How old should children be to be left alone?

[BroganMc]

Hey, I love how you through in the 72 year old kid!!!

Why not? I take a 75 year old one with me every trip. And trust me, he needs supervision. Lest I catch him doing this...

 

[pouncingpluto]

I took the American Red Cross Babysitting course a few months before my twelfth birthday and immediately began babysitting the 18-month old twins down the street! I had been staying home alone for at least three years before that and truly never did anything more mischevious than looking for Christmas presents or my mom's stash of hidden chocolate. This was about 20 years ago, but how much have kids and the world really changed? I don't have kids myself, so I'm no one to answer.

I do get the point people make, though, about kids varying in terms of responsibility level. And to stereotype, I think girls tend to be more mature than boys, especially in the pre-teen and early teen years. I think if they understand what you expect from them, that you are giving them your trust, and *why* it is important for them to stay in the room and not open the door to strangers, most 10-year-olds should be fine.

 

[Sammie]

My kids were 10 and 12 when we left them alone in the hotel room watching movies while we went to a nice "grown up" dinner in the lobby restaurant. It was a HUGE resort (not WDW), with cell phones on us, we were comfortable doing this.

We had given them both the "stanger danger" talk so many times that they could recite in their sleep, practically. The flaw in our plan, however, was forgetting to talk about hotel evacuations. Yup, you guessed it. There was a fire. Not a drill, a real FIRE. It rang on their floor (10th) and adjacent floors, but not in the lobby. Did the kids evac? No. They covered their heads with pillows and cursed the loud alarm. Thank goodness our nieces (a few rooms away) came for them.

Did they try to call us? No. I only found out about the fire when I discovered them returning to the room with security. The whole experience ranks right up there as one of the biggest regrets of my motherhood.

In hindsight, we'd do a lot different. Most importantly, not assume "home alone" age and "hotel alone" age are the same thing.

I didn't know that. I had heard that it was age 11 for watching school-aged sibs. But, that's based on nothing official. I believe you.

I think this is great you shared this. Because this is a very important question you have to ask yourself if you decide to leave your kids alone in a room.

Many are fine if nothing happens, but the important question is, "Will they be able to handle any emergency?"

 

[lisareniff]

My kids were 10 and 12 when we left them alone in the hotel room watching movies while we went to a nice "grown up" dinner in the lobby restaurant. It was a HUGE resort (not WDW), with cell phones on us, we were comfortable doing this.

We had given them both the "stanger danger" talk so many times that they could recite in their sleep, practically. The flaw in our plan, however, was forgetting to talk about hotel evacuations. Yup, you guessed it. There was a fire. Not a drill, a real FIRE. It rang on their floor (10th) and adjacent floors, but not in the lobby. Did the kids evac? No. They covered their heads with pillows and cursed the loud alarm. Thank goodness our nieces (a few rooms away) came for them.

Did they try to call us? No. I only found out about the fire when I discovered them returning to the room with security. The whole experience ranks right up there as one of the biggest regrets of my motherhood.

In hindsight, we'd do a lot different. Most importantly, not assume "home alone" age and "hotel alone" age are the same thing.
.

WOW! That must have been scary for you and your kids!