From: patth@panix.com (Patt Bromberger)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Latch Key Kids - Home Alone (Was: Re: The Schoo Didn't Fit)
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:21:19 GMT
Followup-To: misc.kids
Organization: Panix Public Access Internet & Unix, NYC

In article <29428@optima.cs.arizona.edu> bweiss@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss) writes:
>nance@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (nancy.l.colucci) writes:
>|> 
>|> [deleted]
>   [       ] h
>
>However, I can't think of any defense for leaving a 9 year old and
>a 4 year old alone for more than an hour (and that would be pushing
>it), let alone for over a week while they vacationed out of the
>country.

	Hmmm, here in New York City leaving kids alone is
	done quite a bit - especially by new immigrants with
	young children.  Both parents are working and in the
	case of my daughter's best friend (at the time she was 9),
	and 8 year old was left home alone, after school, to pick
	up her brother who was 5 and take care of him until her
	parents came home at 6PM.

	It's not necessary to discuss nationalities but the
	WHY people do this is really important.

	They could not afford an after school center (which cost
	$140/month for each child) or a paid babysitter.

	The older sister grew up to be quite a responsible child -
	she had her mom's home cleaned and her brother taken care of
	with his homework done by the time her parents came home.
 
>We (my brothers and I) were latchkey kids, and I suspect my mother
>left us alone too much and too long, but never overnight.  
 
	Well, my older brother (six years older than I) cared for
	me while both my parents worked so I guess we were latchkey
	kids too - except in our neighborhood, if you weren't related
	(by blood) to my family then you didn't belong there - we had
	a lot of cousins -- so, someone's mother or aunt or
	grandmother was always hanging out the window threatening to
	tell your parents if you misbehaved - we were watched - and
	by the whole neighborhood too!
	
>One thing I did want to mention is that there are alternatives
>other than relatives for staying with children when the parents
>need to be gone.  It is possible to hire a teacher, grad student,
>or other person to _stay_ with the child.  My mother hired a
>theology graduate student to stay with us when she was in the
>hospital for surgery.  Lots of people seem to think that if the
>grandparents can't do it, then noone can, but there really are
>other possibilities.
 
	Some people really think kids are "little adults" and
	treat them as if they are.  I suspect the Schoos thought
	their children were responsible enough to care for
	themselves.

	When my older brother "watched" me after school I'd frequently
	complain that he "teased" me, all the way to school and all
	the way home too; I, in turn, had to watch my little sister
	(ten years younger than I) and didn't appreciate that chore
	very much.

	It's not that I didn't love my sister - it's just that she
	wasn't my child or my responsibility - she was my parents'
	child and they should have made provisions for an adult to
	watch her - that's how I felt then and that's how I feel now.

	My child is an only child but if I ever have another child I
	hope I will not burden my oldest with the care of the younger
	one - it's not a child's responsibility really  :-)


-- 
Patricia Ann Bromberger                            patth@panix.com
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain. And pick flowers in 
other people's gardens And learn to spit. -- "Warning" by Jenny Joseph
Newsgroups: misc.kids