Would you feel comfortable leaving two 10.5 yo girls alone

A few hours? Probably not. One hour? Maybe, depending on the girls. Honestly, I'd be more inclined to leave one child home alone than two friends, since they're often more likely to make bad choices in groups than alone. But again, depends entirely on the kids.

I think that age is a total gray area as to whether the kids are old enough to e left alone. Some kids would be fine and some kids would not.

No

It depends. Are they comfortable being left alone? Is there a neighbor they can go to if there is a problem?

Many factors to consider. The kids being left alone, their comfort level, someone they could call if necessary, and definitely inside with doors locked. I could have done this with 2 of mine but the other 2, no way, nor would they have wanted it either.

You would also want to check on the laws where I live if I recall correctly in California it's 14. Which is ridiculous in my book.

Friends or sisters? How far away will mom or dad be? I would not be OK with leaving friends, but I might be with responsible sisters.

Dd and her best friend from across the street? yes, no problem. (and best friend's mom would be in agreement).

Ds and his best friend? no way! 




Totally depends on the kids in question.

Youngest DS and his bestie? Absolutely as long as they promise to order pizza and not cook.

Oldest DS or either of my DD? Nope.

This article has good guidelines and factors to consider when leaving children alone.

If this is the first time they are being left alone, "a few hours" might be a bit long. Under 2 hours, depending on maturity and responsibily level, I'd say yes.

I have a 10.5 (she'll be 11 in a month) and I wouldn't leave her home alone yet. My comfort zone is 12 and even then we started off with 20-30 minutes while we ran to the store and worked our way up from there (and while my current 10 is the youngest, we didn't leave the older ones alone with a younger sibling until well-past 12)

As for 2? I rarely leave my 17 alone with a friend at home - in fact there's only 1 friend that I'm okay with that and she's 19 and practically another daughter to me. Two are NOT usually better than one at staying out of trouble.

And I'm not esp. a helicopter mum - in fact my local friends would say I'm fairly free-range in their opinion

No, I wouldn't even consider it let alone do it and both DD's were very sensible at that age. It isn't that I wouldn't have trusted them it's because anything can happen and no way is a child of that age mature enough to deal with an emergency.

lol and for me it would have been the opposite. I left my son younger than my daughter as I knew he'd spend the entire time playing minecraft - at that age he and his bf wouldn't have moved from the computer screen. It's crazy how quickly you forget though- mine aren't that old but I have no recollection of exactly when we left them home alone.

My DS was 10 when he started getting off the bus, unlocking the door and being home alone for 2 hours until we got home from work. It all depends on the kid. He's mature and responsible so we have no issues. He's not allowed to have friends over when we are gone.