Among Friends

[ECBG]

---

@dex wrote:

Alone for a week is a long time...probably 18.I would have to make sure that they were responsible enough even at that age.Funny that I was married at 19 and thought I was very grown up.

---

@dex, Today's 18 isn't what we were at that age.  I did have some students who weren't as aggressive as others, but in most cases, those would have also been happy to stay with a relative.  Truly "good" girls!

@lolakimono,Do you have anyone this mature?  (Hope you're feeling better by now.)

[lolakimono]

---

@ECBG wrote:

---

---

@dex, Today's 18 isn't what we were at that age.  I did have some students who weren't as aggressive as others, but in most cases, those would have also been happy to stay with a relative.  Truly "good" girls!

@lolakimono,Do you have anyone this mature?  (Hope you're feeling better by now.)

---

@ECBG

I teach MS, so by the time they are 18 they have changed a lot.

I did hire a co-worker's 18 year old daughter to cat sit while we were away for 5 days, but I was nervous.  She is very responsible, but doesn't drive, so her boyfriend had to drive her twice a day.  I was comforted that if something did happen, her mother would know what to do, even if she did not.  

In 2017, I would not leave anyone under 18 home alone for a week.

Things are much different with "delayed responsibility" IMO.  We have nieces (both sides of the family) with "anxiety" type issues, that have stunted their interest in growing up.  Both are the firstborn children, yet are not babysitting, holding jobs, etc. The one waited until 18 to get a DL, despite having a permit for two years.  The other is a freshman in HS, who refuses to be left alone at home, even for something simple as parent/teacher conferences.  She is scared of being at home alone.

I was babysitting by 12, and I had my license (and jobs) by 16, so staying at home wouldn't have been a problem for me.  My brothers might have been tempted to invite "reinforcements" for an extended stay. 

[ECBG]

---

@lolakimono wrote:

---

@ECBG wrote:

---

---

@dex, Today's 18 isn't what we were at that age.  I did have some students who weren't as aggressive as others, but in most cases, those would have also been happy to stay with a relative.  Truly "good" girls!

@lolakimono,Do you have anyone this mature?  (Hope you're feeling better by now.)

---

@ECBG

I teach MS, so by the time they are 18 they have changed a lot.

I did hire a co-worker's 18 year old daughter to cat sit while we were away for 5 days, but I was nervous.  She is very responsible, but doesn't drive, so her boyfriend had to drive her twice a day.  I was comforted that if something did happen, her mother would know what to do, even if she did not.  

In 2017, I would not leave anyone under 18 home alone for a week.

Things are much different with "delayed responsibility" IMO.  We have nieces (both sides of the family) with "anxiety" type issues, that have stunted their interest in growing up.  Both are the firstborn children, yet are not babysitting, holding jobs, etc. The one waited until 18 to get a DL, despite having a permit for two years.  The other is a freshman in HS, who refuses to be left alone at home, even for something simple as parent/teacher conferences.  She is scared of being at home alone.

I was babysitting by 12, and I had my license (and jobs) by 16, so staying at home wouldn't have been a problem for me.  My brothers might have been tempted to invite "reinforcements" for an extended stay. 

---

@lolakimonoYou and I were similar.  I worked on Friday night and Saturday at sixteen and bought all my own clothes (well with a little help from my grandmother, whom I loved so much.  A true Victorian, born in 1900, brought me up in kid leather heels. The strongest business woman in this town, and I was the daughter she never had, I almost had to be torn away from her every time.  I would have never, ever sacrificed my leaving to go to design school and came home with a double degree.  Everything was worth it when I looked in her eyes.  I became her mirror image!

Hope you're feeling better.  I did teach with walking pnemuonia for two weeks and went to the doctor.  They told me I would have been in the hospital in three days.  Very, very painful!  Only the true flu was worse, maybe equal.

[qvcfreak]

My son left for college at 17 years of age so I would leave him home alone beginning at age 14 while I went to work during the summer. I just told him don't answer the door, I left him breakfast and lunch and all he had to do was reheat in the microwave. He also had no curfew his senior year of high school because I told him depending on his grades and behavior would seal the deal on whether or not he would go away his freshman year. He graduated with honors and a lot of awards. He is in his 3rd year of college studying Veterinary Medicine.

[libbyannE]

No child should be left home alone for a week--or even a night. Period. I am talking about any age.

[Carmie]

---

@dex wrote:

 @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.

---

I know that I was mature at age 19.  At 11 to 12 years old, I was already keeping house and making dinner for 7 people five days a week.  I used to get myself up in the morning and get ready for school, then wake up my mother, who worked until 3 am so she could get my siblings off to school.

When I got married, I could cook, wash and run a household better than my older neighbors and I worked outside of the home too.

i don't remember doing anything stupid... I was too busy.

[Patriot3]

---

@qualitygal wrote:

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

---

Thank you, QG.  I know I am over-protective, but I was w/my own three kids and they turned out super.  I don't regret it! 

I have three other grands whose parents were kind of o-p, too, and all 3 are super, also.

[libbyannE]

---

@Carmie wrote:

---

@dex wrote:

 @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.

---

I know that I was mature at age 19.  At 11 to 12 years old, I was already keeping house and making dinner for 7 people five days a week.  I used to get myself up in the morning and get ready for school, then wake up my mother, who worked until 3 am so she could get my siblings off to school.

When I got married, I could cook, wash and run a household better than my older neighbors and I worked outside of the home too.

i don't remember doing anything stupid... I was too busy.

---

I was mature, too, but I would have been upset if I had been left home alone for a week. I wasn't thinking about kids getting into trouble when I wrote that no kid should be left alone for a week but about his the child would feel about it. 

[qvcfreak]

@151949 I graduated in 1981 and 18 was the legal age back then to purchase alcohol. 

[Carmie]

---

@libbyannE wrote:

---

@Carmie wrote:

---

@dex wrote:

 @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.

---

I know that I was mature at age 19.  At 11 to 12 years old, I was already keeping house and making dinner for 7 people five days a week.  I used to get myself up in the morning and get ready for school, then wake up my mother, who worked until 3 am so she could get my siblings off to school.

When I got married, I could cook, wash and run a household better than my older neighbors and I worked outside of the home too.

i don't remember doing anything stupid... I was too busy.

---

I was mature, too, but I would have been upset if I had been left home alone for a week. I wasn't thinking about kids getting into trouble when I wrote that no kid should be left alone for a week but about his the child would feel about it. 

---

My husband has always worked the night shift and most of the day shift too.... a lot of double shifts.  I used to be afraid of being alone at night, but lost a lot of sleep.

FInally I told myself to just sleep and if someone broke in, I'd deal with it then.