Is there a legal age limit for leaving kids alone in the room?

[crisi]

P.S. We used to live in TN and there were specific laws about how old a child had to be to stay home and watch siblings, it was a big issue because some families were charged..just didn't want to mess up with any Florida statutes...thanks!

No, there are not laws in Tennessee that specify age.

http://www.state.tn.us/tcjfcj/faq.html

That doesn't mean they can't charge you for neglect if you leave a two year old alone - or for that matter a disabled seventeen year old. Which is the reason there are not laws that specify age. A responsible eight year old may be a much better candidate to be a latchkey kid for an hour than a disabled sixteen year old or one who has discipline issues. Moreover, a responsible parent that has a latchkey child for an hour in the afternoon is a different situation than one that leaves their child for five hours on a Friday night to go to the casino. (It does look like Tennessee has a guideline at 10).

By the way, these are the guidelines for the county I live in (Ramsey County, Minnesota):

4. LACK OF SUPERVISION
Failure to provide supervision, care, guidance and/or protection, which results in the
child being in situations beyond his ability to cope, at risk of physical harm, at risk of
sexual and/or other exploitation.
a. The child is left alone or is held responsible for siblings or other children for
extended periods of time and in circumstances beyond the child's chronological
age, social maturity or judgment to handle safely. This includes the child's
exposure to or expectations to manage environmental hazards. Assessments will
be conducted on the following:
i. Children 5 and younger left alone for any period of time.
ii. Children 6-9 alone over three hours.
iii. Children 10-13 alone for over 12 hours.
iv. Children alone over 24 hours if parent’s whereabouts are unknown to
children. In all of above CPS will involve police for immediate safety
check of children where appropriate.
v. Children 11 to 14 may baby-sit with the expectation that an adult will
return later in day.
vi. Children 15 and older may baby-sit for more than 24 hours.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I THOUGHT the law in FL was no child under the age of 12 could be left in charge of younger children. I guess maybe that is where I am getting confused - how old they have to be to "babysit" and how old they have to be before you may leave them alone.

 

[gracefor5]

I think they would be totally fine but agree with having food delivered before you go. And then don't open the door, have your cell # and go.

I'm so jealous. I also homeschool and can never get away, but I'm kind of close (10,8,5) .

Have a great time

Kim

 

[DisneyMOM09]

No, there are not laws in Tennessee that specify age.

http://www.state.tn.us/tcjfcj/faq.html

That doesn't mean they can't charge you for neglect if you leave a two year old alone - or for that matter a disabled seventeen year old. Which is the reason there are not laws that specify age. A responsible eight year old may be a much better candidate to be a latchkey kid for an hour than a disabled sixteen year old or one who has discipline issues. Moreover, a responsible parent that has a latchkey child for an hour in the afternoon is a different situation than one that leaves their child for five hours on a Friday night to go to the casino. (It does look like Tennessee has a guideline at 10).

By the way, these are the guidelines for the county I live in (Ramsey County, Minnesota):

4. LACK OF SUPERVISION
Failure to provide supervision, care, guidance and/or protection, which results in the
child being in situations beyond his ability to cope, at risk of physical harm, at risk of
sexual and/or other exploitation.
a. The child is left alone or is held responsible for siblings or other children for
extended periods of time and in circumstances beyond the child's chronological
age, social maturity or judgment to handle safely. This includes the child's
exposure to or expectations to manage environmental hazards. Assessments will
be conducted on the following:
i. Children 5 and younger left alone for any period of time.
ii. Children 6-9 alone over three hours.
iii. Children 10-13 alone for over 12 hours.
iv. Children alone over 24 hours if parent’s whereabouts are unknown to
children. In all of above CPS will involve police for immediate safety
check of children where appropriate.
v. Children 11 to 14 may baby-sit with the expectation that an adult will
return later in day.
vi. Children 15 and older may baby-sit for more than 24 hours.

Wow, I am reading these lack of supervision guidlines and thinking I would never leave my 8 year old alone for any amount of time and especially not for up to 3 hours!!! She is a responsible bright child, but still to young in my opinion to be left on her own. However as far as a 13 year old babysitting for a few hours I can totally see that. By the time I was 13 I was babysitting my brother and 2 sisters and cooking dinner.(My mom was a single mom working evenings) I also had many overnight babysitting jobs at that age!

 

[DevilDuckie]

Barring any sort of serious medical or behavior issues with the younger two I would say 13 is plenty old enough to watch siblings. I know there are places where the legal limit is 12 but I don't know of any where it is higher.

 

[crisi]

Wow, I am reading these lack of supervision guidlines and thinking I would never leave my 8 year old alone for any amount of time and especially not for up to 3 hours!!! She is a responsible bright child, but still to young in my opinion to be left on her own. However as far as a 13 year old babysitting for a few hours I can totally see that. By the time I was 13 I was babysitting my brother and 2 sisters and cooking dinner.(My mom was a single mom working evenings) I also had many overnight babysitting jobs at that age!

I was babysitting my siblings by nine - and babysitting neighbors infants by eleven. My sisters are two and four years younger than me - so they would have been seven and five. I think its what you are used to - and how much you trust your kids and the world. My eight and nine year old became latchkey kids this year - at their request. They are only home for about 40 minutes alone - and the next door neighbor is always home.

 

[crisi]

Here is a link to a response re: Florida

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_legal_age_a_child_can_be_left_home_alone_in_Florida

 

[creativeamanda]

I was a latch key kid at 8. My sister was 6. BUT, I think that was too young. Your situation, however, OP, is totally different. With you being that close, and the kids knowing to lock the door and let no one in, they should be fine. I couldn't find any laws, so I think Fl must not have one. I did find out my own state of NC has no laws, just guidelines.

 

[Desnik]

At 13 I was babysitting a neighbors 2 kids. At 14 I was babysitting for a family members 4 kids(2 in diapers) for 6-8 hours at a time.
I would say a responsible 13 year old can be left in their WDW hotel room for 2 hours while their parents have dinner in the same hotel. Just get them dinner so they don't have to open the door to anyone. Leave them a cell phone too so you can check up on them. I will say I am very conservative with this issue and didn't start using a babysitter for my kids until last year when they were 9 and 4 and she is 23 years old! However, I would leave a 13 year old with his/her siblings, especially with the ages your kids are.

 

[Merriwind]

If you think they will be fine, I'm sure they will be. There are 13yos who could easily handle a couple hours of watching siblings. Others, not so much.

When I have to go out, I don't leave DD10. (She is the world's most cautious, responsible child, but she is an only.) We have neighbors across the street--13 and 11 yo girls. They will often come over if I have an evening meeting or am at a neighbor's. They play together. I do pay the 13yo. The 11yo comes so as not to be left out. One of their parents or their 22yo sister is always home. It works great. However, there is a 17yo in the neighborhood that I wouldn't trust to watch my cat, even if her mom was parked in my driveway.

Mom, it sounds like you think they can handle it. Enjoy your dinner--they'll be fine.

PS - I do think that getting the food before the parents leave is a good idea.

 

[all4fun]

I found this link on Seminole County Sherrifs site:

Q: What is the age that a child can legally be left home alone?
A: Again, there is in no easy answer. Florida State Statute does not establish a "bright line" age at which a child can be left home alone, so again it will depend upon the totality of the circumstances for the individual case. In most cases, unless it is so obvious that the child should not have been left alone in the particular case circumstances, the incident will not be a crime. However, a call to the Florida Abuse Hotline may still be warranted. They will look at such things as if the child had a plan of what to do or whom to call in an emergency, the maturity and responsibility of the child, and if the child or family has had similar contacts with the CPS in the past.

Personally, I don't know how I feel about it so can't give any advice. If it really makes you nervous, then you could always hire a service like Kids Night Out or Fairy Godmothers and have someone sit with them in the room for a few hours. Just a thought.

hth

 

[powellrj]

While we leave the kids alone at home, just remember a hotel room isn't the same as home and things that can happen at a hotel that are out of the norm.

At home kids are in a familiar environment and know who to call and what to do, where at a hotel it is totally different. I have had things happen in hotels that even have had me shaken and I am an adult who travels for both work and pleasure alot.

As long as you stay in the same hotel as the kids, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but there is no way I would leave the hotel with them alone in the room, even if we had cell phones.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

While we leave the kids alone at home, just remember a hotel room isn't the same as home and things that can happen at a hotel that are out of the norm.

At home kids are in a familiar environment and know who to call and what to do, where at a hotel it is totally different. I have had things happen in hotels that even have had me shaken and I am an adult who travels for both work and pleasure alot.

I think there's actually a lot LESS that can happen in a hotel room.

There's no oven, no knives, no cleaning products. You cant fall out a window, or have someone break in a window. etc etc. A hotel room is a pretty limited environment for things to go wrong.

As long as they understand never to open the door (and as long as they're strong enough to open the door in an emergency), I think it's an easy choice.

 

[powellrj]

I think there's actually a lot LESS that can happen in a hotel room.

There's no oven, no knives, no cleaning products. You cant fall out a window, or have someone break in a window. etc etc. A hotel room is a pretty limited environment for things to go wrong.

As long as they understand never to open the door (and as long as they're strong enough to open the door in an emergency), I think it's an easy choice.

By the time you are thinking about leaving a child alone, those things should all be none issues.

The things you have to worry about in a hotel room are people entering your room, yes people have been given our room key and we have been given other peoples room keys and have entered their rooms all by mistake. People in the room above you leaving a bathtub running and your bathroom ceiling collapsing. The alarm system going off and having to evacuate the hotel. A person "noticing" your child and giving them a note to "met them later". These are just the things that have happened to us. I am sure other people could add to the list.

These are things that wouldn't happen at home and if they did, my kids know what to do. Like I said, even when I have been alone and had to evacuate because of the collapsed ceiling or the alarm, I was flustered and I'm an adult. There is no way I would put a child in the position to handle them.

Like I said, as long as you are in the same hotel, thats one thing, but unless you have an older teen there is no way I would ever leave a child under 16 alone in a hotel room.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Well hotel rooms do have a LOCK on the inside of the door. 12 year olds know how to use locks.

As for the other stuff, I give kids more credit than that. I thi9nk they often think MORE clearly in an emergency than adults.

 

[powellrj]

Well hotel rooms do have a LOCK on the inside of the door. 12 year olds know how to use locks.

As for the other stuff, I give kids more credit than that. I thi9nk they often think MORE clearly in an emergency than adults.

I'm not going to argue with you, but a lock does nothing when someone is "GIVEN THE KEY TO YOUR ROOM BY THE FRONT DESK AS THEIR ROOM", yes this has happened to us a few times. We have been given the key to a room already occupied and a couple of times people have been given the keys to our room when we were already in it. Does it happen often, no, in the over 30 years we have been traveling, it has only happened a few times, but it does happen.

Hey, if you feel your 12 year old is old enough to know what to do, you do whatever you feel comfortable doing. I just have found that things can happen in hotel rooms that aren't going to happen at home and I want my kids to be safe.

I never dreamed that my then 15 year old DS would get a note from a man telling him to come up to his room. He didn't tell me about it until later because he knew I would freak out about it and make a big deal about it. Which is exactly what I did. And this was a large "nicer" Marriott, not some cheapie budget motel.

Yes, you never know who is watching your kids and at least at home they know the neighbors where at a hotel, you have no idea who is in the room next to you.


Like I said, you need to do what makes you comfortable and if you are comfortable thats all that counts.

 

[SoonipiLady]

but I also don't think the first time you do it should be on vacation. You have until September to have a few "dry runs" as it were. That way there will not be so much pressure on your oldest at a time that should be stress-free, vacation.

 

[Nanu57v]

I just remembered something else. In PA, kids who are 13 are too old for daycare. I'm thinking that if they are too old for daycare, they are probably old enough to be left alone.

 

[LoveKermit]

I think the horse has been beaten, but I still have an opinion.

As an only child who has always been afraid to be home alone (saw a burglar run out of my grandma's house when I was 5, I blame that incident), I was glad my parents left me alone when they did. They started when I was in middle school (around 11) on a Sat. morning or so and moved up from there. And I was alone--no one to collaborate with in an emergency.

I was alone one morning in a hotel room (maybe 14 yrs old?). My parents went to checkout and load the car. The fire alarm went off. I called the front desk and they said to evacuate because there was construction being done in the building. So, knowing we were checked out, I gathered the purses and pillows and down the stairs I went because "no elevators during a fire". My parents were at the door waiting for me. They were nervous, but never really let me know. But the bottom line--I knew what to do in the emergency. And this was pre-cell phone. And it was a false alarm.

I always felt safer alone in a hotel room (or apt as I aged) than in a stand-alone house. There are always people around. And for the most part, would help your kids if there was an emergency. Yes, I would trust the concierge if that's the way you go. You're at Disney. There are other parents with kids there. If a kid knocked on your door, wouldn't you help?

And I'm not a naturally paranoid person. But thank you to all the replies that might change that.

 

[Tabbypelt]

whatever age is fine if they are responsiple T.V is funny!!=^.^=