Children should know how to use appliances safely and how to treat minor cuts and scrapes. Teach your children basic safety rules, such as never giving personal information over the phone or answering the door when you're not home. Even preschoolers can learn their address, phone number and how to call 911. Preparation for leaving your kids home alone starts months, and even years before. Bottom line: You know your kids better than anyone. Take younger children with you the first few times you're away. Additionally, some children are perfectly capable of staying home alone, but might not be mature enough to babysit younger siblings. A child who doesn't feel ready to be home alone probably isn't. Some children relish the thought of a little independence, while other kids feel anxiety and fear. Talk with your child about how she feels about being left home alone. The charges were later dropped, but cases such as these add to parents' trepidation and confusion.īefore you leave your child home alone, carefully consider her emotional maturity and readiness. She left the children alone to go to work because the babysitter didn't come. According to a 2008 article in "The New York Times," Kim Brathwaite of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal recklessness after her two children, ages 9 and 1, died alone in a house fire 2. To further complicate the issue, although state law is ambiguous on when you can leave your children home alone, you can be held legally responsible if anything happens to your children while you are gone. Likewise, there are some teenagers who are too irresponsible or who have special needs that limit their ability to be safe if they are left alone." Legal Responsibility Some children are responsible, intelligent, and independent enough to be left alone at 12 or 13 years of age. According to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, "All children develop at their own rate, and with their own special needs and abilities 1. The decision is left to the discretion of parents. As of the date of publication, the state of New York has no laws stipulating when a child can be left home alone 2.
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