How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

YMCA has good after school programs. Look into one of those. An eight year old is not old enough to be left alone.

Thank you mmmagique,

I agree. In my petition it stated that I left my 8 year old daughter with my 2 year old son for an half an hour. Yes, $30,000 later in Attorney's fees. What got my goat was that it was okay for my daughter's father to do the same thing, although the difference was that he left her for two hours with him & his new wife's 2 year old. My daughter's father accidently locked his keys in the car.

Update: That was years ago. We are all good friends today. I let bygones be bygones. I forgive.

I have experience and I have seen worst cases than mine.

PS~ My Mom and my Aunt are both Attorneys licensed in several states. So much for calling my post the biggest bunch of B**** $*** you have heard for that day. I haven't attacked anyone although it has come to my attention that I must be doing something right to get such a reaction. Thank you! I take it as a complement. :p

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PS~ My Mom and my Aunt are both Attorneys licensed in several states. So much for calling my post the biggest bunch of B**** $*** you have heard for that day. I haven't attacked anyone although it has come to my attention that I must be doing something right to get such a reaction. Thank you! I take it as a complement. :p

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it's not that you attacked anybody. It's that your claims are, well, I'll just say, a bit on the unbelievable side.

and no, doing something right does not garner such attention but maybe you live in opposite world where that would be the norm.

but anyway. I speak from experience on the other side:

CPS isn't going to take your children over a first report concern of them being left alone unless there is a lot of other issues that make it unsafe for the child to be left alone. They are going to counsel the parent and let them know it isn't acceptable to them.


and if you paid some lawyer $30k, there was a lot more going on than a simple: I left my child home alone when I believed them to be safe but CPS said it was beyond what they could accept/

as you have just stated, you were apparently in the middle of a custody battle with your ex. Maybe that's where the money was needed but is wasn't from an just an issue similar to the OP's. You are attempting to put your costs of the entire custody issue on what the OP is considering doing and would be dealing with CPS, not the other parent. Apples and oranges.

Well gee - I thank all involved for the advice - especially those respectful ones ;-)..... The comment my son's shrink made was that even if someone called DCF or DFS - "they would show up to check on him and find what? A kid watching tv?"

Considering the law does not give a specific minimum age but merely guidelines to determine your child's responsibility level I feel I have done my due diligence and I'm willing to give him a try. He is very independent and not afraid to be alone for short periods. (as of today I would not allow more than 2 hrs alone) - but everybody has got to start somewhere - they don't become responsible w/o being trusted and tested, right?

As far as the stove goes - my son has learned to boil water and make grilled cheese sandwiches - however, when I am not home he is not allowed to use the stove. (we have already discussed this) So I shouldn't have to worry about any frying pans starting a fire......

As far as DCF taking my son over something like this - hogwash - my aunt spent 40 yrs raising foster children and it broke her heart to see these kids she loved wholeheartedly get sent back to terrible homes because the county is always trying to keep a family together and give them the opportunity to learn better parenting or quit addictions or whatever. (I'm talking some insanely abused children that in my opinion once the parents finished their jail sentence for their abuses - they should not have been given those precious children back! But they would - only to lose the kids again and even more damage is done.)

Also, this is one single child - not an 8 yr old watching a 2 yr old or any other nonsense - one child alone watching tv (I only have public channels to watch) And I hope to find something more mentally stimulating than tv but for now it is what it is...

Shanon

Okey dokey then.

Don't come back crying when someone makes a fuss about it and you're having to deal with people who have the power to really mess up your life.

As for "ohmyheaven"? Yeah. There is a reason why nobody takes his/her posts seriously. Then again, YOU have fed us bull too, OP. You know it, we know it. If your Aunties were attorneys, you wouldn't be here unless you thought they were a bit crappy at their job.

You go ahead and leave the kid alone.

Be sure to give him a big hug goodbye.

I didn't start having my daughter stay home alone after school until she was 12 1/2. My son is almost 11 now, and has yet to stay home alone. I too think that 8 is too young to be left home alone.

However, I realize some parents don't have any choice. My sister in law was a single parent before she married my brother. Her ex husband lives overseas. She says she started having her kids stay home alone after school for a couple of hours a day when her daughter was 9 and her son was 8. It wasn't ideal, but she said they did fine. They are teenagers now, and are very independent kids.

I've been fortunate to have a husband to help with the kids, and to have had access to after school care at my kids' schools, which I've also been able to afford. And now that my daughter is almost 16, she's old enough to occasionally babysit her brother. But I know many parents aren't so fortunate, and have to do the best they can with what they have.

this is a strictly personal comment:


I feel your child is to young to be entrusted to the extent you intend to. I believe if CPS is involved, they will strongly urge you to consider alternatives. Failure to do so is likely to cause them to be much more aggressive if anything happens to the child.

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Quoting Ohmyheaven

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I'd LOVE to comment but I noticed that the Administrators enjoy deleting any response.

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Please don't lie about what the administrators are doing. No responses have been deleted from this thread. If you are referring to other threads, very few posts are deleted. When they are deleted is is almost always because of spamming, secondarily (and rarely) because they are very incorrect, and occasionally as an effort to stop a fight between forum users. You have to work pretty hard to have a post removed.

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Quoting jk

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First, your claim of $30k for an attorney; unlikely
2nd, the claim they would need an attorney; unlikely
3rd,, that they would lose their child; unlikely

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No kidding. Even if we accept that to have been her experience, it's not representative of the norm.

Most often when a case is brought over a child being left home alone, it's because something bad happened when the child was left home alone. And when something bad happens, it's going to be argued that the bad outcome is evidence that the child was not sufficiently mature to be left home alone.

The part about the incentive and bonuses is completely false.