Pucks
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Joined: 10/14/2006
Msg: 76 | |
| Laws are by Region in Ontario
Posted: 5/19/2007 10:45:27 PM | Deew, great info. i am sure provinces vary in their rules a little bit but are generally the same. I live in B.C have never called to find this out so this is good to read.
I think it would be imperative to teach your children about emergency's and who to call. I am thinking about putting my soon to be 11yr old in a first aid course. i have first aid for my job and it is valuable to have and saves lives. If children know basic first aid they will know how to respond to accidents/emergencies if they are alone. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/25/2007 10:00:45 AM | My daughter will be 9 in July. I currently don't leave her home alone much unless it is to run to the store a few blocks away and she always has the choice to come. Next year, my ex and I are talking about letting her stay home alone after school for 1.5 hours till I get home. My daughter is very mature but we are still going to enroll her in the home alone course. Again, this situation needs judged by each parent. Would I do it living in the middle of Edmonton, Not A Freaking Chance but in the little small town she is in, for limited times.
As far as children looking after younger siblings (she's 9 looking after a 2 year old) even for a little while, give your head a shake. Looking after a two year old is challenging to adults let alone a 9 year old. That is completely unfair responsibility to put on the 9 year old. What if something did happen and the younger sibling got seriously hurt or killed or snatched, think of what that would do to the 9 year old for the rest of their life. My daughter is highly resposible and we let her be resposnible for the smaller kids(her cousins) downstairs in the play room when we are home, but I would never put that on my child watch them if my sister and I left for a few hours. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/25/2007 10:50:44 AM | | Not at all. If you are going to the store take them with you to help with the load. Keep them close. When they are old enough to be alone they are old enough to get out! Anyone who leaves a 9 or 10 yr old at home alone is dumber than a rock. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/25/2007 2:07:04 PM | Well Vulcanman, I promised myself that I wouldn't get rude on these forums but your comment is making me puch my limits. I am not dumber than a rock and I don't appreciate the comment. Again, there are no set laws in many places on this topic but common sense must come into play. Personally, my daughter is very mature, the only thing in her life she has ever gotten into is she buttered the living room when she was 2.5 years old, she knows not to cook, she knows not to even show herself at the door let alone answer it and with call display, she knows to only answer calls from me or her dad. At this point I have never left her alone for longer than 15-20 minutes.
So, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion, you should respect that and not resort to name calling........
how old are you again???????I think my daughter is more mature than you are | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/26/2007 8:21:53 PM | when I was 10 I used to prowl around the streets at midnight. One friend of mine used to babysit other kids when she was 10. On the flip side, I also know a mom that hires a babysitter to look after her 11 year old.
Personally, I would say 9-10 years old would be okay, depending on maturity. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/26/2007 8:57:36 PM | At ten I had a two jobs (a paper route and truck farming), I did the overflow laundry, cooked on occasion,..............
At twelve I still had two jobs, played in a national orchestra (adult), took care of my brother OVER THE WEEKEND when my parents had to go out of town.
People mollycoddle their children instead of teaching them how to make choices and be responsable | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/26/2007 9:44:10 PM | Old enough is when you as a parent decide when your child is responsable enough to be left alone. I don't agree with laws that prevent parents from making these type of decisions for their children.
For the record the neighborhood is the same as it has always been. It is not any worse then it was when you were a child. The bigest difference from past to present is the fact that your parents had total control and was not governed by needless and pointless laws. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/27/2007 1:20:42 PM | Hey there,
Children should not be left alone under the age of 12 unless an adult is present for any length of time in my opinion, just look at what happened to 'Maddie'. Nine is definately too young to be left with younger children. I think young teens can be left for a couple of hours after school while parents return from work early in the evening
I don't think anyone under 16 should be left overnight anywhere without an adult because overnight housefires are always a possibility. However, children develop physically and mentally at different rates and some ten year olds can be just as mature as some young teens
However, i never left my children alone at all until their early teens, my youngest is 14 so i leave her for a few hours here n there with my two slightly older kids
So i'd say safety first don't leave them alone too young
Take care | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/27/2007 3:05:35 PM | Once when staying alone @ 13, someone broke into the house.
It was dark .........I went to the basement killed the power, reached through the kitchen door and took the phone to the basement, called 911.
They told me ......and I quote "when you shoot them make sure they fall inside "
I snuck to my bedroom and got my shotgun and hid behind the door. When he got to the room next to mine I earred back the hammer and the burgalar jumped right through the window leaving what he had stolen from many houses behind.
And my parents being there wouldn't have change anything but have more people to possiblely get hurt.
But my parents teaching me to be reponsible, protect and defend myself, and make desicions made sure I didn't do something rash, that I knew what to do, who to contact, and everything came out right.
Educating your children doesn't mean dumping them at school, teach them to fend for themselves and if they get caught in a situation where they are alone, you won't have to worry what they will do | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 5/28/2007 6:45:41 AM | | I wouldn't leave my 9 year old alone even for a couple of hours....I would get an older sitter, before I would do that.....I wasn't left alone until I was 12 and had taken the babysitter's course to prove I was responsible enough to stay at home alone and also know what to do with having younger sibilings. But this was only for a couple of hours. My first night alone wasn't until i was 13-14. And I plan on following the same rules for my kids, they need to show me they are responsible enough to handle being at home....But will always leave contact numbers just in case. | |
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Soanes
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Joined: 10/10/2005
Msg: 89 | |
| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 6/2/2007 1:54:28 PM | While my dad and stepmom were at a neighborhood watch meeting, our apartment was fire bombed (as a warning to my dad). I evacuated my 8 yr old sisters, the dog, pulled the buildings fire alarm and pounded on every nieghbors door to make sure they were alright. I was 12. I had been babysitting my sisters for at least 4 yrs and had branched out to babysitting for friends and nieghbors. Back then noone thought twice about it.
Me: Define left alone. When my oldest 3 were babies I did laundry at my parents, 2 doors down, every day at nap time. The basket of laundry and the monitor went along. 5 -10 minutes and I was back.... only to do it again 40 minutes later.... was that acceptable? maybe not to some but in that nieghborhood, sure.
My youngest (11) gets home from school 35 minutes before the older kids. Do I have a choice? No. There are no afterschool programs here. So he is the first of my children to be left alone under the age of 12. I've just started leaving him with my 2-14 yr olds for a trip to the store. Luckily for me there is almost always an older teenager in and out so they are never left alone long.
Alot has to do with the laws in your area, how mature your child is, and the neighborhood in which you live. | |
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| How old is old enough to stay at home alone?
Posted: 6/2/2007 2:47:45 PM | Here are the guidelines set out by the Canada's Safety Council
http://www.safety-council.org/info/child/alone.html
And a safety checklist for parents (definitely worth a look)
http://www.safety-council.org/info/child/alone-chk.html
As for my situation.... I have a 9 1/2 year old boy, who is very responsible and has some good common sense. I don't always have a babysitter or a camp or school for him after I've done a night shift, so we rent him a few movies and video games, get some food that he can make himself and he gets to take care of himself while I sleep. I am *somewhat* available if something happens, and he thinks that it's great that he gets to run the house for the day.
Now he wants to be left at home by himself for short periods of time! I told him not until after he's taken a Home Alone class through the local safety council in the fall. Realistically, I do think he's probably ready. And we live in a safe neighbourhood. And if he has any problems, there are at least 3 stay-at-home moms, 4 retirees and his piano teacher, all within a 2 house radius.
The only issue I have now is, when did I get old enough to have a kid old enough to stay at home by himself????  | |
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