To leave my 12 and 9 year old home alone together!

[CandyCaneCrisis]

I have a bit of a catastrophe. We have recently moved to a new area and I have no one I can ask for help here yet.

DD1 has been ill with a temp and cough, resulting in multiple days off sick. As a result, I haven’t even thought about the fact that tomorrow is the 1st December. Every single year, their elves arrive with their advent calendars.

I basically need to nip out and buy calendars, without my DD’s. Our supermarket is about 3 minutes from our house. WIBU to nip out and leave the girls home alone for 10 mins? Not sure if there is another way I can buy them without them knowing.

DD1 has a phone. I could even stay on the phone the whole time.

They’ll be fine. At their ages they’ll know it’s you not an elf anyway so ease the reins a bit.

I would.

Good to practice being alone, so an excuse to leave them for ten minutes is a good one (if they’re sensible).

Could you order them through deliveroo or just eat?? Then you can say its something boring when they knock at the door

They will be fine.

I thought this was going to be several hours, not 15 mins.

As long as they aren't likely to start WW3 or burn the house down, they will ve absolutely fine.

Of course. At 9 mine were walking to school alone and coming back to an empty house. For an hour or so a coupleof times a week. At 12 they often went on the train to other cities alone to see family.
Obviously depends on the child and if theye are a liability then need to reconsider.

I would at those ages, unless you have specific cause to be concerned about the behaviour of 1 or both if left alone.

I’d leave my 8YO home alone for a quick pop to the nearest shop (not for any longer though). 9 and 12 is absolutely fine. Just make sure they have some means to contact you and you them in an emergency- does the 12YO have a phone?

They will be fine unless additional needs, many 12 year olds are left all day in summer holidays. Though at 9&12 you could let them choose an advent calendar, aren’t the elves retired by now? My dd1 chose a cheese one about that age and dd2 had a pork scratchings one around 12

12 & 9?!! Of course!!

(As in, of course leave them, not of course being unreasonable. Big YANBU!)

Fine at this age and for a short time

Happy to report that calendars were purchased and our Christmas tradition has been saved! Thank you all ❤️

YANBU especially with one having a phone. Just give them strict instructions to not mess with toasters ect ( not saying they would it's just my dd has been known to leave burning toast in the toaster before 😅🤦‍♀️ )

My children are 11 and 9 and I will leave them at home whilst I pop to our local corner shop which is literally a 2 minute walk away ( my 11 year old also has a phone )

Sometimes I'll also leave them for around 15 minutes if it's raining and they don't want to come on a dog walk with me ( but I basically just circle our row of houses so I'm only ever a few minutes away from home )

They'll be fine, don't worry about it 🙂

Yes, i go walk the dog whilst dh at work & mine are the same ages!

YABU for even asking.

How long do you walk your dog for and how far from your house do you go? Asking as I leave my 11 and 9 year old at home whilst I walk my dog occasionally, but I feel really funny about it so stay close to home. If you go further and longer I might feel a little better doing the same ( I know every family is different I'm autistic so struggle to tell what's okay and what's not with things like this )

Genuinely op, the most concerning thing about this is the question. My dds are 17&15, the 17 yo is expected in society to be fairly independent. Ie jobs, driving, public transport, even different countries on their own. You don’t get to that stage by anything other than steps. Querying whether you can leave a 12 & 9 year old home alone for ten mins is already quite far behind on the steps.

I shocked you haven’t done already! 12 is well old enough to be responsible for a 9 year old for a few minutes…