NSPCC: Children under 12 shouldn't be home alone

[roses2]

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23646867.age-child-can-stay-home-alone-uk-nspcc-advises/

Seems a bit old to me. I started leaving DS home for 1-2 hours age 9. He's now 10 and has walked to school by himself, gone to the local Sainsbury and the park. All within a 10 minute walk. He'll be 11 when he starts secondary school and I fully expect him to get the tube to school by himself (I'll train him of course).

12 seems a bit old to me. I know every child is different but surely this advice just makes parents with capable children feel like they are bad parents?

Chestfeed ;) Yeah the world is bonkers.

I think it's worded to try and dissuade people from leaving young kids alone all day during the holidays. There's a big difference between leaving a 10 year old at home whilst you pop to the supermarket in the same town (I do this regularly and have done for a few months now) and leaving them alone all day whilst you work, potentially several miles away.

If you tell people that it's ok to leave under 12s alone, some people will interpret that as the latter situation being acceptable.

Thanks NSPCC, though I suggest you get your own house in order before dictating how I organise mine. 1) Kids charities shouldn't be employing and defending perverts in their midst 2)if you've got anything to say about kids home alone - stick to the law. It's there for a reason and your press release doesn't override it.

Childcare for a 12yo is almost impossible to find. Most places stop when they go to secondary school. The most I can find is 2/4 hour sports clubs, which is useless as I can't get them there or collect with work. I don't get 13 weeks holiday a year. Not sure how you think people
reconcile the two. We don't even get 13 weeks a year even if both of us take our entire entitlement separately, and often we can't get the holidays off anyway as other people want them as well.

A lot of parents don't have a choice.

Maybe we should all stop working and providing essentials like a roof over DC's head, clothes on their backs and food in their tummies.

Dd is 10 (almost 11) she gets left at home occasionally , although ds15 is there, he stays in his room 24/7 so she’s practically by herself… it’s never for longer than 2 hours, she txts me in that time anyway.. she knows the rules and my mum works close by, and we have family member’s near by also, so if we were further than usual and something happened someone would be close. I wouldn’t dream of leaving her all day during the school holidays though… not yet anyway…

Isn’t there an official legal age?

I totally agree with what the NSPCC have said. I was left to fend for myself after school at 11 but that was not for an extended period.

Having read this thread, I think my child is wild 😳

He's 9, there is no way on god's green earth I could leave him unsupervised in a house.

He'd either flood the bathroom.

Play with matches and melt the bathroom lino (again, also I was WFH when this happened, but dared to be on a Teams meeting and my smoke alarms went off)

Break dishes/windows/TV

Put eggs/soap in the microwave to "see an explosion"

I like my house, I shan't be leaving him in it, unattended any time soon 🤣

I'd think many parents of 12 year olds don't get a choice. I don't know any childcare round here that takes them once they are at secondary school

I allowed my eldest daughters to stay home alone for a couple of hours from about 10, and all day by the time they were 11 in secondary school.
Really depends on the child though. My 10 year old has special needs so absolutely no way would I leave her alone even for 10 minutes.

Having said that I was home alone during the summer holidays when I was 12 as my mum worked full time and I remember it being really lonely. Of course I went and saw my friends but it was horrible not having my mum there to make me lunch and Keep me company. Grateful for all her hard work of course but I do think it led me to get into the wrong crowd as I didn’t have anyone watching over me and by the time she got home at 7 she was knackered.

At 12 I was caring for my 6 year old brother while my mum was at work during school holidays, she was home by 1.30pm but left me in charge. How are kids ever going to grow up knowing how to look after themselves if they don't get chance to try?

Is there something wrong with him?

There is a huge difference between leaving a child even at 12 never mind under for an hour or two while errands are run and leaving them all day while the parents work. All day all week. I would not want my 13 year old left all day for one day never mind all day all week all summer

Seems ott to me and I'm risk averse with this kind of stuff. My DD is nearly 13 and I have never left her home alone because she is very young for her age and has some minor sn.

However, i used to leave my Ds home alone when he was 10/11.. not for very long. When I would drop his sister off at brownies or had an appointment.

A sensible child left home alone for a reasonable period is fine. The press release is aimed at parents leaving their child(ren) home alone for 8-12hrs a day, several days in a row, and pointing out that this is not good for them. Even the most sensible child would start getting bored, lonely or frustrated in the latter scenario, there is then greater potential for them to start making poor choices and putting themselves at risk.

The advice in that article also says children age 6-12 are usually too young to walk to and from school alone. This is ready odd to me. There's a huge difference between a 6 and a 12 year old. DC start secondary school at age 11....vast majority make their own way there. Are all those parents wrong?

Nope no law about leaving children alone. Just "recommendations " such as in the OP and not leaving children under 16? Overnight alone.

True. Maybe if the kids are mature enough to stay alone they should just say "they identify as 15 years old" , problem solved...😂

Would that work though if a parent is negligent
Would they care what the NSPCC advises?

🎯

Accidents happen. How many 10 year olds know what to do if they cut themselves badly or choke?

So you left them for 15 mins - the house could have burned down twice in that time with a minute to spare?

Why posters are mentioning twelve years old is odd, because the NSPCC is fine with that. It's the eight year olds, many who will still have access to the internet, or who are too young not to tell people/be groomed etc, they have an issue with being left for six/seven weeks, alone every day.
This message is also for cultures were this might be the norm. It isn't ok to leave eight/nine year old alone all day, for weeks. Although childcare for older children should have been campaigned for alongside. The childcare laws don't help. We had teens looking after us, which usually involved us playing out all day and just popping in for jam sandwiches, which now wouldn't be allowed.