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Remember When We Were Latchkey Kids?
A discussion started in a Twitter thread the other day asking how old we were when we were allowed to stay home by ourselves. I didn’t have to think about much. I was 9 years old when my parents felt it was okay for me to stay home by myself for a few hours at a time. At that age, it might have been staying home while my mom went grocery shopping or if she had a hair appointment or something like that. I remember it was never more than 2 hours but I was completely unsupervised and I loved it. The rules were that I couldn’t leave the house unless it was an emergency, no long-distance phone calls, and if anyone called I could answer the phone but I was not to tell them I was home alone, I was to tell them my parents would call them back later and ask if they wanted to leave a message. I was also told if someone rang the doorbell I was to ask who it was, and if it wasn’t a short list of people, I was not to open the door. Armed with these rules, I had a great time playing records from my dad’s collection, watching TV, reading magazines and books, and making my own sandwiches. My parents trusted me and I made sure their trust was well-placed.
As I grew older, I was able to spend longer and longer periods of time home alone or as caretaker of my special-needs sister. My list of privileges grew so I could leave the house and walk (or ride my bike) to the convenience store, visit with my…
