During high school I was working at a business which was holiday intensive and during Thanksgiving, I had to work. My parents decided to take my little brother and go out of state to see the respective sets of grandparents leaving me behind to work. My mother was convinced they would return home and find the house demolished, etc.
Mother called daily when I was supposed to be at home and one day I had to work overtime and wasn’t home when she called (pre-answering machine days) and a couple hours after her call, I got home and she called again and read me the riot act. I explained I was at work and working overtime. She didn’t believe me and called the boss, who verified I had been unloading a semi at the warehouse.
When they got home, the only thing amiss was I needed to have emptied the trash. I was simply too tired to have been a malefactor.
Surprisingly, only two states have a law that specifies the age when children can be left home alone during the day and/or overnight: Maryland (age 8) and Illinois (age 14). The other 48 states only have guidelines based on maturity. This reflects the reality that many children are quite mature at an early age while many in their late teens cannot be trusted to fend for themselves even for brief periods of time. As with most things in life, your mileage will vary,
Doug K almost 2 years ago
“Torturing” your children in this way means you care.
Just-me almost 2 years ago
During high school I was working at a business which was holiday intensive and during Thanksgiving, I had to work. My parents decided to take my little brother and go out of state to see the respective sets of grandparents leaving me behind to work. My mother was convinced they would return home and find the house demolished, etc.
Mother called daily when I was supposed to be at home and one day I had to work overtime and wasn’t home when she called (pre-answering machine days) and a couple hours after her call, I got home and she called again and read me the riot act. I explained I was at work and working overtime. She didn’t believe me and called the boss, who verified I had been unloading a semi at the warehouse.
When they got home, the only thing amiss was I needed to have emptied the trash. I was simply too tired to have been a malefactor.
Bill D. Kat Premium Member almost 2 years ago
Surprisingly, only two states have a law that specifies the age when children can be left home alone during the day and/or overnight: Maryland (age 8) and Illinois (age 14). The other 48 states only have guidelines based on maturity. This reflects the reality that many children are quite mature at an early age while many in their late teens cannot be trusted to fend for themselves even for brief periods of time. As with most things in life, your mileage will vary,
goboboyd almost 2 years ago
It has never been otherwise.