Latchkey Kids: Children Home Alone or Out On Their Own

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Sooner or later there will come a time for children to be out on their own. Maybe this means leaving them home alone while you run an errand, or having them walk home from school to an empty house. The following advise will keep children as safe as possible when left alone.

When is it OK to leave a Child alone?

There is no definitive answer on this. In the west we tend to lean toward overprotection, and many parents would recoil in horror at the thought of a 7- or 8-year-old allowed to roam on their own without adult supervision. Yet in places like Italy, there is a much more communal child rearing spirit, and such freedom is common place. One mother in Venice talks about routinely allowing her 4-year-old daughter to roam the streets as she pleases, going in and out of neighbor’s houses or interacting with whomever she meets. It wasn’t too long ago when kids in this country might do the same. I remember scampering around to the neighbor’s houses when I was no more than 4 or 5. I wouldn’t advise the same thing today, not because there is a high risk of injury or abduction, but because there is a high risk of someone calling social services on you.

In the United States, leaving any child under the age of 12 unsupervised for any significant length of time runs the risk that you might encounter legal problems should anything happen. The standards are murkier when it comes to kids roaming the neighborhood on their own, but free-range parents routinely get harassed for allowing 7- or 8-year-olds to go to the park or play on their own. What you decide should be a personal decision based on what you feel comfortable with.

Using Cell Phones for Child Safety & Rules For Kids Who Are Home Alone

As weird as it sounds to equip a child with a cell phone, especially to old fashioned folk, cell phones can be a wonderful tool in the fight for child safety. They are especially handy if you have “latch-key” children who walk home by themselves to an empty house.

  • Instruct your child to call you as soon as they get out of school. Many parents even talk with their children about their day as they walk home from school, so that the parents can check up and at the same time be on the line to ensure a safe trip home. However, this can also counterproductive if your child has to navigate busy streets, since talking on a cell phone can be distracting. You’d be trading an unlikely risk for a much more pertinent one.
  • Once home, have your child call you again, to let you know that they are safe.
  • Have them keep the cell phone on their person even while at home, so if by chance an emergency should arise, they will always be able to call for help.
  • Tell your child that if they ever arrive home and see broken glass, a broken window, or an open door, they should not go it but immediately head for a neighbor’s house while calling the police.

Resources for Kids:

Read your kids our children’s online eBook story:
How to be a Street Smart Kid, Designed for children in elementary school.

 

 

 

 

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