My Question of the Day: Your company has rewarded you, and several other employees, with an all-expenses-paid, five-day cruise. You’re very excited about going until you find out the dates. The cruise will be at the end of October going into the beginning of November. There is only one person you trust enough with whom you’ll leave your child(ren) for five days, but you and he/she have a difference of opinion on Halloween. You don’t allow your child(ren) to participate in the holiday, but he/she does allow his/her child(ren) to participate. He/she agrees to keep your child(ren) while you go on the cruise, but he/she has made it clear that his/her child(ren) will be going trick-or-treating, and he/she won’t be leaving your child(ren) home unsupervised while he/she takes his/her child(ren) out for the evening. What do you do?

My 2 Cents: If I have the option to take my child(ren) along at my own expense, I do that. If I don’t have the option to take my child(ren) with me, I sit down with him/her/them and go over again how we do things in our home. I let him/her/them know that he/she/they are only walking along with those going trick-or-treating, because that family recognizes Halloween. My child(ren) is/are not to participate in gathering candy or eating any candy gathered, nor is/are he/she/they to participate in any Halloween activities, like a party or the like.

Once I’ve had this talk with my child(ren), I have to trust him/her/them to follow my instructions. When I get back from my trip, I won’t even ask whether he/she/they followed my instructions, but I will make my instructions clear before I leave for my trip and before I leave him/her/them with the person I trust. I, also, trust this person to not try to coax my child(ren) into doing anything against my wishes.

It’s all about trust, I would say.

We can’t watch our children 24/7/365, so we have to educate them and then allow them to live. If our children do right, then they will reap the benefits. If our child do wrong, they will suffer the consequences.

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

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ManofCivility You make these harder… I think I would have to forego the trip if I was that strong about my aversion to Halloween.

treschic67 i wouldnt go on the cruise. We DONT celebrate Halloween N i wouldnt go against our beliefs to go on a cruise

JoshDamage I go on the cruise. One year won’t hurt. we didn’t celebrate it growing up either but every now and then we did

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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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.

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.