Adventures in parenting #327

Posted on Tuesday 24 August 2010 | 13 Comments

Today, the girls walked themselves home from school, let themselves in, and got themselves some afternoon tea. I did not get home until 4.40pm.

The sky did not fall.

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13 Responses to Adventures in parenting #327

  1. Tamara | Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 7:30 am |

    Congratulations! That’s what I call successful parenting.

  2. Gae | Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 8:16 am |

    This first time this ‘issue’ came up – I had given First Born Son (8) the key,
    discussed the possibility that I would be late home from a WEA class with FBS and Darling Daughter (6). There was actually very little chance that I would actually BE late (unless there was a problem on the Bankstown line) but this was a ‘test run’. And we lived in a cosy little cul de sac with at least three households they could go to if worried.

    So I was on home ground well before the school bus was due, parked up safely out of sight of the bus route, and waited a careful 15 minutes before ‘arriving’ home – with much praise and admiration for their good sense.
    This was really not as scary as the first time I had to let FBS enter a Gents toilet on his own – for that moment I chose the Gents in David Jones. THAT was scary.

    Gae, in Callala Bay

  3. M-H | Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 9:41 am |

    Well done. There will be lots more of it. :)

  4. Vibenna | Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 7:11 pm |

    What did the Misses say about it?

  5. Deborah | Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 7:19 pm |

    “Oh, hi Mum.”

    /straight back to computer game

  6. stef | Thursday 26 August 2010 at 12:12 am |

    ha! I loved it when my parents left me to my own devices…

  7. Helen | Thursday 26 August 2010 at 9:28 am |

    Isn’t it great! Now I am nervous again b/c they’re starting to cook for themselves, and will even start dinner. But that brings its own potential pitfalls. Luckily we have smoke alarms out the wazoo.

  8. Jo | Thursday 26 August 2010 at 11:10 am |

    Well done. I love seeing other parents with this attitude – and yes, it’s often a bit nerve-wracking to do these things at first, and a relief when it all goes as well as you were 99% sure it would.

  9. rob | Thursday 26 August 2010 at 2:43 pm |

    One of the truisms children’s authors discuss- before anything much can happen, you have to get rid of the parents :)

  10. violet | Saturday 28 August 2010 at 7:47 pm |

    Is that legal? I loved being a latch-key kid, but I thought you couldn’t leave kids (under 14) unsupervised. Or is it different in Aus?

  11. Paul Williams | Sunday 29 August 2010 at 11:07 pm |

    A significant milestone indeed. My eldest is too young to take this on – five – but I do look forward to the time when she might come home with a friend as it’s not far and involves only one major road.

  12. Deborah | Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 8:06 am |

    It’s not a strict “you must not leave kids unsupervised” in NZ. There are reasonableness conditions.

    Section 10B of the Summary Offences Act
    Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding $2,000 who, being a parent or guardian or a person for the time being having the care of a child under the age of 14 years, leaves that child, without making reasonable provision for the supervision and care of the child, for a time that is unreasonable or under conditions that are unreasonable having regard to all the circumstances.

  13. Deborah | Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 8:08 am |

    My girls have one major road to cross, but it has a controlled crossing. I’ve had to teach them to be sure that the traffic is actually stopping: it’s one of those sets of lights that can be hard to perceive, and some drivers go through the red.