leaving teens alone in house oernight..

[ilovearnold]

My ds aged 14 - 15 nearly asked if he could stay at home by himself whilst dh ,dd and myself away one night/two days at half term a half day drive away
Im aware that the Children act gives guidelines - from memory its about aged 14?

He is responsible with keys ,cookers,may not eat well and spend unlimited time on x box and be lonely if he did not invite friends round - im not sure who is around at the mo.We may have a next door neighbour around.I just feel its too early, but he just doesnt want to come -even with a pal- which has been offered as a option.He will come if we insist- it s just his preference..when did you first leave teens - this is a new one on me.!!

I don't have teens, I just know that my parents did this when I was about fourteen and my friend and I raided their homemade wine and got very very drunk. I know that this is not constructive as far as advice goes, only may make sure any alcohol is locked away. Apart from that I did act fairly responsibly. Someone with a much better take on this will be along in a minute.

I would have been fine at 14.

I feel it depends on how sensible your teen is. I have a 14 yr old DS and I personally wouldnt leave him on his own overnight. My reasons are because he is so head in his phone and doesnt know what time of day it is half the time. Mine does have a key but tends to leave it in the door for all and sundry to help themselves. If you feel your teen is sensible then you have to start somewhere :)

I wouldn't have left my 14yr old at home all night because she would almost certainly have thrown a mahoosive party and invited every single person with a facebook account

I'm sure not all teenagers are quite so irresponsible and daft though.

it sounds like we have too peas in a pod sposh haha :)

No way!
And I remember what happened when niece 14 was left with niece 17, and parents arrived home a day early.

My ds is 16 and I wouldn't leave him in the house overnight because:

he would probably bring a crowd of friends in
people might know he's home alone and invite themselves along
I would worry that he left gas hob on or burned food while cooking
the house went on fire

etc etc

But then that's my ds sadly :(

My DD (15) is sensible enough to be left at home in some respects, but would probably invite around more friends than I'd be happy with (although I don't think she'd go for a full-blown party), eat nothing but junk, go to bed extremely late (6 am?) and wake up around mid-afternoon the following day. The friends she had around would invariably drink and throw up/pass out. Apart from that, all would be well

My parents first left me and my sister when we were 18 and 16. We invited a lot of friends round who pretty much trashed the place, spent the whole of the next day trying to clear up, and had to plead with our neighbours afterwards not to tell our parents .

I actually think we'd have been better behaved at 14/15 but I think it does depend on the child. Could he go and stay with a friend instead?

I left my 15 yr old alone for 4 nights / 5 days. He had ground rules and didn't trash the house. I had a neighbour who was 'keeping an eye' - i called every day and id arranged for him to go to different family members/friends for dinner each evening. It actually gave him and us an excellent opportunity to work on some of the skills he needed (and you usually forget about)

It is a question of personality, both of the teen himself and of his friends. I could be trusted at a far younger age than my db, not because I had better judgment but because I was less likely to be swayed by friends to act against my judgment.

Thanks all!I think after looking at all the posts it would be lk as he is semsible and not swayed by others and is not on face book to inadvertantly advertise he is by self.I will ask a neigbour to invite him for tea.I expect he will be on x box too much though without regulation !!!!!