On 18 Nov 2005 00:14:41 -0800, "MsLiz" wrote:
At what age did you start leaving your children alone?
What about only children?
What is the longest that you're comfortable leaving them?
What about coming home to an empty house after school?

I've been thinking about this myself. I tried searching for the laws
in my state but couldn't find a thing. I was staying home alone
starting when I was around 6 or 7, for a few minutes at a time or
after school if my mom hadn't made it home yet. By the time I was 8/9
I was staying for a few hours each Friday night. My brother was 5
years younger than me and stayed with me by the time I was 8 or 9.
My girls are 10, 8.5 and 3. The only time they've ever been alone, was
one night when dh's car was ran off the road about half a mile away
from the house, the oldest and youngest child were asleep so I set my
middle daughter up on my yahoo messenger to chat with my mother in law
while he hooked his car to mine and drove back home, it was maybe 10
minutes. Other than that they have not been left alone. I've been
wanting to occasionally but I worry. I would NOT leave the 3 year old
here but I think I could safely leave the other two.
Oh I have gone at night after dh and the youngest are asleep, and the
older two are awake and reading or watching tv. They said they feel
alone, does that count? lol They do just fine when I do. Now that I
have a cellphone I feel better about the whole thing.

Marie