To leave 2 x 11 year olds at home

[Whoopsywoo]

For an hour at 8pm?

Yes of course.

I'm surprised at the ones saying no.

It's a good small way to build independence.

Give them boundaries - no cooking/opening door etc.

Most kids have a phone so can contact you should they need.

My 11 yr old would happily do that and has had times on her own day and evening for a while. I'll also leave her and 14 Yr old for an entire evening when we go out.

Cant see the issue personally. I was alone alot at that age. After school etc id walk home, let myself in, make myself dinner etc. Id probably be alone for 3 or 4 hours.

I left mine at that age, but only if I knew my neighbours were in, they (the neighbours) were great for the first couple of years of me going back to work and transitioning to not having sitters, kids knew (and did a couple of times) they could call them, perfect for that in between stage

It’s fine.

You know your children better than a bunch of strangers online.

My DD is ridiculously sensible and Covid19 matured her even more to be self sufficient and be on her own in the house (whilst both parents worked within the home but tied up in long online meetings for hours on end)

When covid was over she was 10 years old and was regularly left on her own. Some people have an opinion on that but I’m of the view that I know my child. I have assessed the risks and have taught her things to do / not do and what she could do if a situation happened.

I never leave her on her own if shes uncomfortable (she doesn’t like night time, eg I offered to pick a friend up from her works do to save taxi cost, but dd didn’t want to be on her own asleep, which is of course fair enough).

My ds is 11 - year 6.

One day a week he walks home from school (10 mins safe Road) lets himself in. I give him a quick call at 3.45 to check all well. His sister Y9 is dropped back at 4.15. And I'm back at 5.15.

Another day a week I pick him up drop him home and then he's alone till Dd is back at 1615. Then they're both alone till DH back at 1730.

In this day and age is so much easier with phones etc - you can be in touch or FT anytime even just to say hi.

I think the only only thing that gives me pause in this case is whether two 11 year olds might be less sensible than one, and also that 8pm is later than "after school".

But to me it still seems fine and an hour is not long.

I’ll add that as the next generation of parents (assuming 25-45 year olds on here), I think we’re far more cautious than our parents were.

I remember being on my own all of y6 for 2 hours after school until my finished work at 5pm. And I’d have walked 10 minutes home too along a main road 🤔🤣

I would have said yes if they had been siblings, but not with a friend, no. At that age, I'm not keen on leaving my child on their own with a friend in the house for anything longer than me nipping to the shops briefly.

Oh dear, that's me excluded. I'm 55 and my youngest is 10😃 I was a child in the seventies and played out all day, sometimes in the dark when Mum left my dad in charge to go and have a bit of a life and he 'forgot' about us! I was also allowed to stay at home alone all day on a Saturday from about 12 while everyone else went shopping in town. I loved it! But would I allow my kids to do this? No fecking way! An hour or two is fine though, if they're happy with it.

🤣 I forgot about Saturday nights too. My parents would go to the working man’s club and I’d be bored and walk back on my own (in the dark) and go to bed!

gosh, I’d never let my dc do that now!

It takes my son double that to get to school. He's probably safer in the house for an hour.