tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by tduby1 on May 27, 2015 14:40:38 GMT
Originally I posted this story on the 16 year old girl home alone thread but deleted and decided to start a new thread. If you were left home alone as a teenager were you a rule follower or rule breaker. Share your stories. Here is one of mine:
Growing up my parent's would leave us home alone for weekends on occasion, usually with an older just barely adult cousin or something.
So one weekend they left us with the oldest of our brothers who was in his early- mid twenties and his wife. My parents had not adopted the three youngest yet but did take the youngest at the time who was nine.
We didn't have to "throw" a party. We "were" the party. My brother was in charge myself and seven other teenaged siblings. All within a four year age range, 14-18. (adoption). It may have been one of the stupidest things my parents did in their parenting career.
Lets see on night one, alcohol appeared. My brother was like, "eh, I didn't buy it, so it's not on me". Fireworks+alcohol = a firework being thrown IN an open window and just missing my sister in law and miraculously not catching the house on fire. Older brother punched younger brother who threw the firework. They all had a drink and made up. This kind of stuff went on into the wee hours.
I was such a rule follower and was petrified of getting kicked out my Christian school. I didn't drink and was so freaked out by the whole first night that by the second night I safely relocated to a girlfriends house. Yeah, I may have been a bit uptight but those people (my siblings) were NUTS.
My parents had no clue. They really thought all 8 of us were trustworthy.
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Post by lucyg on May 27, 2015 14:49:48 GMT
I haven't read the other thread so I don't know what's going on in there. But we used to have parties every time my parents left us home alone for a weekend or longer. Always involving alcohol (it was definitely a different era) and usually with several bedrooms occupied by the end of the evening. This would have been during my senior year in high school, maybe junior year. My brother was a year younger and we mostly had the same friends. For that reason, I was always hesitant to leave my high school kids home alone.  ETA I don't think my parents were under any serious illusion that we were not partying in their absence. |
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ReneeH20
Full Member
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Jun 28, 2014 16:00:48 GMT
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Post by ReneeH20 on May 27, 2015 14:50:18 GMT
My parents left me (16) and my sister (15) home alone for 2 weeks while they went to Europe one summer. My brother (13) and my younger sister(6) went to stay with my grandparents who lived 2 blocks away. We got checked up on by both sets of grandparents regularly. We had friends over several times, but no big parties. My parents don't drink so there was never any alcohol in the house.
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 15:23:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 14:52:30 GMT
My parents travelled for work on weekends and were gone almost every weekend of the year from the spring until Christmas. My sister and I used to go with them but at some point we were allowed to stay home, at least some of the time. I don't remember exactly when it happened -- when you are gone that much it all starts to blur together! I am sure I was older than 16 but I know that I was home alone some weekends when I was in high school. I do distinctly remember that my parents were gone for the weekend on the night of my prom (we only have one prom here in Ontario, the day after high school graduation) and my sister was gone too. I walked to the salon to get my hair and make up done, came home and got dressed by myself in an empty house, and when my date picked me up (who wasn't my boyfriend at the time -- long weird story) I think he was pretty shocked my parents weren't there and weren't going to be home for a few days! I never had a party or did anything that I really shouldn't have. I'm pretty sure my parents let me have my best friend sleepover sometimes whey they were gone, but we were pretty good. I also didn't have a curfew in high school, so I couldn't even break that rule.  |
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
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Post by scrapaddie on May 27, 2015 14:54:47 GMT
If you knew my father, you would'nt have to ask!! I was definitely a rule follower!! I had no death wishes!
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kelly8875
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Location: Lost in my supplies...
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Post by kelly8875 on May 27, 2015 14:57:03 GMT
My brother and I were left alone. We never had parties, ever. We were afraid things would get broken and our parents would kill us. We each had a friend or two over, but never a party.
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Post by rainangel on May 27, 2015 14:57:07 GMT
Everytime I was left home alone as a teenager, the worst thing I did was raid the fridge and bingewatch tv by myself  Probably sounds boring to some people, but I still like to do that if I get days off I only ever threw one big party, it was my 18th birthday (legal drinking age for us) and EVERYONE came! It was great! My parents were next door, and came to check on us a couple of times, but nothing got out of hand. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 27, 2015 14:58:00 GMT
I could be trusted, but my mom never went anywhere because she couldn't trust my older brother to not cause problems. I knew a kid in high school though who was the youngest of about 4-5 kids. The parents frequently left the older kids in charge of the younger kids to go on various religious or marriage weekend retreats, and every.single.time those kids would have a HUGE drunken party at the house. They would move the breakables and the furniture and roll up the livingroom rug. The place would be filled with kids drinking, smoking and some probably having sex in the bedrooms even. Then the next morning they would toss everyone who was still there, clean up the mess and put everything back. This went on every few months for years! I can't believe the neighbors never said anything, that the cops didn't get called or that the parents never suspected something was going on whenever they were gone. The one time I was invited to one of their parties, some kid was dancing on the dining room table and the leg broke off! One of the older kids got some screws and screwed it back on saying, "I hope mom and dad never need to flip this table over!" Yeah. I left not too long after that. I wasn't going to hang around in case the cops got called.  |
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Country Ham
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Jun 25, 2014 19:32:08 GMT
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Post by Country Ham on May 27, 2015 14:59:28 GMT
No and it never dawned on me to have a party. We didn't have parties even for birthdays though. Most of the parties in my community were bonfires on the beach anyhow.
ETA: I guess for me being disrespectful to my parents was not a childhood rite of passage and to have a party while they were away would be considered that.
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 15:23:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 14:59:53 GMT
I could be trusted, but my mom never went anywhere because she couldn't trust my older brother to not cause problems. I knew a kid in high school though who was the youngest of about 4-5 kids. The parents frequently left the older kids in charge of the younger kids to go on various religious or marriage weekend retreats, and every.single.time those kids would have a HUGE drunken party at the house. They would move the breakables and the furniture and roll up the livingroom rug. The place would be filled with kids drinking, smoking and some probably having sex in the bedrooms even. Then the next morning they would toss everyone who was still there, clean up the mess and put everything back. This went on every few months for years! I can't believe the neighbors never said anything, that the cops didn't get called or that the parents never suspected something was going on whenever they were gone. The one time I was invited to one of their parties, some kid was dancing on the dining room table and the leg broke off! One of the older kids got some screws and screwed it back on saying, "I hope mom and dad never need to flip this table over!" Yeah. I left not too long after that. I wasn't going to hang around in case the cops got called. Wow, resourceful and sneaky kids!!! |
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Post by cmpeter on May 27, 2015 15:09:11 GMT
My mom left us home alone as teens and the worse thing I did was watch too much tv. My mom was very much a free range and hands off parent. She wouldn't have cared if we had a party as long as we cleaned up. But, I "rebelled" by being good.
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on May 27, 2015 15:22:27 GMT
I haven't read the other thread so I don't know what's going on in there. But we used to have parties every time my parents left us home alone for a weekend or longer. Always involving alcohol (it was definitely a different era) and usually with several bedrooms occupied by the end of the evening. This would have been during my senior year in high school, maybe junior year. My brother was a year younger and we mostly had the same friends. For that reason, I was always hesitant to leave my high school kids home alone. ETA I don't think my parents were under any serious illusion that we were not partying in their absence. My parents were seriously shocked when we grew up and told them these stories! Like just amazed. They really believed that because they raised us in a Christian home, put us in a Christian school that we would behave exactly as they wanted. Some of us did (me) but others not so much. They had a really hard time realizing we all had different personalities that needed different parenting and that the Christian school and Bible were not the answer to all parenting problems. Plus, they really liked sand, as in sticking their heads in the sand. Their intentions were good, just a bit naïve. |
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Post by padresfan619 on May 27, 2015 15:26:46 GMT
My older brother ruined any chance of me being able to throw a party by doing it himself. He was smart enough to move furniture, fragile items, and irreplaceable stuff into the garage but he left all of the cigarette butts and beer caps on the lawn. He probably would have gotten away with it if he had cleaned those up.
My parents never went on another vacation until after I graduated high school and moved out.
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Post by snappinsami on May 27, 2015 15:28:56 GMT
When I was in high school, my parents would sometimes go away for a long weekend or even up to a week and day my brother (5 years younger than I am) with them. It never occurred to me to have a party. I just wasn't that kind of kid. Plus, I was terrified of getting caught. They wouldn't leave me home alone, so they had a friend of mine stay with me. A MALE friend. FIVE years older and in college. He was the son of our family doctor, and we dated off and on for my first few years of high school. What were they thinking?  Honestly, nothing ever happened. Ever. (Not much happened when we dated, either.) Instead of going back to his dorm, he'd go to my house. He helped me take care of our dogs. That was it. We still both laugh about it, and I still can't believe my parents were that trusting of us. Having an almost 15 year old DD now, I can't imagine making that choice. |
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 15:23:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 15:34:25 GMT
When my parents went out of town and left me alone, I was definitely a rule follower. I did plenty of things at other times that were rule breaking, but I knew when my parents were out of town that the neighbors were aware and if they noticed anything out of sorts, my parents would be told. That would have spoiled the good thing I had going, with lots of freedom and trust because my parents had never so much as suspected I was doing anything I shouldn't be. I didn't want that to end, so I followed the rules to a t.
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 15:23:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 15:35:01 GMT
My parents went away once for a weekend to celebrate their anniversary and left us home. I was 16, my brothers were 18 and 11. We stayed up late and watched SNL. I ate some ice cream out of the container instead of scooping it into a bowl. Ohhh, what a rebel I was!
Our parents didn't drink, so there wasn't any alcohol in the house. And my grandma lived next door, so we had a bit of supervision.
BTW, today is my parents' 49th anniversary. Whoo hoo, Mom and Dad!
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Gennifer
Drama Llama
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Post by Gennifer on May 27, 2015 15:38:08 GMT
Total rule-follower.
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Post by anxiousmom on May 27, 2015 15:42:23 GMT
I was left alone over night as a kid, and *I* never had a party. However, that was mostly because there was always another party to go to. I would have a couple of friends over, and we would have mini-parties, but not the big ones. We also had a lot of alcohol, a lot of weed and boyfriends sleeping over. I have tried to not judge my kids by my behavior...but if they are alone for a night, they know that mom has taken a page out of Reagan's policy manual... trust, but verify. I may, or may not, either check on them myself or have someone else check on them. |
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Deleted
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Oct 7, 2024 15:23:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 15:44:24 GMT
Total rule follower. A to the letter rule follower. If I "modify" a rule it is to make it stricter...
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Post by leannec on May 27, 2015 15:47:17 GMT
I'm an only child and was a total rule follower ... I can't remember being left home alone all night at 16 but I would have been fine with it  At 17 I had a serious boyfriend so I probably would have had a "sleepover" if given the opportunity  |
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Post by *KAS* on May 27, 2015 15:48:06 GMT
I never threw a party, but my boyfriend did spend the night once.  |
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
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Post by tduby1 on May 27, 2015 15:48:25 GMT
My parents went away once for a weekend to celebrate their anniversary and left us home. I was 16, my brothers were 18 and 11. We stayed up late and watched SNL. I ate some ice cream out of the container instead of scooping it into a bowl. Ohhh, what a rebel I was! Our parents didn't drink, so there wasn't any alcohol in the house. And my grandma lived next door, so we had a bit of supervision. BTW, today is my parents' 49th anniversary. Whoo hoo, Mom and Dad! Happy 49th to them! |
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Post by peano on May 27, 2015 16:18:19 GMT
Total rule breaker, but in a responsible way, LOL. I know lots of people who were on various substances at school, which I NEVER would have done. I saved that sort of thing for the weekend.
My parents' divorce coincided with my entry into HS, and my brother and I stayed with my father, who was busy dealing with his own shit, and my mother was AWOL. I don't really know why we didn't have parties at our house in HS; Lord knows I attended enough at other peoples' houses (heh, maybe that's why). Obviously we had very little structure and few rules so I had many opportunities to get in trouble.
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tincin
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Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
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Post by tincin on May 27, 2015 16:34:17 GMT
My parents left us alone anytime we didn't want to go to the cottage with them. There was always someone available who could drive. I stayed alone a lot between 16-18 because I hated the cottage and my two younger brothers loved it. I didn't have any parties but I did have a few sleepovers. They weren't girlfriends either. That was probably the most horrific thing I did, particularly when my parents returned home early one weekend.  |
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suzastampin
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Post by suzastampin on May 27, 2015 16:40:20 GMT
Rule follower. My parents had enough trust in me to behave that I wasn't going to do anything to lose that trust. Nobody ever knew when I was left alone.
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Post by icedcoffee14 on May 27, 2015 17:08:49 GMT
Never did anything like party with parents out of town. I was always too nervous that I'd get in trouble. I was one of those kids....lol
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~Susan~
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You need to check your boobs, mine tried to kill me!!!
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Jul 6, 2014 17:25:32 GMT
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Post by ~Susan~ on May 27, 2015 17:17:21 GMT
I was not a rule follower, but I never had a party at my house. I was a latch-key kid of a single mother, so I had lots of time to get into trouble. I was pretty good until I met a girl at school and we became best friends in jr high. She had older siblings and they had access to alcohol and cars. They were also kids of a single mom. The parties that were had were at her house and they were some whoppers. Their house was out in the boonies, so never had to worry about neighbors and her mom and mine went out and stayed out into the wee hours. The stories I could tell....  |
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Post by BoilerUp! on May 27, 2015 17:20:58 GMT
I wasn't a terrible kid, but I was not a rule follower in High School. My single mom could always rely on me if she needed help with anything or assistance with my little brother (who was 7 years younger than me) I snuck out. I drank beer. I took taxi cabs with friends late late at night. I went to party's. I stayed out and up too late. But, I didn't do drugs. Had a lot of fun too I call them memories!!  |
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Post by myboysnme on May 27, 2015 17:21:32 GMT
I was left alone and I used that opportunity to have sex with my boyfriend. If I had not had a boyfriend I would have been fine being left alone. I went to work and hung out with girlfriends. It was that boy that led me astray 
On the other hand, one time when I was 18 I was left at the house while the family went away for the weekend because I was working. My drunk father showed up in town and decided to be sexually inappropriate so I threatened to beat him with a pool cue if he came near me.
The moral to my story is that I don't see anything wrong with leaving a 16-18 year old girl if she feels safe, but the key is that she should have someone to check in with her and someone to stay with her if possible, like a girl friend. But if she has a boyfriend, chances are they will get busy, but probably already are anyway. |
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scorpeao
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Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on May 27, 2015 17:21:56 GMT
My older sister had a huge party when my parents went to the beach for a week. She pretty much ruined any chance I ever had of doing the same...my mom didn't trust me to stay home alone. Probably for the best too because I would have had a party!
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Probably sounds boring to some people, but I still like to do that if I get days off 
