What Age Can You Leave Your Child Home Alone?

There are so many milestones that parents talk about: when there child sits, crawls, says their first word, takes their first steps — to name a few. A milestone that just might be more significant than all of these is the day they can stay home alone.

This milestone marks new found independence and new found flexibility for parents. The kids can stay home while I go to the grocery store! Woot! Woot! Yes, you can here me cheering across the globe for this one.

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In Canada, the laws differ across the country and not all provinces has legislation on the subject. In Manitoba and New Brunswick, children under the age of 12 cannot be left unsupervised. Whereas, in British Columbia (where I live), there is no legislated minimum age for leaving a child alone for a short period. However, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision, children under the age of 10 should not be left unsupervised at home.

Quebec is the only province with an age limit for leaving children

unsupervised in a vehicle (seven years).

Many Canadian social services organizations advise that children under 12 years should not be left at home alone — meanwhile the Canadian Safety Council offers a Home Alone course for children 10 years and up.

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Parents and caregivers often have to make difficult decisions to ensure children’s safety and in coordinating schedules, logistics and costs have a role to play in this decision, too.

I think it’s healthy for children to learn and experience independence and while age serves as a guideline, or law in some cases, a child’s development is more critical to determine if they are ready for this next milestone.

Courts in Canada acknowledge that age alone does not define neglect in cases of leaving a child home alone; however, it is a consideration.

Where the Statutes are silent as to the age at which a child can be left home alone, the courts have weighed in their position. In a British Columbia decision, the Supreme Court found mother negligent for leaving her 8-year-old child home alone after school for two hours each weekday (BC v R, 2015). The Court agreed children under the age of 10 years do not have the cognitive ability to be left unsupervised, regardless of their maturity level and contextual factors. A similar decision was reached in Alberta, where a father specifically asked if his 11-year-old child could be left home alone for three hours after school (SC vJD, 2013). The Court declared children under 12 years should not be left unattended by parents during parenting hours. Similarly, government authorities define “a safe and stable environment for a child” in foster/kinship cases to include ensuring the child under 12 years is not left unsupervised (Ruiz-Casares & Kilinc, 2021)

Understanding the complexity of this item and the differing scenarios from hazards to duration to individual maturity of the child, there are many factors for parents that influences whether or not a child can be left unattended. In some cases, practically drives this particular milestone forward.

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As our family includes a stay-at-home-parent, we have not had to examine this decision to carefully; however, as my youngest will soon turn 10, it’s become more top of mind to entertain what this might mean for everyone.

I anticipate, we’ll start with a trip to the grocery store and keep the during away limited, while building up to a meal time. He is a master of sandwich making, but anything stove top, as tested with pancake flipping is not an area where he has demonstrated independence.

And, I’ll ask him what he thinks about the idea. More important than my opinion of his readiness is his own. So, what age can you leave your child home alone? Maybe it’s not up to you. Instead, we need to listen to our children a little more loudly on this one.

What are the laws or expectations in absence of laws in your country?

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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