Initiate these conversations often and take your child's comments seriously. Make your family expectations and values known to your children. Explain that you expect them to abide by the house rules when they are by themselves. Remember that even when parents are able to find suitable before and after school care for their children, plans sometimes break down. Children get sick or they insist they are too old for babysitters, or too embarrassed to be taken to daycare.
Babysitters get sick, too, or find different employment.
Programs are cancelled during bad weather or during holidays and vacations. Parents sometimes must work late. The result is that, even when care has been arranged, children may end up on their own unless there is planning and backup for these emergencies or changes. Even with planning, children may end up alone at some time, so all children need to be prepared. Whether children are going to be home alone regularly or only occasionally, you need to teach basic safety rules in a non-threatening way.