My daughter has started high school and is due to turn 12 before the next school holidays. I work full time (starting early in the morning) so both of my children attend before school and holiday care, but the age of twelve is their cut off. I know legally she can be home on her own after her birthday, but I have some concerns about it. I’m sure she’ll be fine catching the bus to school of a morning, but two weeks on her own over the holidays sounds crazy to me!
I’m already looking into potential school holiday activities she can attend (on a tight budget) and I’m sure friends of ours would be happy to have her here and there, but failing that I’m a bit confused about what to do. What do all the working parents out there do once your kids turn 12?
5 Replies
Could you find another local working Mum and do a kid swap maybe?
My mum and dad used to send us to nan's for a couple of weeks in the holidays. Is that an option?
I leave mine home alone. I have no choice. It is easier having more than one though, less scary for them and more peace of mind for you that theres one there to call for help if anything really bad happened to one of them (Which has never happened to me in my 6 years of leaving kids home alone). Team her up with a few friends who can hang at your place or her at theres, put in your ground rules and make sure they all have the right phone numbers etc. They are more than capable at this age, it's only hard for us.
I would mix it up, friends for a few days, take a few days leave and also some days home alone will be fine, there's always something to watch and people to chat to online.
Can I suggest not telling the street friends or friends who have easy ways to get to your house.
I was a very responsible kid. Mum and dad would even go away for a couple of days.
Once my mums friends kids found out.....my house was the hang out..things were broken, the house was a mess, I couldn't control the boys.
In the end they had a party at my house. I walked to get a video, came back and people everywhere. It was heart breaking. I ended up being the untrusted one.
(I was 15 at the time, the boys were older)
I had been left home while parents worked from 12 years old.