To think a 15 year old should have a key to his own home,?

[Honeymoan]

DN was round hanging out with DS and realised he had left something at his house ( in the next village). I said I would run him round and he could get it but he said his mum wasn't in and "doesn't let him have a key" .

He's a sensible mature 15 year old, volunteers and is well behaved and helpful. I just assumed most children had a key long before 15? DS has had one since before he started secondary, albeit at first it was partly to practice using one.

That is a bit strange. We gave our DDs one when they started walking home from school alone, just in case there was a problem and nobody was home.

My 14 year old has a key, but he keeps it in his school bag (usually only needs it if he’s first home on a weekday), so if he was out somewhere else, it wouldn’t occur to him to take it, unless reminded.

I gave DD one when she started secondary and was walking home. In the first few weeks she got home 2 minutes before me so was able to let herself in.

DH wasn’t happy as he wasn’t allowed one until he was 18! He only went to school/college a few minutes away. I’m sure his brother had one much earlier and it was just a means of control by his DM so he couldn’t stay at home alone. I think she only gave in as they were going abroad.

I've never had a key to my parents' house.

My dc had keys once they were at secondary.

But that was different situations. Grew up fairly rural where public transport was rubbish, so it would have been very rare that I'd ever have needed it, as they tended to have to pick me up (no car for me to drive). My dc came back from secondary on their own and used buses to get about.

That’s ridiculous. I was never given a key to my family home as a teenager but I didn’t need one, my mam was always there when I got home from school.
My DC’s got a key when they started secondary school. My DS set a record by losing a total of 8 keys to our previous house. Then he learned to be a bit more organised and it hasn’t happened since. I just made sure the fob had no identification on it.
DD hasn’t lost one in 3 years so she’s doing a lot better. Not trusting a 15 year old at all is not only impractical but disrespectful.

I'm so sorry to hear this Original Commenter 😔I've only just seen your post & haven't had a chance yet to read responses, so I'm wondering if anyone's suggested asking your dear Nephew’s parents, if they've considered giving him his very own key yet?
I'm praying this will soon be resolved & maybe they've just not yet realised how helpful this would be 💚
Wishing You&Yours all the utmost very best 🫂

Tbh never pccur for me to give eldest dc a key until he was nearly 16 as I'm always home when he was home as have younger children.

My 10yo ds has a key to our backdoor. 15yo dd has a key but is useless with it infact only today we went out came home 4 hours later….. she was out door UNLOCKED. She was bollocked.

10yo only needs backdoor key as he walks home once a week from school and dd is in but usually in her bedroom so won’t hear him knocking. He is super sensible with it too so see no reason why you dn doesn’t have one.

We have a key safe instead as the locks we have mean the keys can’t be cut.

I got my key in with my 16th birthday card.