Single parent…

[redandgreenapples]

I’m a single parent to a 13 year old and have no other support. Looking for opinions on how long you would normally leave a sensible/mature 13 yo. Is it ok to go out locally in the evening for a few hours?

I’d say yes, it is.

Do you have a friendly neighbour who could be called on in an emergency?

Depends on the child, I wouldn’t leave mine as he wouldn’t like it

go through in your mind the worst case scenario things that could happen and check if he’d be able to respond appropriately. I think if they’re relatively mature, have a phone and you’re contactable, and are comfortable with it themselves then it’s fine personally. I know mine would respond appropriately if there was a fire for example, and knows not to open the door. They can contact me and I have a ring doorbell. We also have friendly neighbours that they know they could call on.

Thanks all, we do have neighbours next door who could be called upon and he’s very clever and mature. He’s also happy to be left on his own as he’s often busy with honework.

I am a single parent too and had to leave my son alone for 5 hours one evening a week to work. He was 11.5 when I started doing it. Didn't have any other option. He was always happy about it and played Xbox all night. Plus I would contact him and he could contact me if he needed to.

Yeah I definitely did that. Have got any neighbours who you can check are around?

Sounds perfectly reasonable, if you have rules in place about not opening the door / cooking etc it will be fine. Having a trusted neighbour who is contactable in an emergency is also helpful.

Yes. But I would be home for 9pm. I would rather go out in the day if possible.

Depends on the kid but if he’s sensible and you’re not going far away then yes I’d say it’s okay.

Sure if they don’t mind. I was babysitting at that age.