A nine-year-old Dedham girl was left home alone, and police were called after the smoke alarm revealed to neighbors that she burned a pan trying to make biscuits. Upon arrival, officers learned that "Mom is in England, and Dad left on a train to NYC and would be back at night." The girl had no phone, no keys to the apartment, no idea what her parents' cell phone numbers were, no idea what to do in case of a fire, and no clue where in NYC her dad was going. News story here if you don't believe me.
Really? Really? The above paragraph reads like a checklist of what you MUST do before you leave your child home alone. 'Nuf said.
For friends who don't know, the summons to the parents will be for "abandonment for a child under the age of 10" (in case readers aren't sure what the minimum age is for leaving your kid alone, looks like it is 10).
What say you, shiny monkey readers? How soon have you left your tween home alone, and for how long? Click the "x comments" link to log in your comment, in case you don't know.
4 comments:
Dear Shiny Monkey, it depends on the child. I have one child who I could leave at home and she was perfectly happy to watch tv & play music alone for hours. The other couldn't stand to be alone and in minutes was dressed & out the door. I eased them into staying alone by trying it for a few minutes at first to see how they coped. As a single parent, I also got a lot of help from my neighbors, who kept an eye on my kids. Those parents deserve to be charged.
Hmmn, when my kids were 9 I probably did leave them alone if I ran to the store for something urgent. But I'm taking 15-20 minutes, not all day.
My daughter is almost 13 and I will NOT leave her home alone with her friends for more than an hour. I got labeled "mean mom" last weekend because I wouldn't drop her off with a friend at the friend's house at 9 p.m. when the friend's father wasn't home and the house had been unlocked all day. The father saw nothing wrong with this. I felt pretty awful dropping that girl off in that dark house.
I just started leaving my 11 year old son Ethan home alone for an hour here and there. But only to run to CVS, or to pick up his brother Ben at school, which is right down the street. I couldn't imagine getting on a train to New York City and leaving my kid all by himself! How awful.
My busy single mom left me alone all the time. I was walking home from school at lunch at age, oh, I don't know, 7, to let the dog out. I wasn't trying to make "biscuits" though! Microwave foods only.
Wasn't long before I was alone all evening.
However, the first time mama went on vacation and left me alone for the week (age 16 maybe) our furnice broke and I slept in the basement with the gas fireplace.
Yeah.
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