Among Friends

[MalteseMomma]

22 yrs old!!!!!!.........lol

[blackhole99]

18 I guess, once they graduate from high school . I wish I would have given my son more responsibility when he was growing up. Even though he's a responsible adult now, it took him quite a while to grow up.

[dex]

 @Carmie But were we really more mature or is that just the perception we have.I remember a man saying to me that he couldn't believe that I was married when I still looked like a child.I did some really stupid things too as I was learning my way do I can't say if I was more mature than the 19 year old of today.

[qualitygal]

@Patriot3, you're just being lovingly cautious and thoughtful. It's a nutsy crazy world out there in some areas. You never know.

[fortune]

I left my 17-year-old son alone for a weekend.  I came back early and there was a party going on!

[IMissSuperPoke]

It depends, some kids are too trusting of adults who might call or come to the door. My son, at 18, started to give out too much info on the phone to a supposedly army recruiter and I took the phone and hung up, explaining to my son it could be a guy in his living room doing the asking to steal his identity. 

I've seen those shows where parents test their kids by setting them up, while they're nit home but hiding in a van with camera crew, that sends someone to the door saying their parent called for an inspection and the kids let them in! Scary

It also depends on how trustworthy their friends are, too.

[ECBG]

I think maturity and how socially active the child is should figure in.  There are a few that, as seniors, are level headed enough to be responsible.  The majority are not (or at least those that I taught).

[beach-mom]

DD babysat for one of her regular families for the weekend when she was 15, but they knew we were right down the street.

However, I would NEVER leave teens alone. 

Years ago someone we knew well left two sweet teenaged daughters alone. They invited a few of their girlfriends over, with their parents' permission. At the high school, word got out. It turned into a major party. Lots of damage inside the house was done. The front door was left open and the cute (indoor) little Peekapoo ran out into the street and was hit. They took her to the clinic, but it was too late. Someone else took the spare set of keys. The parents had to have all of the locks changed. 

Sometime a little later our neighbors across the street left their two teenaged boys alone. Again, they were great boys, and we were really close to them. This time we knew, as did their parents, that they would have a crowd over - INSIDE, and they had promised "no drinking." I was very pregnant at the time, and DH was away for the weekend, helping his dad and stepmother move. There WAS drinking, they were outside, and I was scared. It turned out one of the boys broke up with his girlfriend at the party, drank, and put his fist through a couple of walls. Then they came outside. The neighbor down the street went over, told everyone to go home, and stayed while the boys "cleaned up." After DH came back home, both boys came over and apologized to us. 

This all happened before we had children. I knew what I would never do! Even if your children are trustworthy, you can't predict what will happen. And in this day and age, if you confront teens like our neighbor did over 20 years ago, who knows how some would respond? 

[beach-mom]

@Patriot3 - I got so caught up in my own stories! If someone does have to leave a child alone for a week, sometimes a single trusted teacher will be able to "house sit" for the week. Although we have never done that, we know teachers who have. Another option is a church youth minister. A lot of times, these jobs are filled by young singles. 

[Marienkaefer2]

 I would say..college age.

I'm going by what my parents did.

While we were at home and in high school or younger, they never left us alone, except to go out to dinner or movie, something like that.

Never overnight.

 ETA:  Just to clarify, we had babysitters until I was about 13, and then I, as the oldest, became the babysitter. 

Additionally, we had neighbors on all sides of us who were there if we needed help.  That was back at a time when neighbors still knew each other and looked out for each others' kids.