My DD is 8. I am a single and lone parent, no family close by etc.
I do a hobby which takes me out of the house on Friday from 7 till 8.30pm. I take my DD with me.
She has asked me at what age I would consider leaving her at home by herself.
I said I would not even consider it before she is 10.
I have no sense of what a 10 yo is like, it was just a number I picked which was far enough away to put it firmly in the future, but not too far to make it seem like a life time to her.
I would be about 3 miles away (5 mins in car).
Was my guess realistic? What do people with 10 year old think?
My DD is generally a very mature child. She has been trained since the age of 2 to be able to dial 999, get help in an emergency, safety issues etc, as I am a single person and always worried what would happen if I fell down the stairs and nobody knew! She also doesn't open the front door without me being there and knows how to lock and unlock the doors if she needed to in a fire. By age 10, I would assume she would have more maturity and life skills.