To leave 8yr old home alone

[OneTwoToDo]

Let's say we live in the land of utopia where the outside world poses no threat to your child, and everyone around them is trustworthy, kind and reliable..
Would you be happy to leave your 8 year old home by themselves when you went to work for the day?

What if they had a house key? And friends to play with?

Would you make sure they had something to eat maybe, or that they had a phone if they needed to contact you? Or ask if a familiar grown up could keep an eye on them?

Would you worry?

(this is not about me or my child)

Not a chance

No, far too young.

Nope

No.

1,000,000% no

How odd. What a weird thing to think about unless you were intending to do this?

An 8 year old could hurt themselves even in a 'land of utopia' 🙄

In the utopian land that you describe I would hope to be able to leave my dc home for short periods of time between their 8th and 9th birthdays and then gradually increase this. So starting with dropping their sibling at a club a few minutes away. But a whole day is more about them feeling lonely as well, so for me that would definitely be secondary school level

Absolutely not.

No

Never in a million years!

I think it depends on how long he's staying by himself. 1/2 hours maybe, if he's generally a sensible kid, and I'll leave ndn a key, ask them to keep an eye on or something. If it's more than 2 hours I don't think it's a good idea tbh

Perhaps for 5-10 mins while I post a letter but not for a whole day, that’s mad…

No, of course not.

Not at 8 no

No. During lockdown 1 we had kids as old as 14 at school because they weren’t deemed mature enough to be home alone. I leave my 11 & 14 yo at home for a maximum of 2 hours between them finishing school a me getting home.

I think the child would be very unhappy left alone for hours. So no.

Nope
Weve only just started leaving our 10 year old if we nip out for 10/15 mins with the dog
No chance an 8 yo

No, too young.

No.. A neighbour of mine did this. And obviously it's not the land of utopia, but quite safe (non UK).
I couldn't believe they thought it was OK.

Nope. My 8 yr old needs some kind of adult input either for help or guidance or reassurance about every hour or two even when engrossed in an activity. I’d say that in the past two years the period he’s ok alone has gone up dramatically from about 45mins to nearer 2h.

Nope WAY too young. Never left mine alone until he was 15 and he's a responsible kid !

My worry would be how they would cope in the event of a fire or an accident. So no way.
Plus mine would just watch tv all day and eat whatever crap they could find in the kitchen.

Poor kid.

I should add that I was around (WFH) and they knew this, but never asked me to keep an eye, which I would have done.
Only found out the child was alone when child asked to come for lunch since no one was home.

My ds 7 says he gets lonely if I am downstairs..