Is Your Teen Left Alone At Home After School?
Do you leave your teen at home for extended periods of time? Is there no one home to supervise your teen after school? Some teens are more than trustworthy, but leaving your teen home alone after school is a real risk. As we all know teens are well known for their desires to push the limits, and leaving teens at home alone can allow them extra freedom they might not be ready for.
The Risks of Leaving Your Teen Home Alone
There are a number of risks when it comes to leaving your teen home alone and they will vary greatly depending on your teen's age, maturity, whether they have any difficulties or just their general personality. If your teen is very trustworthy and mature you can worry a lot less about leaving the home alone. But even the most angelic teens do relish time home alone as an opportunity to push the limits.
Many parents worry about leaving their teens home alone in case of a fire, or that their teen manages to destroy the entire home. If you're only leaving your teen home alone for a few hours after school then there is no too much that can go wrong, but be sure to consider the risks and let your teen know what is appropriate for your home. Your teen might decide to have friends over when you're not home, which can potentially lead to even more risk of something going wrong. When in peers teens are much more likely to underage drink alcohol or have sex – neither of which a parent particularly wants in their home.
Be clear about the rules you have regarding your teen being home alone and ensure that they know there will be effective consequences if they are caught out breaking them. Ideally your teen shouldn't act any differently to how they act around you, when they're home alone. The same home rules should apply, regardless of whether there is an adult around.
How to Tell if Your Teen is Ready to be Left Alone
Every teen is different and there is no magic time where you will suddenly realise that your teen is fine to be home alone. Even if your teen is trustworthy and ready you might feel uncomfortable or concerned about leaving them home alone. Start off with smaller periods of time of your teen being home alone and slowly work your way up to longer times. Most teenagers have cell phones these days, so they can easily contact you if anything was to go wrong at home.
The perfect time to start leaving your teen home alone after school is whenever you are both confident that it is a good idea. Talk to your teen about how they feel about being left home alone; chances are most teens will relish the opportunity to have their own time and space around the home.
What age did you start leaving your child home alone? Has your teen done anything really naughty when they were left alone?
The Risks of Leaving Your Teen Home Alone
There are a number of risks when it comes to leaving your teen home alone and they will vary greatly depending on your teen's age, maturity, whether they have any difficulties or just their general personality. If your teen is very trustworthy and mature you can worry a lot less about leaving the home alone. But even the most angelic teens do relish time home alone as an opportunity to push the limits.
Many parents worry about leaving their teens home alone in case of a fire, or that their teen manages to destroy the entire home. If you're only leaving your teen home alone for a few hours after school then there is no too much that can go wrong, but be sure to consider the risks and let your teen know what is appropriate for your home. Your teen might decide to have friends over when you're not home, which can potentially lead to even more risk of something going wrong. When in peers teens are much more likely to underage drink alcohol or have sex – neither of which a parent particularly wants in their home.
Be clear about the rules you have regarding your teen being home alone and ensure that they know there will be effective consequences if they are caught out breaking them. Ideally your teen shouldn't act any differently to how they act around you, when they're home alone. The same home rules should apply, regardless of whether there is an adult around.
How to Tell if Your Teen is Ready to be Left Alone
Every teen is different and there is no magic time where you will suddenly realise that your teen is fine to be home alone. Even if your teen is trustworthy and ready you might feel uncomfortable or concerned about leaving them home alone. Start off with smaller periods of time of your teen being home alone and slowly work your way up to longer times. Most teenagers have cell phones these days, so they can easily contact you if anything was to go wrong at home.
The perfect time to start leaving your teen home alone after school is whenever you are both confident that it is a good idea. Talk to your teen about how they feel about being left home alone; chances are most teens will relish the opportunity to have their own time and space around the home.
What age did you start leaving your child home alone? Has your teen done anything really naughty when they were left alone?
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