To wonder what age to leave my children home alone!

[LondonElle]

Hi all, I have a 13 year old son and an 11 year old daughter ( also two smaller ones)
I left my son who is very nearly 14 years old for up to 6 hours a day ( during the last full lockdown and when I had to work) and he coped really well. My 11 year old ( almost 12) has asked if she can be left if we nip to the shops so for a period of up to an hour no more and I'm not sure .... I know there is no official law only guidance but I'm just wondering what the majority do.
I appreciate everyone will have very different ideas on what's acceptable for them but just wanted to gauge a reaction! Thanks

Yes, I would start leaving her.
Does she never get back from school to an empty house? He's been left a lot less since covid, but my just turned 12 year old has been left for 1 day (teacher training day and no way DH or I could move things about), and lots of 1-2 hour blocks.
His 10 year old brother is asking, and we will leave him for half an hour or so.
Make sure they know the rules (in this house: no heating anything, no sharp knives, dont answer the door, answer the phone if Mummy or Daddy call, and what to do if there is a problem).

I work school hours and my older son/daughters school is further than my other children's school so I generally get in before her.

I've started leaving my 11 year old who starts high school in August for a few hours at a time but I don't think I'll leave youngest who's 9 when she's 11 she's quite anxious and panics at the slightest thing.

An 11 year old should be fine for one hour. More, even.

My daughter is 10 and I’ll occasionally leave her for 10 mins when I’m dropping her younger brother off.
In lockdown, I’d leave them both at home (he’s 9) while I’d pop to the garage for milk etc.
But, they have both been coming to/from school and playing out with friends for ages.
They are sensible, have phones and we have plenty friends and family around here.

at that age I would leave so long as have access to a phone.

I've left mine for up to 30 minutes from when they're 10. DS started babysitting when he turned 14 for the other two in the evening. When they were 12, I'd leave them for 2-3hours max.

It does depend on the child though.

You need to know how they are unsupervised. So, when you're busy etc how do they handle themselves?

I won’t be paying for childcare when my kids go to secondary school so 11. But they are September children

I started to leave them from secondary school, so 11 but not for long until about year 10. I did this comparatively late I think.

We started leaving DD occasionally during the first lockdown when we went to do the food shop - she was 10 at the time. We now leave her every time we go shopping, she much prefers that to shopping or waiting in the car with DH. She's very sensible, she has her mobile and my parents are just round the corner should anything go wrong.

I think it depends on the child but 11 up is a good starting point.

I had to leave my two home alone last year for 60-90 minutes so I could go to the shops. They were 8&10 and left them watching tv with a phone available. Called them half way through. They were fine and proud!

We started with 9.5 to leave her on a Saturday afternoon when we did the weekend shopping. In the beginning we checked that our neighbours were there and she had a phone with our numbers. Strict rules were set up in advance.

When she was 10, nearly 11 we started having her coming home after school alone for 2 hours the odd day and we built up from there.