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Parenting
s/o: Would you leave kid alone in this situation?
Would you let a responsible 7 year old stay at home watching cartoons for 15-20 minutes if his elderly and disabled grandmother was with him? The grandmother, who lives with the family, is fine to stay on her own and sometimes does so for a couple days at a time when the family is out of town but has never been left in charge of the kids before because she doesn't always use the best judgment. The child would have a telephone and know how to make a call in an emergency plus have phone numbers to reach mom, dad and neighbors.
Would you leave the child for 15-20 minutes under these circumstances?
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Re: s/o: Would you leave kid alone in this situation?
The average kid? Maybe not.
Miles? Probably.
DS - December 2006
DD - December 2008
If you are referring to the same kid that taught his friend to say f'ingshitballs -- absolutely!
But I'll ditto Lari.
And add that I'm not sure I would leave, say, Joey in that situation. But it really does depend on the condition of the grandmother and that's not something that I can get details enough on to make a sound decision via the internet.
David "BD" 2/8/07 Spencer 9/12/11We're thinking about how to handle mornings next fall. Dd has to be at school on the other side of town at 8:30. Dh can take her because it's very close to his work, but he would have to leave around 8:15 and I don't generally get home from work until 8:30.
I would never think of leaving dd home with MIL, but I'm beginning to think that ds would probably be fine. I'm not too worried about it yet- fall is still quite a ways off...
With your f/u, even moreso absolutely.
It's an overlap in schedules -a minimal one at that- and would be a NIGHTMARE to figure out care in any different form. I mean, trying to rearrange schedules/find a sitter for 15-20 minutes while he has an adult home with him and knows how to dial for an emergency -- I would definitely do it.
Yes. I mean, think about it. Do you leave your 7 year old (or 2 and 4 year old) 'alone' while you take a 10 minute shower? I know I do, all of the time. I can be in the laundry room for longer. Or hiding in the bathroom for 10 minutes of peace. lol
To cover bases, I would let the neighbours know the routine and to be alert to any 'weirdness' that might be going on. But 7 years old is pretty reliable, IME.
Physically she's not too bad- a little slow, but not bad. However, she's had several strokes and it's affected her cognitively a little bit. Since then she doesn't use the stove, sharp knives, doesn't drive, we keep her checkbook, her medications, etc. When the kids were younger and she was outside with them we once came out and found ds, then maybe 2, out in the road. When asked why she didn't stop him she seemed distressed and said, "But I TOLD him to to stop. I TOLD him he couldn't. But he just went out there anyways." She knew he shouldn't be in the road but it didn't occur to her to actually go after him.
She's okay on her own for several days at a time, but she needs us to take her grocery shopping, manage her medications and doctor's appointments, manage her money and give her an appropriate amount of pocket money each week (she'd be at high risk of being exploited if she carried her checkbook or much cash with her), help with laundry and housekeeping, etc.
NO. We will be experimenting with leaving our oldest alone for 15-20 minutes next school year. - and even this won't be on a regular basis.
I can't imagine leaving my 7 year old alone.
she said that the grandma is OK to be left alone but after her follow ups that doesn't sound like such a great idea? if she's cognitively impaired, I mean.
IDK honestly. Maybe I'm talking out of my ass.
No, that's what I'm saying. I don't think Grandma should be left alone. At all!
For example, she is no longer capable of counting, remembering a number or anything like that. The stroke seemed to wipe out any part of her brain that deals with numbers at all. That's certainly a cognitive issue, IMO, but not enough to preclude someone from being able to stay home. She can't dial a phone number (too many numbers!) so instead she has a cell phone with all of the numbers she could ever need programmed into it so she can dial by name instead.
She can't tell you her address, birthdate, age, or phone number (again, the number issue) so she has little cards (like business cards) we've made for her that she can give to people when this info is needed.
She also lost her ability to write. She can sign her name, but that's it. Again, it's not something that makes it unsafe for her to stay home.
She's been fine staying home for 3-4 day stretches if we've had to go somewhere and couldn't take her with us. She no longer cooks but eats lots of sandwiches and heats up frozen meals in the microwave. She hasn't used a stove in 5 years now. We sort all of her pills into an organizer for her at the beginning of each week and she takes them on her own. When we leave town we have someone (usually a combination of a friends, her home health aide and neighbors) come check on her every afternoon and make sure she's doing okay, doesn't need anything from the store, etc.
We've even talked about moving her to her own senior apartment. She would be fine, but would just need the appropriate supports and someone to stop in daily. Right now though, unfortunately, that's just not financially feasible for her and that's why she's still with us.