Is it okay to let 10-year-olds hang out in a house with no parents?
Leaving pre-teens inside a home without any adults present creates safety risks and discomfort for parents who do not know the household. This lack of supervision stops parents from feeling secure about after-school playdates, leading them to restrict children to the yard or require trusted adults to be home.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Requiring kids to stay outside or in yards rather than going inside homes
- 2Insisting that a trusted adult be present in the house
- 3Allowing neighborhood roaming and outdoor play while forbidding unsupervised indoor gatherings
- 4Sitting outside while letting kids play outside together
- 5Waiting until kids are older, around 8 years old, before allowing visits without a parent present
- 6Only allowing drop-off playdates after meeting the parents and feeling comfortable
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We are now dealing with my kid wanting to go into a friends house after school with a group of other kids. Yesterday there were five of them in one house with no parents present. The kids are aged 10-11. I’m uneasy with this, but wondering if I am overreacting.”source ↗
“5 kids in a house with absolutely no adults around is an issue for me”source ↗
“Yards yes, into homes, no. Too many weirdos and opportunities for tragedy. If there isn't an adult I know and trust in that home, they can stay outside to play.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Should I charge my adult child living at home for expenses?
- 3Can I let grandparents take my toddler abroad without me?
- 3How to get a toddler to play by themselves
- 2How to secure a backyard retaining wall or drop for toddlers
- 4How to handle school events that leave out kids without family
- 24Why is traveling with a baby and toddler so miserable?