Latchkey kids - were you ever one?

No, my father was a GP so there had to be an adult in the house at all times to answer the practice phone and the door if anyone came looking for the doctor between consulting times.

It wasn't until I was 14 that I was allowed to answer the phone when my mother or father was in, and allowed to be for very brief spells , 20 minutes or so, alone in the house.

My mum stayed at home until my sister, who is the youngest, started school so l was a latchkey kid from the age of eleven (l think my brother and sister were looked after by a neighbour until she returned home around half an hour after l did. I don’t think it did us any harm whatsoever.

Well almost: 3 times a week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, my mother had to take my brother to the hospital for psychotherapy (he had been born with a club foot) so I had to let myself in but no one in our little town ever locked the back door so no key was involved. This went on from my being aged 5 1/2 until I left the Primary School, but after I went to Secondary, her bus got home just before I got in having cycled the much great distance home from the town, so the lackey kid epithet was no longer valid

No, my mum was always at home, when I returned home, from school.

I was a latchkey child from a very early age. Loved it! Freedom to make a jam sandwich before my mum got home or wander down to one of the other flats in our block to see a friend.

yes from the age of 7, when we moved after having lived with my nan. At first i used to get the key from a neighbour and had to return it immediately, then later on had my own key. i used to go in and wait until my parents came home, usually about the same time, 6ish. Then as i got older i would do any dishes, peel potatoes or anything else that needed doing and in winter would light the fire. On a friday i would get the bus, about a 20 minute journey to my nans, and would walk down the main shopping street to her house, about another 15 minute walk and this was from the age of 7. it makes me shudder nowadays to think of what could have happened, but never did, maybe because times were nicer then.

My mum never had a job, once she was married, though money was always tight.
I remember coming home from school one day, and she wasn't at home. It had never happened before, and I was devastated. When she turned up, a few minutes later, I was sobbing my heart out on the doorstep.

91?

For 2 days I was a latchkey kid. Or was I? The back door was never locked so I didn’t need a key. I can’t recall how old I was but if I ran home from school there was Muffin the Mule or The Flower Pot Men on, on tv. I do remember thinking how I wished the tv would warm up quicker though. Those two days stayed in my memory. I was bored. Feeling unable to go out and play with my friends as my foster mother would worry if I wasn’t in when she got home. Many years later I asked her where she was when I had to come home and not have her there. Seems she was at a funeral the first day and out with a few of her sisters, the 2nd. An afternoon showing of a film one of her sisters had been banned from seeing by her husband. Much to my annoyance she couldn’t recall the name of the film but said it was a pathetic one, bad actors, silly story line and not in the least as interesting as her sisters husband must have thought, to females.

I was one in the 1970’s at primary school, 8-10 years old. My parents both worked in another town so there was nobody at home My mother set out a tray with snacks for me and all I had to do was homework and watch TV or play in the garden. I dont think my mother was happy about the situation but felt she had no choice! No after school clubs in those days and I had no aunts or uncles as both parents were only children (as I was).

I was a latch key kid from the age of ten.Would never let any child of mine allow what my parents allowed but then how times have changed .Not for the better unfortunately.

No my dad didn’t want mum to work even though money was tight. I don’t know how I’d feel about being a latchkey kid. I didn’t have to do any jobs either which in retrospect I wish I had.

Partly because my mother was ill with cancer and drank heavily to block out the pain. So I would be ‘alone' in my room. I was able 7yrs old I think.

My mother was never at home after school, I let myself in and in the winter the house was very cold( no central heating then)
I hated it. I was not allowed to light fire or gas cooker. I swore that I would be home for my three and made sure any part time job I had was only in the mornings.

Yes I was and I hated it. It was cold and dark in the winter and I was supposed to lay and light the fire, do the veg and have everything ready for supper. Schoolwork didn’t seem to matter to anyone! So homework wasn’t a priority. I got 5 O levels and wonder how well I might have done if I’d had more encouragement. Stayed at home for my 3 and now help with grandchild care.

I was fortunate and never was. Mum went back to work part time in my last year at primary school as she finally relented and allowed me to stay for school dinners but was always there when I came home. I'm not sure I appreciated it sufficiently at the time.

My dad died when I was 11 and from then on looked after my then 6 year old sister after school and all the school holidays. Mum went off the rails somewhat. Nowadays, we'd have been in care.

So sorry. Can't have been easy for any if you.

Yes, I was...from age 7 onwards, and from 9 was expected to prepare the evening meal for 2 adults and my 3 siblings. Growing up was rough but I only recognised it wasn't normal when my Mum died 2.5 years ago and stories came out...Not a golden childhood for any of us 3 sisters, but fabulous for my brother...or ex-brother.

Yes i was a latch key kid in the late fifties early sixties at about 12 my mam was working and my father was on shift work and then spent a while in hospital when i got home it was expected that you would help out i and my older sister would peel potatoes cut the veg and put it on the stove as well as lighting the fire, for us it was normal in fact i was a latch key kid until my 21st.birthday and was officially an adult.

Yes, from the age of about 9 my mum worked as a receptionist. All my older brothers were at the boys grammar schools and stayed for school lunch. This was still the days when school lunch breaks began at 12 noon and lasted till 1.30pm! So I walked home, cleaned and lit the Baxi fire, hoovered round and set the table, then mum would appear with hot pies or similar for lunch, bit of telly then time for us both to hop it, her on the bus and me back to school.

I enjoyed being on my own and quite enjoyed having my mum to myself. It was an overcrowded house when they all got back after school. I was quite proud to have my own key but I also knew that if I leaned on the back door hard enough, it popped open.

Times were different and clearly nowdays there would be all sorts of bad people around - this was the middle of Salford, Manchester. But it was a pre-drugs, low crime era and the arrangement was fine for me.

I wasn't, but one of my junior school friends was. Her mother was dead, and her father was at work, obviously. sometimes I would go home with her, I still remember how cold and cheerless the house was, she would make us some bread and jam to eat, I don't know if her dad cooked when he got home.I wasn't really supposed to hang out with her, at 10 years old she already had a bad name for going into the churchyard with boys. She was actually the one who told me the first (muddled) facts of life. We went our separate ways after junior schoool, but I often wonder what happened to her.

i was sometimes, depending if i was staying with my mum or gran, i had to get a 1 hour bus home to mums, i would start the coal fire, sort out any prep for tea and take in the washing from back court, when i got home my younger brother and sis was already there but a bit young to do much. my mum left at 4.30pm so i made tea every night. my school was in the city centre so if i was staying with gran it was only a 10 min journey and a chance to do homework. the joys of being the eldest in the family.

Your stories are all very interesting to me. I grew up in the USin the 1960’s, when most mothers didn’t work outside the home. All the other mothers were home but ours worked. She was really involved in her job and too exhausted, I suppose, to have much involvement with us. We didn’t get into any trouble, but our friends’ mothers were very disapproving. I wished I had a mother to take me to after school lessons and come to the school on parents days.

Not a latch key kid because my Mum was frightened that my Dad would take us away again but we had to hang about outside where she worked in all weathers. In the summer it was ok but in the winter it was dark, cold and usually wet. We hated it as there was no shelter. When I was 7 she decided that we needed to got to Boarding School so things changed then. However, in the school holidays, she used to leave us at home and then we had to do all the chores and cook dinner from about 11 onwards.