How young is too young for kids to be home alone?

Knowing your children is key, writes Shannon Moneo.

When I was six, each weekday, I walked along Winnipeg’s busy Portage Avenue to school. At age eight, I sometimes looked after my two younger brothers for a couple of hours while my mom worked with my dad. Despite child abductions and drunk drivers, vicious dogs and hot stoves, I survived.

In September, a B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld a provincial court decision which stated that an eight-year-old boy was too young to be left home alone each weekday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The social worker involved in the case testified that, “Children who are eight years of age do not have the cognitive ability to be left unsupervised.” She cited various risks, including accidental poisoning or fires, which could happen “regardless of his level of maturity.”

She, and the judge, accepted that at age 10, children could be safely left alone.

The mother argued in the Terrace, B.C., courtroom that no minimum age for leaving a child alone for a short period is prescribed by statute. She also said that children mature at different rates, and before government social workers consider removing the child from the home, her son should be assessed.

While the B.C. Supreme Court ruling hasn’t become enshrined in B.C. law, the Criminal Code of Canada states that a child under the age of 10 cannot be unlawfully abandoned, “... so that its life is or is likely to be endangered or its health is or is likely to be permanently injured.”

In Manitoba and New Brunswick, childwelfare legislation stipulates that a child under age 12 cannot be left unattended unless some provision is made for supervision. In Ontario, the statutory limit is age 16. Quebec law says that children seven or younger cannot be left unattended in a vehicle. So, it’s all over the map. In February, a Winnipeg woman who left her six-year-old son alone for 90 minutes was found not guilty of child abandonment. The provincial court judge said the mother made a poor, but not criminal, choice. “This was an active, bright young child left in a well-kept home with no evident or immediate danger,” said Judge Margaret Wiebe. When police found the boy, the multi-tasker was eating pudding, doing a puzzle and watching TV.

Not so long ago, I would leave my eight-yearold mini-mom daughter home alone for a few hours, knowing that she would safely amuse

Setting the right age to be home alone is almost a moving target.

herself and not open the door to strangers. But never would I leave my mini-tornado, eightyear-old son alone in a house with a wood stove, matches and sharp knives. Knowing your children is key.

When most children enter their homes now, there’s little doubt that a screen of some sort will be turned on and thus, the digital sitter takes over. It’s also a world where fearmongering, paranoia, legal challenges and overzealous bystanders are shrink-wrapping boundaries and taking the “id” out of kid. There are also freerange parents who believe in unchaperoned experiences for their offspring, and like the Terrace and Winnipeg moms, suffer the wrath of the no-rangers.

A friend of mine recalled being eight and walking down the street of a Prairie town, toting his shotgun, on his way to the hardware store to buy ammunition. Imagine today’s half-cocked reaction.

So setting the right age to be home alone is almost a moving target. There’s a presumption that reaching a certain age suddenly bestows the needed abilities for the task at hand. Do all 16-year-olds have the full capabilities to safely drive a vehicle, even after passing a test? Why can’t 17-year-olds vote in Canada?

Interesting that dictionaries don’t peg an actual age when they define “child,” instead referring to below the age of puberty, legal majority or discretion.

Perhaps the Terrace court decision prompts a larger question: How do governments, so ready to remove children from their homes, ensure that parents have access to affordable, quality “child” care?