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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Red face How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    My question involves public health law in the State of: Wisconsin

    I am a single mom that is starting a job that will require my 8 yr old son (3rd grader) to come home to an empty house and I would not be home until 2 hours later.

    I believe he can do it and be safe. I live in the country (6 miles from town) so only have 5 houses nearby (people he can call on for help) but no children for him to play with. (or to get in trouble with.....) He has a cell phone and has family and neighbors phone numbers programmed in it.

    I have started practicing by leaving him alone for 5-10 minutes then even an hour twice now. So, I thought this would be fine but my mom is having a fit about it. When I started googling it for proof 8 was old enough I have found nothing but opinions and few states have hard fast laws regarding age. What does WI state law say?

    Thank you,

    Shanon

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    Wisconsin does not have a hard and fast rule.

    On a purely common sense note, an 8 year old really doesn't need to be home without supervision for 2 hours.

    Where is the other parent? This is exactly the sort of thing that can leave the custodial parent wishing they hadn't have done so.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    18,340

    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    Wisconsin doesn't have a statute specifically addressing how young a child can be to be left home alone.

    Macauley Culkin was 10 when he was in Home Alone and he did quite well.

    I found one site that has statute citations that define abuse and neglect. You can scroll down to Wisconsin at the following link.

    https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemw...tes/define.pdf

    I don't think any of them applies to your situation other than the risk that somebody else's perception might give you problems. And, unfortunately, that kind of perception can result in a call to Child Protective Services which will cause you an unholy amount of inconvenience even if it turns out that you are in the right. So make sure your mother is on board with this otherwise she might be the one calling CPS. And, as Dogmatique suggests, your ex might use your decision against you in a custody fight.

    I also found several guides that address how to tell if your child is capable of being home alone:

    http://wilawlibrary.gov/topics/familylaw/homealone.php

    Now I'll give you my own experience. My kids went to daycare for the first couple of years of school. But when my son was 10 and my daughter 8 I experimented with letting them come home after school and stay by themselves. Wasn't for more than 1-2 hours till I or my ex got home. They did quite well.

    I have no opinion as to whether it's OK to leave an 8 year old because I've never had to face that question.

    So it's really up to you and your son (especially your son's opinion) to decide based on all of the elements that are involved in the decision.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    Honestly? I would tend to ignore the child's opinion. At 8, he's likely to be thrilled with the idea of being home alone and having the run of the house. I'd be far more concerned with the other parent.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    16,474

    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    Quote Quoting Dogmatique
    View Post
    Honestly? I would tend to ignore the child's opinion. At 8, he's likely to be thrilled with the idea of being home alone and having the run of the house. I'd be far more concerned with the other parent.
    I agree...the other parent (and grandma to some extent) are the ones who can cause the most trouble. Quite frankly, I would not leave an 8 year old home alone for two hours a day. I might do it with a 10 year old, but not an 8 year old.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    This is my opinion as a parent, not a legal opinion of any kind.

    ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND TO EVEN CONSIDER LEAVING AN 8 YEAR OLD HOME ALONE FOR TWO HOURS? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT ARE YOU?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    This is my opinion as a parent, not a legal opinion of any kind.

    ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND TO EVEN CONSIDER LEAVING AN 8 YEAR OLD HOME ALONE FOR TWO HOURS? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT ARE YOU?
    The "I lost custody because I left the kid at home for 2 hours" kind?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: How Old Does My Child Have to Be to Be Left Home Alone

    The "other parent" my ex-husband found a girlfriend when I was 7 months pregnant and made babies with her so never bothered to be a father to his first born..... I used to push the issue of trying to keep him in our lives - but the new wife is jealous seeing as she obtained him by stealing him from his pregnant wife.... Babysitters have raised my son since I had to go to work the moment he was born. (Thankfully I was able to have the same babysitter from 0-5yrs until she became incapable with health problems) Since then we have had one adult and several teenagers - the adult was only willing short term and the teens have been unreliable. The reason this is new question.... I've been unemployed since April so after spending our summer together I was also able to be home when he got home from school so far this year. It has been heavenly..... but my new job starts Monday and I need to decide if I want to try to get a babysitter again and go through that hell or trust him alone. This is why I started giving him opportunities to "practice" being alone to see how he would do and he loves feeling trusted to be home. I also spoke with his shrink today after doing this post and he agrees with me that the consistency of coming home daily (even if alone for 2 hrs) is better than going to 3-5 different places per week in order to have daily care. My son is perfectly happy being able to come home and feels special and responsible by earning the right to be able to stay home alone by proving he could do his homework on his own and behave.....

    I was looking for Wisconsin laws regarding the issue when I did this post - not looking to be called an idiot.....

    The link: http://www.cityofmadison.com/fire/pr.../homeAlone.cfm
    from another post on this site gave some good info about how to determine when your child is ready.

    Thank you,

    Shanon

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