Catherine Scott: Would you leave your child home alone?

It was revealed this week that more than 500 parents have been prosecuted for leaving their children ‘home alone’.

So when is it safe to leave your children unattended? The law is very woolly on the subject, preferring to leave it to the judgement of parents, saying you shouldn’t leave them alone if they could be ‘at risk’.

This in itself is hard to define as one person’s risk may be different from another’s.

I believe it is important for children to be exposed to some risk. Climbing a tree can be a risky business but is an essential part of childhood. I allow my ten year old to go to the park close to our house with a friend. That is a risk. But they are prepared for that risk. They know what to do if they are approached by a stranger, or if one of them gets hurt. Some may think this is a risk not worth taking. But in September she off to secondary school and will take the school bus. As parents it is our job to equip them with the tools to deal with risk when they are faced with it. I believe the same thing applies to the decision of whether or not to leave your children unattended at home. Although a law stating minimum age would in some ways be helpful to parents, it isn’t always reflective of the child. Some ten year olds mature earlier than others and can be trusted not to put their head in the gas oven as soon as your back is turned. Others you can’t take your eyes off.

In our house our children have been told what to do in the event of an emergency; they know how to answer the hone and how to get out of the house if need be. Once again it is about familiarising yourself with the risks and also with the ability of your own children.

The NSPCC has some useful guidelines in an attempt to help parents through yet another minefield of child rearing. They state that babies and pre school children should never be left alone; children under 12 shouldn’t be left for long periods of time and under 16s shouldn’t be left overnight. Tell that to the teenage baby sitters in our village. And again what is meant by long periods of time. Some people may interpret that as an hour others all day while you are at work struggling to get child care in the school holidays.

We don’t know the details of the 500 parents prosecuted although the majority were under ten, we also don’t know how long they were left for. There is a very big difference leaving you 11 year old while you nip to the supermarket to leaving them while you go on a weekend away.

Again it comes down to your judgement and what you and most importantly your children are happy with.

Twitter@ypcscott