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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Leaving 15 yo DS home alone overnight??

46 replies

Yonihadtoask · 28/07/2013 13:40

Would you??

He is happy to be home alone. Has a mobile phone, and cam contact family who live nearby.

We will be just over an hour drive away.

DS is 15.5. Quite sensible. Can cook basic foods. Will lock the doors.

OP posts:

colditz · 28/07/2013 13:41

That's a fantastic idea, I mean, I assume you WANT your house full of everyone under 25 in the neighbourhood, yes?

Sparklingbrook · 28/07/2013 13:43

I think only you know whether your child would be ok being left and wouldn't have a FB houseparty.

I know that DS1 (14) would be fine, but he wouldn't want to be left overnight.

JennyPiccolo · 28/07/2013 13:44

I went to Uni at 16 and lived away from home, I'm sure he will cope for one night.

DiaryOfAWimpyMum · 28/07/2013 13:44

No never.

DiaryOfAWimpyMum · 28/07/2013 13:46

I think it's different if you 'go away to uni'.

Mine is only 13 but he would have friends in, it could get out of control, he isn't confident enough to stop a full blown house smash up party.

Also, I was 15 once.

Notsoblonde · 28/07/2013 13:47

Shall I tell you about my bf at school, she was left home alone, had a huge party, lots of alcohol, lots of boys few people had sex, she was 15....

ChristineDaae · 28/07/2013 13:47

I was left alone at 15. No wild house parties just a couple if friends over. Only you know of you trust your son

LineRunner · 28/07/2013 13:52

My DS is 15 but I only very occasionally leave him when I know DD (17) is also home.

It would never occur to me they'd have friends round without checking. They wouldn't dare, tbh.

But a sensible nearly-16-year-old should be ok.

Reiltin · 28/07/2013 13:58

What friends of mine did when their kids were younger was not tell them they'd be away overnight. They'd say they'd be back at say seven, then call to say it'd be more like ten, etc. eventually, they'd say they'd be back in the morning. No time for party planning!

mrscog · 28/07/2013 14:04

I'm sure he'll be fine. My parents left me for a fortnight at that age and went to America!

orangeandemons · 28/07/2013 14:07

If you want your house trashed, sure why not? I remember teenage parties when parents were away as huge huge fun. Including the one where the patio doors got smashed, bannister broken, stereo broken, and someone was sick in the chest freezer....and we were naice teenagers...

Doilooklikeatourist · 28/07/2013 14:09

Left DS at about that age .
He was told he could have a couple of friends round he had 7
At about 3am they got bored of playing X box and decided to go outside .
As we live in a very quiet area with lots of old people with not enough to do , the police and fire brigade were called (! I know ! Mad )
They werent doing anything wrong at all . Just being outside .
It was all fine though

At that age they need to start to be independent .

cory · 28/07/2013 14:56

Some teens are fine, some are not. I would trust mine.

Viking1 · 28/07/2013 15:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sparklingbrook · 28/07/2013 15:31

I don't like the assumption that any 15 year old left alone would have a huge drug taking, alcohol fuelled houseparty complete with gatecrashers.

orangeandemons · 28/07/2013 15:35

No, it's not always the one left alone. Often their friends tell people and then it snowballs.

Sorry, but as a secondary school teacher, I hear all about it in class. So and so's parents are away, etc etc. I hear all the planning and the excitement, so I personally wouldn't do it. Also my dh who is now 19 was very easy going and as soft a shite. He always said he wouldn't have a party, and maybe he wouldn't have, but someone else might have invited everyone. Even if they just have a few friends round it can get rowdy.

chocoluvva · 28/07/2013 15:57

Hmmm. I only have to nip out to Tesco and I come back to a mess. But that's my DS not yours.

DiaryOfAWimpyMum · 28/07/2013 16:02

I agree it depends on the child. I'm thinking back to when I was 14/15 and a family member was having a baby and I looked after her 2yr old alone for 2 night myself.

I was wild and one point though.

cory · 28/07/2013 16:14

Some children would not want to be left overnight, others (myself as a teen) have been happy (and absolutely trustworthy) to look after themselves in a hotel in a foreign city for a long weekend.

Some would tell their friends that their parents were away, some would carefully conceal the knowledge.

Dd can't drink herself (medication) and gets rather bored having to be a nursemaid to partying friends, so I can't imagine she'd want to transfer that to her own home. I didn't either at her age. So I had the sense never to tell when I was alone at home.

Original poster

Yonihadtoask · 28/07/2013 16:55

Thanks for the replies.

He isn't the type to have a party. He doesn't go on fb. Probably would be still Sat in his room plugged into laptop for 24 hours.

Will have chat later . My biggest worry is that he would be scared in the night.

I like the idea of keeping dc second guessing exactly when we will arrrivs home.

OP posts:

Apileofballyhoo · 28/07/2013 17:06

My parents went away once when I was about 17 and people actually just arrived at the house assuming there was a party and wouldn't leave. It was horrible... I was also at plenty of parties where parents were away and houses got fairly trashed.

valiumredhead · 28/07/2013 17:19

Yeah I would. I was baby sitting over night at 15. A friend's parents went away for 2 weeks and we house sat. We didn't have any parties.

Alertmind · 28/07/2013 17:34

If you think he would be scared then you shouldn't leave him but best to sound him out. If you are only an hour away can't you just drive back late or are you drinking?

I think it would be dishonest to do the second-guessing thing and would probably make him more nervous if he thinks you are going to turn up and then you don't. If you want to stay out then be straight with him

Bowlersarm · 28/07/2013 17:35

I wouldn't.

ThreeBeeOneGee · 28/07/2013 17:44

Depends on the 15 year old.

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