After a couple of young kids drowned while swimming unsupervised in Jacksonville, Fla., the state said it is seeing an uptick in the number of children who are left home alone as parents work two jobs and scramble to keep their lives together.
I wonder if the “trend” can be proven somehow and whether it translates into juvenile problems, injuries or other trauma.
Are summer daycare facilities noticing any effect? Are kids who might have once participated in summer activities now home because parents can’t afford summer camps or care? How have city/country budgets affected summer pool hours or other activities where kids might have gone to keep busy and stay safe?
As you will see from this chart, a handful of states have guidelines but no rules about when it is OK to leave a kid alone.
Interestingly, the U.S. Census Bureau says higher-income families, not lower-income families, are most likely to have unsupervised kids.
FamilyEducation.com offers some additional resources:
“7 million of the nation’s 38 million children ages 5 to 14 are left home alone regularly. The data show:
