As you prepare for your weekly trip to the grocery store, your 11-year-old daughter asks if she can stay home alone. But how do you know if she is ready?
Deciding to leave a child home alone is a difficult decision for any parent. While Illinois state law mandates that no child under age 14 should be left unsupervised for an unreasonable length of time, the State of Missouri has no law indicating a minimal age for children to be left alone. However, state law does ask that parents exercise reasonable diligence, or responsible parenting.
Parents should consider the temperament and attitude of a child when deciding whether he or she can handle being left alone at home because the decision ultimately is based on the child’s maturity level.
“Parents should talk to their child and discuss his or her comfort level,” says Marti Craighead, RN, MBA, community education instructor at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “When children are ready, we suggest allowing them to stay home alone for brief periods of time—10 or 15 minutes—and increasing from there. It’s also helpful to give children some safe preplanned chores to keep them occupied.”
Parents also should provide contact information, address safety issues and create an emergency action plan to help kids be prepared for a possible emergency.
St. Louis Children’s Hospital offers a class to prepare families before children stay home alone. For more information, call 314.454.KIDS (5437).