended so we came home together before that.

I don't get why you can't imagine a 10 yr old having a key.

ZenNudist · 08/04/2021 19:25

11 when I started secondary school. I will do same for ds. Might get a key safe too.

MrsTophamHat · 08/04/2021 19:26

Approaching secondary age seems sensible. I'll probably set up some test runs first and a key box seems like a good idea. I've got family living really close by though so it's unlikely they'd be really stuck if they forgot their key.

maddiemookins16mum · 08/04/2021 19:28

Certainly primary school, I let myself in, made squash and got a biscuit and watched Magpie. I also set the table and turned the electric oven on at 5pm.

merryhouse · 08/04/2021 19:29

I regularly took The Key On The String when I was 9 (once older sister was at secondary) to let us in at lunchtime (parents would get back within the hour).

When I was older I rarely had to use it - with 8 people in the household most of the times there was no-one in were because we were all out together.

Can't remember when we got keys cut for sons. I don't work so they rarely need them to get in (we still have old doors without Yale locks).

Daisy829 · 08/04/2021 19:29

My DD is 10 & we have just got her one. During lockdown I’ve had to leave her a couple of times on her own for a short while when she’s been schooling. She has also started to walk to & from school with her friend. I wasn’t comfortable at first but circumstances forced it & shes v sensible. We also live on a small street where she knows everyone if any probs.

RedactedTaeFeck · 08/04/2021 19:31

When I was a kid, i didn't need a key as the house was never locked. I was home alone from maybe about 7 or 8. My own DC were about 10, It was initially more just something tied inside their schoolbag for emergencies, basically in case I was late back from work (I finished for school ending time) and then when DC1 was 12 and in high school, I needed to pick him up (no school transport) so DC2 age 11 and still in primary would go home straight from primary and let himself in. He'd be on his own for about half an hour or so.

Katiepoes · 08/04/2021 19:32

My ten yearold got one in January. I am working from home but am often on calls so it makes sense for her to just let herself in. She fetches a snack then comes to say hi, it works fine for us.

sunflowersandbuttercups · 08/04/2021 19:33

I was eleven. I started taking the bus to/from school and needed to be able to lock up etc.

Original poster
Lockdownbear · 08/04/2021 19:33

@BackforGood

Mine were 9, as I felt it was a good idea for them to be used to opening the door, before they were on their own, when they went to secondary school. I would have been 11, when I went to secondary, as my Mum worked at the same Primary school as I attended so we came home together before that.

I don't get why you can't imagine a 10 yr old having a key.

It's the usual combination of factors. I don't think DS is as mature as I was at the same age. But then I had more freedom walking to school with pals where he goes on the bus.
OP posts:
ShinyMe · 08/04/2021 19:36

For years we only had 2 keys. One for us, and one that lived with the neighbour. When we went out we hid our key under a rock in the garden wall and whoever's came home first retrieved it. I can't remember when we stopped using the hole in the wall, maybe when I was in my late teens in the late 80s? The neighbours all did the same, and I knew where all our closest neighbours kept their keys.

Bayleaf25 · 08/04/2021 19:38

Last year of primary so 10/11, they would often arrive home about 20 minutes before me so would just let themselves in.

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