The Question: A good friend (not necessarily a close friend, but a good friend), who is a single parent, asks you if you will babysit his/her child(ren) on an upcoming Saturday because s/he is going to have to work overtime because of a big project his/her company has to complete before the end of the month. Your good friend wants to drop the child(ren) off on Friday night, because s/he says s/he’s going to be leaving for the office in the wee hours of the morning to start the project.

After a couple of days, when you’ve had time to make sure you’ll be free, you tell your good friend that you will babysit, and it will be fine to drop the child(ren) off on Friday evening after 7p.

About four days before the Friday evening that your good friend is supposed to bring his/her child(ren) to your home, you find out from a very, very credible source that your good friend isn’t working overtime at his/her job. S/he has planned a one-day trip to the biggest sporting event of the season for your favorite sport; an event you decided to forego (and that is now solded out) to help out your good friend.

What do you do?

My 2 Cents: I’d ask my friend to come by my house and then ask him/her point-blank, if s/he’s planning to go to the sporting event. I want to ask him/her face-to-face, because I’m definitely planning to verifiy his/her answer, and I’m not posing the option of whether s/he has to work. When you give a person a choice, they are more apt to compound their lie. I’d confront him/her on the issue that’s most important to me: Did you make plans to go to a sporting event on the day you’re asking me to watch your child(ren)?

If s/he says she really has to work, I’d ask for the name and telephone number of his/her superviser, so we could get him/her on speakerphone and verify that. If s/he admits that s/he lied and is planning to go to the sporting event, I’d decline to watch his/her child(ren), and I’d make it clear that I’m not the person to ask to babysit in the future.

That’s not to say I’d never babysit his/her children in the future. It’s just that s/he can’t ask me to babysit. I’ll volunteer my services when I know I’m free, and I know s/he has work/plans, but I won’t give him/her the opportunity to lie to me again. It saves us both hard feelings.

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Take a few moments to check out the tweets from Twitter on this subject:

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MusingMom  I would let the “good friend” know that I know that she is not working and tell her that she will have to find another sitter

Mo_Rease  I’d watch the kids but the parent would have to pay up.

QTKrisAriel  We wouldn’t be friends anymore.

JoshDamage  I simply ask my friend. If they did in fact lie I wudnt babysit. But that’s just me. I HATE a liar

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

My Question of the Day: A good friend (not necessarily a close friend, but a good friend), who is a single parent, asks you if you will babysit his/her child(ren) on an upcoming Saturday because s/he is going to have to work overtime because of a big project his/her company has to complete before the end of the month. Your good friend wants to drop the child(ren) off on Friday night, because s/he says s/he’s going to be leaving for the office in the wee hours of the morning to start the project.

After a couple of days, when you’ve had time to make sure you’ll be free, you tell your good friend that you will babysit, and it will be fine to drop the child(ren) off on Friday evening after 7p.

About four days before the Friday evening that your good friend is supposed to bring his/her child(ren) to your home, you find out from a very, very credible source that your good friend isn’t working overtime at his/her job. S/he has planned a one-day trip to the biggest sporting event of the season for your favorite sport; an event you decided to forego (and that is now solded out) to help out your good friend.

What do you do?

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1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

FYI: You may edit your comment for up to 30 minutes after posting. After 30 minutes, your comment can no longer be revised.

The Question: At what age is it acceptable to leave a child at home without supervision?

My 2 Cents: I would say a responsible child age 13 or older can be left at home without supervision. The operative word in that sentence is “responsible.” As many of you stated, even a child older than 13 may lack the maturity to be left alone for any extended period of time. There is no across the board answer to this question, which is probably why almost all states have no legislation or policy that determines the acceptable age. In my research, I found one article that says only Illinois and Maryland have stipulated an age limit.

Note: Answers.com had some interesting information on  the term latch-key child,

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Take a few moments to check out the tweets from Twitter on this subject:

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RegalRB  I dont think there is a magic age, maturity has more to do with it…i have a friend with two boys and the youngest moremature

MusingMom  I am old school…so I am like 13-14….during day and 16 at night MAYBE…I have a friend who left her 11 yo during day…nope

agonyofvictory  5 apparently, if you ask Anna Kournikova’s mom.

vizionheiry  12

polijunkie1020  I think 12 years olds is a suitable age for a child to be left home alone…the reason why I said 12 is because the child would be in middle/jr. high school. The child should be somewhat responsible.

watergatesummer  your question,….males 36….girls 12…lol..

phaemarie  I think it depends somewhat on the maturity level of the kid. I am not ready to leave my 12yo alone.

Pettra88  Never, …ever!

Ms_LaTisha  Id say it depends on the maturity level and sex of the child. My dgts will be at least 12 b4 they can be home w/out supervision

jreneker  18

PROTECTED TWEETER  i feel a PARENT should know when their child is ready for that RESPONSIBILITY (i truly believe age is just a number)

HoneyBeeLTL  8 years old

tclarkusa  I’d say depends on the child(ren). No prob w/ responsible 10 y.o. being home alone for an hr or so, not much longer than 1 hr

Quintessence_T  i was a latchkey kid at 7–nowadays it’s not safe…..i say 12

TheMarketingMom  Depends on maturity & trustworthiness. My girls are 11, 10 & 5: 10 to 15 mins tylenol run. I think GA law says 11 for 2 hours.

MadApes  as soon as they can dial 911. 3? 4?

jigsawverbiage  Depends on the kid. I was home alone at 9. I wouldn’t leave my 9yo alone today. I might start considering it when he hits 12.

acmeek  I think the legal age is 12. Don’t tell any1 but I was 8 AND I had to be responsible for other children. Shhhh!

MissMeandI  I only leave my 12y/o alone for a few short hrs @ a time…I think it depends on how well the child behaves

Tazzee  I think the law here is 13 but it depends on the child’s maturity level. Nvr under 13, there are some 16yo I wouldn’t leave

BANN_ED  Dependsonmaturity Well you know some kids you always have to keep an extra eye on lol

carolynedgar  I think u can leave a child alone for a few hours (not overnight) beginning at age 12, but depends on the child.

treschic67  MAYBE 16. (Sophomore/Junior in HS)Even then, its limited to a couple of hrs & child MUST check in frequently…16 – and that’s if they know how to behave. <another …

KEVIN_DMV  (16)\

daNanner  when that child is both double-digits and responsible enough to be left alone. Usually sometime between 10 and 12…then again, I was a latch-key kid

walkerdl  10, 11, or whatever age they seem to start being responsible

brijh  NEVER!!!

md20737  If the child is 12 or over.

PROTECTED TWEETER once they become teenagers

OwlAsylum  21. If they aint left by then. Keep them afterschool programs and what not. A teen will tear it up.

mrfreshie2u  I say when they are 13/14… When they are like freshmen in high school/ done wit middle school

LadyJay91  Kids are going to be kids no matter the age so it’s never acceptable *lol* to leave them at home BUT if I had to I’d say 14yrs.

AminahHanan  1st when the law says it’s legal and 2nd when the parent feels the child is able. Big responsibility Not to be taken lightly.

Mo_Rease  I would say 13..

PROTECTED TWEETER It depends on the maturity. Naturally, I think 13yrs

JoshDamage  I wud say between the ages of 13-15. Depending on the maturity and whether the child is responsible or not.

atane  13 is ok.

Inkognegro  depends on the child. Some…as early as 8 or 9. some….never.

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

My Question of the Day: At what age is it acceptable to leave a child at home without supervision?

RULES FOR COMMENTS

1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

FYI: You may edit your comment for up to 30 minutes after posting. After 30 minutes, your comment can no longer be revised.