At what age can children stay home alone in KY over summer? What an expert says
Child care in Kentucky is beset by problems brought into sharp relief after the coronavirus pandemic.
Overall, the sector is defined by low wages for workers, high costs for parents and a general lack of certainty about the quality providers are delivering.
A recent policy report from the Kentucky Collaborative on Child Care, makes the case that the issues stem from a lack of consensus about how to move forward and proposes dozens of potential solutions and fixes for policymakers to consider.
But the problems with child care in Kentucky — in recent years, often described as being in a full-blown crisis — won’t be solved overnight.
This leaves working families confronting a lot of complicated questions, including whether they can leave their child home alone or allow an older sibling to watch a younger one.
To get at these questions, we spoke with Dr. Christia Spears Brown, a developmental psychologist and University of Kentucky professor. There’s a lot of nuances around the topic, but here’s what parents need to know to find their footing.
At what age can a child stay home alone in Kentucky?
Other states, such as neighboring Illinois, establish a minimum legal age children must reach before they can be left home alone to supervise themselves. Kentucky is not one of them.
State law defines an abused or neglected child as one with a parent, guardian or person of authority who “does not provide the child with adequate care, supervision, food, clothing, shelter and education or medical care necessary for the child’s well-being when financially able to do so or offered financial or other means to do so,” per KRS 600.020.
As you can imagine, what constitutes “adequate care” and supervision depends on the child and a host of factors, not just their age. It’s why Brown emphasizes thinking about what’s safe for your child.
“There’s not a rule of thumb,” Brown said.
How can I work up to leaving my child home alone?
First, Brown recommends parents consider a few key questions, including:
How emotionally mature is my child?
Do they have impulsive tendencies?
Is my child often anxious or fearful?
Do we know our neighbors? Could they step in to help if something happened?
How can my child contact me when I’m not home?
Once you have good answers to those questions, meaning your child has a certain amount of maturity and some basic support, start with baby steps. Take a walk or jog around the block and gradually build up to greater lengths of time away, Brown suggests.
It’s also a good idea to check in with your child. Ask them how they feel about supervising themselves while you’re out.
“It has to be something that you work up to and that you do it in really small doses at first,” Brown said.
It’s important to leave children with a set of tools so they feel secure on their own, Brown said.
These include:
A basic way to reach you. Parents could provide their children with pared-down cell phones if they aren’t ready or don’t want to give them smartphones.
Give them a list of useful contacts they can call if needed.
Make concrete plans with your children and let them know what time you’ll be back home.
Act out situations. What should your child do if someone knocks on the door while you’re away from home?
How do I know if my child is old enough to watch a younger sibling?
While it’s one thing for a child to supervise themselves, it takes another level of maturity for them to watch themselves and a younger sibling, Brown said.
“A child really shouldn’t be in charge of younger siblings until they’re about 12 or so,” Brown said, adding that even then it comes down to the maturity of the child.
The biggest factor you should consider is whether there’s a large age gap between the siblings. As Brown explained, any adult tasked with watching a 2- or 3-year-old would find it to be a demanding job. Asking another child to do it may be pushing it.
“They’re easily doing things that are dangerous,” Brown said. “So it’s really thinking about ‘is the child old enough to understand what is dangerous, what is not and to be able to make good choices and follow rules?’”
An 8-year-old might be able to do those things and take direction from an older brother or sister; a 6-year-old may not, Brown said.
“That’s a lot of adulting for a 12-year-old to do,” Brown said.
Other important questions to consider first, include:
Do the younger and older siblings get along well?
Does the younger sibling listen to the older one?
Is the older sibling able to manage their frustrations and capable of redirecting the younger child’s behavior?
Does the older child have a way of contacting you or a neighbor for help?
The bottomline, Brown emphasized, is every parent knows what their child needs. Offering them tastes of independence within a structure is a major job of parenting, Brown said. The ultimate goal is to teach them to be adults.
“Our goal as parents is to help our kids become more independent,” Brown said. “This is a really good way to help scaffold that.”
Do you have a question about Kentucky for our service journalism team? Send us an email at ask@herald-leader.com or fill out our Know Your Kentucky form.