Make rules enforceable. Make sure you build consequences into rule that are broken. Be consistent and firm about enforcing rules. Make rules flexible. Get the kids' input.
Rules are more enforceable and are more likely to be followed when kids have a say.
About 3.5 million American children between ages 5 and 12 spend some time home alone after school. The research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Family and Child Well-being Research Network. It is based on data collected as part of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, funded by the National Science Foundation and conducted by the ISR for more than 30 years. For the study, Hofferth and research associate Zita Jankuniene analyzed 1997 data from time diaries detailing the activities of children ages 5 to 12, and from interviews with their parents, to discover what the lives of U.S. children are like from the time they get out of school until the time they go to bed. They found that 73 percent of children go straight home from school, while only 11 percent go to child care, either in someone else's home or in a formal child care center.