View Full Version : How old??
Hi there, How old has your child got to be before you can leave them in the house alone when -
going out to work??
taking dog for a walk??
going shopping??
Is there a legal age a child has to be, to be left home alone or is it total up to the parents what age they think is suited??
think yers is a bit youwg yet, floyedy :Razz x x
think yers is a bit youwg yet, floyedy :Razz x x
Yeah i know not abandoning him yet:lol: but am thinking of the future, as it would give me more choice in job hunting ectxx
I am not familiar with Scottish law but in England/Wales there is no legal limit. However, if you leave your child home alone and something goes wrong you can be charged with neglect, which can lead to your children being taken away from you.
So my advice is always, if you aren't hundred percent sure your child is capabale of handling upcoming situations (phone rings, doorbell rings, neighbour knocking on window, fire breaks out in house etc) then you shouldn't leave your child.
If you do leave them make sure they know what to do in an emergency, are able to call you or another contact if they need help and know how to leave the house and where to go for a safeplace should there be something wrong with the house.
The last thing you want is a 5 year old ringing 999 because he got frightened when something fell off the shelve in the kitchen and he thought it was a burglar.
You'll have a social worker knocking on your door next....
Remember that kids get frightened easily in a new situation, even when they are older, so if you plan to leave them all day then start small. I have seen a 17 year old lad panicking when left home alone over night....
cuddlepop
09-Sep-10, 09:32
We've alwas used high school as a good guide but even then only for short periods like until we came in from work 5ish.
Our eldest was driven near demented because his sisters wouldnt pay a blind bit of notice of him and continued to wind each other up until a "cat fight started".
On you've brought some happy memories back......not :lol:
In England, the legal minimum age a child could be left alone was 13. But if left in charge of a younger child it was 14. Not sure if that's still the case, or if it's the same in Scotland. Even using those ages as a guide, not all children get 'sensible' at the same age. I was happy to leave my elder 2 alone at 13 and looking after the youngest at 14, but I couldn't leave my youngest alone, 'cos I never knew what he would get up to!
Some sensible advice on here
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Yourchildssafetyinthehome/DG_070594
I have never understood why there is no legal minimum because even though, as others have said, a lot depends on the child, it might give some parents pause for thought rather than taking a risk.
ShelleyCowie
09-Sep-10, 12:19
Wouldnt trust my lot til they were responsible enough. But at least 15 years old i wud say! :lol: Think it just depends on how much common sense the child has (lol)
My mum would trust me and my older sister with a house key to come home for lunch in high school and after school until she or my step dad got home from work which wasnt long. Would usually just watch tv and fill our faces with crisps and biscuits anyways! [lol]
As far as I am aware the law in Scotland for being home alone is 14 :roll:
Oh I just love this subject as we are all so open to damned if you do damned if you dont! I am currently unemployed and looking for work,I need something that suits school times as the youngest could go to after school care the middle one cant as he is 14,but yet there is no way on hells earth that i would allow him to be home alone,he gets in enough trouble when i am there to supervise at times :roll: so I get some people saying,god just go get a job and leave him at home...they would more than likely be the same people who would critisise me if something happened though for leaving him alone!With all the rules in the world and the best of intentions kids do get things wrong and I couldnt live with myself if an accident happened to him when he was home alone,or anything like that,so as i said dmaned if you do,damned if you dont,I am either to smothering a mother or a waste of space dole bludger,neither of which is a very nice label to live with!x
redeyedtreefrog
09-Sep-10, 18:59
There's no legal limit for being home alone, it's left to the parents' discretion.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Yourchildssafetyinthehome/DG_070594
oldmarine
09-Sep-10, 19:08
Oh I just love this subject as we are all so open to damned if you do damned if you dont! I am currently unemployed and looking for work,I need something that suits school times as the youngest could go to after school care the middle one cant as he is 14,but yet there is no way on hells earth that i would allow him to be home alone,he gets in enough trouble when i am there to supervise at times :roll: so I get some people saying,god just go get a job and leave him at home...they would more than likely be the same people who would critisise me if something happened though for leaving him alone!With all the rules in the world and the best of intentions kids do get things wrong and I couldnt live with myself if an accident happened to him when he was home alone,or anything like that,so as i said dmaned if you do,damned if you dont,I am either to smothering a mother or a waste of space dole bludger,neither of which is a very nice label to live with!x
Thumper: You have made good points here. Responseability varies among different children. My older two children had to be supervised continuously until they were out of the house. My younger two appeared to accept resonseability at younger ages and could be left alone with less observation. Good luck in trying to figure out what those ages are. However, the law of the land determines what one must do.
its really hard.. we talk about leaving the on their own when they are 14-15 years old.. but just think how many kids are parents at that age!
personally, i do belive it depends on the child themselves.
how responsible they are.. and are they mature enough to come home on their own.
by the time i was 14 my mom was working back shift and i would be home from 3:30 to about 12:30 -1 am in the morning.
she would have my tea ready for me, so i didnt have to cook, and have numbers sat out for everything under the sun. she also called me at break times to check up on me..
however, i do remember i watched puppet master on the telly one night while she was at work, and scared myself nearly to death.. every noise was something coming to get me.. and i wouldnt go to my bed as i had dolls in there! i stayed on the couch .. phone in hand until my mom got home!
Thumper: You have made good points here. Responseability varies among different children. My older two children had to be supervised continuously until they were out of the house. My younger two appeared to accept resonseability at younger ages and could be left alone with less observation. Good luck in trying to figure out what those ages are. However, the law of the land determines what one must do.
Thank you,my oldest was born old and very responsible,I could happily leave him at 14 for times on his own and go shopping etc but the middle one is a definate different case,he isnt bad,just daft at times and no way i am leaving him to find trouble when it finds him easily enough without help x
Thank you,my oldest was born old and very responsible,I could happily leave him at 14 for times on his own and go shopping etc but the middle one is a definate different case,he isnt bad,just daft at times and no way i am leaving him to find trouble when it finds him easily enough without help x
My middle youngest brother is the same. He's coming 15 :eek: (scary thought) and he used to be so bad that left in the house with his two brothers while my mum and step dad went out to do shopping he'd be picking on the cats constantly, being quite rough with them. Now its just a case of they fight over what they're watching on the tv lol. They all like different things and the fight usually ends with one sulking upstairs to watch something they want up there.
As a guide though 14 seems to be it but every child is different so best to play it by ear. At 14 i was sometimes left in charge of my younger siblings as i was considered more responsible than my older brother.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2603817.stm should clarify matters legally.
Scarybiscuits03
09-Sep-10, 22:48
At the age of 14 I used to babysit for very young kids! It's down to the individual - I am obvioulsly a very responsible person!....or should that read "was"......;)
Thanks to every1 who replied and for the links provided very interesting, its great to see different points of view.
But i think overall its a resounding it depends on the child:D I have a few years yet!
really 6% of parents think its ok to leave a 12 year old alone over night?
omg!
saying that.. Sam is 7 and while I let him go outside to play with his mates alone.. (even though its on our street or the next (where my mate is and can see out her window) i wont leave him in the house alone to run to the corner shop.
sounds a bit backwards.. but dont know why thats ok..
arghhhh so many dif. ideals..
at what age should a child be allowed to be out and about alone and unsupervised?
It is illegal to leve a child under 16 and if you do you can be charged with wilfull neglect of a child.
redeyedtreefrog
12-Sep-10, 00:45
It is illegal to leve a child under 16 and if you do you can be charged with wilfull neglect of a child.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Yourchildssafetyinthehome/DG_070594
......but yet a 16 year old can marry and have children of their own! The law definitely IS an ass. Some parents are much too over-protective while others go too far in the opposite direction. If more people exercised commonsense where their children are concerned we would perhaps see more sensible and mature offspring able to fend for themselves in a variety of situations.
georgegwf
12-Sep-10, 02:22
I think it could be 26 but that is just a guess [lol][lol][lol]
It is illegal to leve a child under 16 and if you do you can be charged with wilfull neglect of a child.
this is an absolute load of plop plops
your fine to leave your kids alone (and even babysitting) so long as you feel they are old enough and responsible enough to do so.
this starts from 12+
obviously if your kid is still a nutter at 12+ then your stuck, you need an adult/therapist to look after them
It is illegal to leve a child under 16 and if you do you can be charged with wilfull neglect of a child.
What load of rubbish,you can leave your child home alone in their teens as long as you think they are responsible enough,
They are all different
I could leave my oldest to look after his younger brother when he was about 14 and his brother was 8 but if i left the second oldest to look after his younger brother at 14 there would have been bloodshed.
All mine were fine to be left to sort themselves out on coming home from school as they started high school - so 12. Not in the holidays though - left alone for all day they would not only have wrecked the place but eaten everything i had in the cupboards on their first day if no one was watching them.
I left my two oldest boys here overnight when they were 17 and 16 but I was only an hour away and I had to come home when one cliped on the other (Mum Is he supposed to be here with a girl?) They were MORTIFIED when i arrived home and put a stop to their fun and give them the telling off of their lives before delivering said girl home to her parents to explain why she wasnt staying at her friends after all!!!! Needless to say he didnt get left alone for a good while after that! Has given us a great story to tell at the dinner table though [lol]
These days i will leave the two little ones with their 15 year old brother whilst i nip to the shop. I will leave them with him in the evening but only if they are asleep when i go out and im not going far. 15 year old son doesnt have enough patience to be left with them awake for very long. 20 year old son however is great with them. 21 year old son offered to have the babies overnight recently but I am still a bit uncertain although for heavens sake he lives with his gf and baby and does a great job so I cant really suggest he isnt responsible enough lol!
I recently had a conversation with my friend who felt it was ok to leave her 15 year old alone overnight - I didnt agree. I wouldnt leave them until they are at least 17. Whlst they might be responsible enough under normal circumstances, things change in the middle of the night and if there was something going wrong -not even an emergency like a fire but say the washing machine flooding or the dog gong missing - they are not really mature enough to make the right decisions or know what to do at 15.
Anyhoo thats what I think lol
onecalledk
23-Sep-10, 14:13
When I was 14yrs old I would come home from school with my younger sister who was then 12yrs old and we be int he house ourselves til our mother came home from work about an hour later. Was not left alone in the house overnight til I was about 17rs old. Mind you that was many moons ago and the law has probably changed since then.
It is down to the maturity of the child involved at the end of the day. The police will tell you that there is no legal minimum as such, no actual age that they can state. However as other posters have pointed out if something happens when the child is alone you could get charged with various things.....
K
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