englishnurse

hi just wondered about the legality of leaving children at home on their own, i work nights i get home at 7:45 my husband leaves for work at 7:15, so for half an hour they are on their own, we are moving to az in september, would this be allowed there or would i be hung for it
the children are 12 and 11
thanks

Rockgurl

Shocking! You'll be sent to Guantanemo Bay!

willmore

It's not just the legality of leaving them but also the maturity of the kids and if they are able to handle being alone for even that short period of time.

joto

What about hiring an older high school student for that amount of time, but are they (high school) into school at that time. If you can't hire someone, just lay down the rules to them, such as no opening the door to anyone, no trying to cook anything and no going on the internet etc, etc. and hope they are the rsponsible kids you brought them up to be.

englishnurse

yeah i did think about that but with us being newly arrived i suppose its a case of who do you trust?
they are pretty good kids, they have their moments though i trust them but i didnt want to get in trouble!

Jerseygirl

My daughter was just 11 when we came to live here and I was asked if she would babysit. I wouldn't even leave her on her own at that age...let alone look after young children. I soon learned that it is quite normal for a child of that age to look after younger children...although I'm sure the rules will be different from state to state.

englishnurse

yeah i wouldnt be happy about sending mine off to babysit for someone else at all, being responsible for themselves is enough

Jerseygirl

I thought in the UK 13 was the age when you could be left alone and 15 if you are looking after younger children. On the other hand I could be wrong.

englishnurse

i always thought that but im told that as long as you believe the child to be responsible there isnt an age limit
sounds a bit risky to me
i suppose its fine when things are going great, its when theres an accident that people start to question all this

Jerseygirl

I actually thought those ages were a legal requirement. As you say whose...to know unless there's an accident or someone reports it to the authorities.

clydegirl

Have you checked what time school starts? They go much earlier here than in the UK.

englishnurse

blimy have just found the answer for the uk dont know about the usa though
there is no minimum age for babysitting??? i find that amazing! nor is there no legal age limit for leaving home alone but the nspcc recommends that no child under 13 is left unsupervised alone!
www.raisingkids.co.uk/0_1/ex06_gen01.asp
just gotta find a site with the usa guidelines now

englishnurse

good thinking! the bus leaves at 7:35 problem solved unless hubby has to start work earlier than that so they would be alone for about 10 minutes if that, so it would probably be ok i think

Jerseygirl

As I said its normal in NJ for children to babysit when they are 11 and even younger.

scrubbedexpat097

Can you husband drop them off at school early?

Our local school district used to let children arrive at 7am and either be in the study hall or the cafeteria and have breakfast. I'm not sure if this still happens as my kids have been out of school for more than 10 years now but it did used to be a great help to us as we both worked differnt shifts for a while and they didn't always overlap.