How will I know when my child is ready to start staying at home alone?
When you're thinking about when you want your child to begin staying home alone as opposed to going to after school daycare, it is more important to look at their developmental level then it is at their age. They may be of an age that they can stay home but the may not be emotionally ready or they may not be mature enough.
You want to focus more on if they are able to take care of themselves. Are they able to be home over a short period of time and keep themselves safe and look after themselves? Can you trust them to get an appropriate snack and access privileges appropriately? Can you trust them to be able to independently start tasks in the home that you would like them to and steer clear of things that would be unsafe? And of course, importantly, are they able to engage in procedures if there was an emergency? Are they knowledgeable about contacting 911? Are they knowledgeable about who they would contact in the case of an emergency?
