What age would you leave kids home alone while you went out for an evening?

[Faciadipasta]

Just that really? I don't mean overnight or anything but maybe out for dinner so heading off about 7.30, home about 11. Something like that? My youngest is only 7 so def won't be for a few years yet but planning ahead!!

It really depends on the child - their level of maturity, sense of responsibility... You know your own kid(s) best, so you can trust your own intuition rather than go by what other parents say.

Mine are 12 (nearly 13) and 10 and, while I trust them not to set the house on fire, I still get a babysitter because I know if we left them alone, they would be straight on the Nintendo all evening and would never get to sleep afterwards.

Ours were 15 and 11 but pretty sensible and we have great neighbours
We went for a meal 5 minutes away the first time

Agreed it does completely depend on the age of the child. I was about 7/8 when parents started leaving me with older siblings. They'd leave me alone by 11.

Mine is 14 and happily stays home during the day and has done since about 11 but still doesn't like to be home alone after dark. I'm sure at some point in the next 12 months he'll get over that but it really depends on the kid. I wouldn't worry about his safety but I wouldn't want him to be scared.

Mine are 12 and 13 and are fine for an hour alone during the day, but would be uneasy in the evening/night.

Mine was 13, nearly 14, but he’s quite mature for his age.

Mine are 11 and 13 and in the past 6 months have started going for a local meal in the evening and leaving them. They are both sensible kids and get on well so just watch a film in the evening together whilst we are gone.

I can't imagine doing it just for a meal out but DS will be alone after school at 11. If I was going out socially I would possibly leave him with a friend and take away pizzas so he doesn't feel like he's missing out which would be my main concern. Even at 9 as much as I wouldn't leave him at all right now I'm pretty sure he would survive.

My 12 yo would be fine. Younger siblings maybe by the time they get to 12

DD 11 loves being home alone but I wouldn't be out until 11pm.

Mine were 12 and 14. We were around 10 mins away and my parents lived round the corner. Both sensible and trustworthy.

Depends on the child and surroundings. Nice area, safe home, sensible child, easy to access neighbours is a lot different from unsafe area, immature child and grumpy or inaccessible neighbours, it makes a big difference.

I would have to play it by ear as the child got to 11ish ... but i imagine my now 8 year old will be ok by 12.

Some kids would get freaked out left alone in the house during an evening.

It's not the same as you leaving them to go off to Tesco on a bright Saturday morn. for example. The house is quiet, it could be dark out. Garden all dark, Funny noises ect.

Similar here. We went out for our anniversary this year and left ours alone (we were about 1 mile away) they were 12 and 15 and that's the first time we've been out in the evening. They are regularly on their own after school or in school holidays.

Mine was about 14-15 if we went out just for the evening

Really depends, but we first left ours together at just 12 and nearly 14.
could have def left the eldest at 13 - she was babysitting at 14.
Youngest wasn’t keen on being home alone so it took longer, plus his older sibling was around so it didn’t happen until she started going out more.
Left them for a bit after work from 11 & 13 (end of year 7 & 9) when I got a job.

Leave ours now at 14 & 10.

I was left alone from about 7 years old for a few hours at a time as a latch key kid. I had to come in the back way so the neighbours didnt report us . I walked myself to brownies once an hour early because the clocks had changed and the one in our kitchen hadn’t been so I got there super early and was sent home by a lady who knew my mother. Mother freaked out that they would know I was alone and I got beat for that. Other than that nothing bad ever happened to me or my little siblings I used to look after from Newborn at 8 years old. Obviously this is a fairly extreme version of the 80’s DGAF parenting.
my own daughter was left for a few hours from 11 I think.
DS is much younger and I expect will be well into secondary school because he’s SEN and quite naive .

12 and 14 for us but we stay local and definitely not til 11.

16, but we also have neighbours that they could have gone over to in an emergency.

For getting back at 11.30, 14. I started leaving DS for 6.30-8.30 at 12 when he didn't want to sit through a volunteer meeting. It does all depend on the child, what support they could access a couple of doors away if they were spooked and so on though

We have just started leaving ours (both 12) but we stay very local and back by 10pm. The kids have said they are not happy to go to sleep until we are back, hence being back by 10pm. We are hoping by 13 or 14 we will be able to go into town and stay out later.

I was left in the evening from about 11, but my mum was back by 9pm. From 13 she started coming back later, at 11ish. I loved it. I wanted control over the tv 😂

Younger two are 13 and nearly 10 (eldest is 18 but away at uni in term time) and we have just started to leave them without a babysitter for a handful of very local evenings - by which I mean dinner with neighbours, or pub around the corner i.e. we could get home in 5 minutes if necessary.

Anything further away than that we would still get a babysitter.

However - they are both quite sensible and mature, and they are proud to be considered sensible enough to stay home alone. They both now actively dislike having a babysitter and we give them extra pocket money for behaving well and going to bed at the appointed time whilst we are out, which they love!

BUT the other caveat is that we live in a very safe area - we have a house in a cul de sac with lovely neighbours - so we feel quite at ease.

Agree though it completely depends on the DC themselves and how sensible/confident/mature they are. We have friends who have DC the same ages and I would absolutely not leave those DC without a babysitter as it would be carnage!