Staying Safe At Home: Latchkey Kids

Until about the age of eleven or twelve, most children are not able to handle stressful or emergency situations that require mature decision making on their own. Therefore it is best for parents to arrange for an adult or a responsible older adolescent to be at home when they are not present or for some other structured supervision. 

However, your child may be an exception and be sufficiently mature at the age of eight to ten years to be home alone after school. Before her first day on her own, however, you need to make sure she feels safe and secure, and that she is prepared for dealing with knocks on the door, emergencies, and injuries. Some communities offer courses in babysitting that can also serve as good preparation for self-care. Nevertheless, your child should not be home alone until she is comfortable with that arrangement. Here are some issues that you should discuss with her:

• Does she know her full name, address, and phone number? Does she know your full name as well, and the address and phone number of your work place, or other ways to reach you at work? (You might call every day to be sure your child has arrived home safely and that nothing at home is out of the ordinary, children appreciate the sense of security this form of supervision provides.)
• Does she have an established routine to follow so she knows what she is supposed to do and where she is supposed to be?
• Can your child use the telephone correctly, particularly when calling you, a neighbor, or emergency services (911)?
• When she returns home from school every day, does your child know how to lock the door behind her? Can she remember to call you and/or a neighbor as soon as she arrives home, and then check in again at designated times?
• Have you instructed your child never to enter your home if a door is ajar, or if a window is open or broken?
• Have you talked about what to do if someone knocks at the front door while she is home alone? (The best advice: she should not open the door and should tell the person knocking that you are home but are busy and unable to answer the door.)
• Have you and your child discussed how she should exit your home quickly in case of a fire? Does she know which exits are safest, depending on the location of the fire? Does she know what to do in case of an emergency or an earthquake, and is she familiar with basic first aid (e.g. applying pressure to a cut?)