Legal age for leaving a child home alone
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26650
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Topic: Legal age for leaving a child home alone
Posted By: my2angels
Subject: Legal age for leaving a child home alone
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:14am
Kind of on the same lines as some recent posts, does anyone know what the legal age you can leave a child home alone is. I thought it was 12 and at 14 you can babysit but then a friend thought it was 14 home alone. Im thinking in situations like say you race to the supermarket or have to drop something of or letting the kids come home from school at say 3pm but you dont finish work till 4pm so not great periods of time or while you are out on the town for the night and not in charge of any other kids. And obviously Im not even thinking about this for me... if i wont let Kobe leave the school on his own Im not going to let him stay home on his own
And what about playing unsupervised. At what age would you let your children say go to the park with other kids but without an adult? |
Replies:
Posted By: Aquarius
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:23am
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its a tough one aye..
i think its 14 legally, but i am also in the mindset of every kid being a little different to the next. i think as a mum you will know what your child is capable of doing ( or not doing for that matter) ------------- http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/timers/"> 
mum to mr 16 & mr 10 |
Posted By: monikah
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:37am
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yea 14 is legal for home alone and being able to babysit...go figure. im pretty sure there is quite a lot on leniency with the whole getting home from work for school etc... kids go off together and play all the time so im not sure what the deal is with that, and walking home from school to... i know kids that walk home as early as 7 so its a weird one ------------- 
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:45am
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I was running 'wild' from about 10 - off to the park and exploring and bike riding everywhere.
I think I was a 'keychain' kid from about 11 too. Ahh the good ol' days - I don't know if I'd be so keen to be as lenient with Rowan -------------  
 
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Posted By: sally belly
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:59am
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I'm pretty sure the legal age is 14 too. Although I don't think I'd be too keen to get a 14 year old to babysit if they weren't babysitting their younger sibling(s).
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 12:40pm
14 ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 2:23pm
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It is 14 , I had a great job a few years ago where I looked after 2 kids in the afternoon from 3 til 5 , and got to eat lots of junk food and watched tv and got $200 in the hand each week , even on days I didn't work .
Then when school finished they thanked me and said that they wouldn't need me next year as the daughter would be turning 14 before school went back and she would be old enough , HA! I thought , old enough, but not smart enough ! ------------- 
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Posted By: Babe
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 7:17pm
Hmm it was 12 home alone and 14 babysitting when I was 12. I know because a. my dad worked for the cops and b. I got to stay at home and my sister couldn't stay with me because technically I wasn't old enough to babysit 
As for playing unsupervised uhmmm duno maybe about 8 though depends on the child. We weren't really allowed anywhere by ourselves til we were 12 but we were living in the worst gang neighbourhood so might have had something to do with it  -------------   
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Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 9:29pm
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I COULD have stayed home from the time I was seven , I had seen Home Alone, I knew what to do ! -------------
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Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 9:41pm
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14, but you can leave your child at 8 at the local swimming pool for the day and there be no problems. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: kriss
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 11:09pm
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My friend has a daughter who is 12, she says that legally at age 12 they can stay home alone but only for one hour..
Which is handy because she finishes work at 4pm ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
 Little Angel, April 10
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Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 22 May 2009 at 3:15pm
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quote from the net "New Zealand law says children under the age of 14 should not be left on their own." -------------
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Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 22 May 2009 at 3:31pm
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Leaving older children
From the CYF site ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: kriss
Date Posted: 22 May 2009 at 9:07pm
 Eek!------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
Little Angel, April 10
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