How long would you leave dc's alone for?

[OneLieIn]

Aged 12 and 10 both pretty responsible, in the house alone???

Depends if they fight.

Not really

I think it would so depend on how they are,where you are,how quick you could get back,if they know what to do in an emergency - I think it'd depend on each and every circumstance for me.
Sorry that's not much help

But I have to say that if they fought my answer would probably be that I wouldn't...

Maybe an hour? My ds is 13 next week and I've left him for an hour quite a few times.

You have to be confident thy know what the smoke alarm sounds like though, and know not to cook/answer the door/try to decorate.

Dh would be 15 mins away, friends about 10.

yeah, depends if they fight easily, that is one of my big reasons for not leaving them alone more than five min (they are 13 and 11). Do they know not to answer the door to strangers? do they know what to do in an emergency ( do they have a list of important phone numbers? etc

No more than a week ;)

Not an issue for me yet as DS is only one but I'm amazed at the responses here.

I was a latch key kid, used to cone home, let myself in etc after school from the age of 11, I'm sure. So it would be 2 or 3 hours.

Yeah, 2-3 hours here too. From secondary age my kids have both been at home sometimes on their own till about 4pm while I'm at work - unless you have handy, non-working relatives what else do you do with them?