- Busy day so far — spring cleaning in the front yard, making the garage accessible for at least one car, plus … hair cut! #
- 3 of 5 stars to Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn Link #
- 3 of 5 stars to Nightlife by Rob Thurman Link #
- Kay is not only willing to stay home alone, but is actually urging Margie and I to go out without her. Hmmmmm … #
- Margie "spotted" two actor voices during JLU rewatch: Susan Sullivan as Hippolyta, and Adam Baldwin as Rick Flagg. She has hell of an ear. #
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How old is Kay now? In CA, kids have to be 14 before they can be left alone at home, and 16 before they can stay home to care for younger siblings alone.
Arthur is fine with being left alone, as long as he doesn’t get bored or feel he’s being left out. He also has hosted his own parties for a couple of years now–except we get the pizza & drinks and make the cake. One of us at least is at home in case of emergencies or heated arguments–none thus far.
An interesting question, and, honestly, I had not considered the legal side of things.
Kay’s 10, going on 11. According to http://www.cdhs.state.co.us/childwelfare/LeaveKidsAlone.htm, the state indicated it had no legal age requirement. The link is currently broken, though it’s still in the FAQ page. The Google cache says: “The laws of Colorado do not set a specific age after which a child legally can stay home alone. Unfortunately, age is not a very good indicator of a child’s maturity level. … Colorado in general has accepted the age of 12 years as a guideline for when it might be appropriate for a child to be left alone for short periods of time. This standard is based upon the Colorado Child Labor Law, which deems 12 years as the minimum age for employment, for example a babysitter. (See Colorado Revised Statutes. § 8-12-105 (3) )”
Which is why we wouldn’t be farming Kay out as a babysitter yet, or letting her stay overnight at home alone, or anything like that. But she seems (esp. given the followup questions on that page) old enough to spend a few hours flying solo.
I wasn’t able to find any references that indicated a legal minimum age in California.
I can’t give you one, either–it’s sort of like the child seat laws: they keep changing their minds, one hears it on the news, but I don’t think I’ve seen it written. PTB keep spouting it, though.
We did leave Arthur alone for a couple of hours now and then before he turned 14, and at cons, he was allowed to do his own thing in the hotel, provided he had meals with us, about 12.