Child home alone

I suppose times have changed .... and yet they haven’t. There have always been kids left alone from a young age! My grandparents ran an off licence and my mother had to look after her brother from 9.

My mother didn’t work so I was never left HOME alone but my brother and I spent HOURS out of the house (at weekends and holidays) from the ages of about 8 and 9. In fact the London Underground was our playground!! No phones for contact then. In fact nobody actually knew where we were!!

At 12 I got a paid job as a babysitter too!!!

Fact is I was stricter on my own children and now I would be frantic if my DGC disappeared all day!!!

As for original question? I guess I feel there is no ‘safe’ time frame. I mean an accident could happen in half an hour as much as 2 hours or 12 hours! It is very much in the hands of the parents what they feel comfortable with? And to accept that they are solely responsible if there were any issues or accidents. Children can’t always be trusted (I can remember making chips whilst babysitting after being told never to go near the chip pan!).

MamaCaz The child care element of tax credits does include costs for school holidays. in fact after school clubs,child minders, nurseries and holiday clubs are all eligible if with registered child minders unfortunately it doesn’t cover more than 70% of the total cost though