This article offers a discussion for parents of considerations for leaving children ages 11 and 12 at home alone after school in response to tips published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Risks discussed include dangers from child predators and children´s own illicit behaviors.

These tips provide important food for thought. While it is suggested to establish requirements for checking in with parents after school, parents should be more afraid of what might happen to their young children alone at home after checking in. With recent attention across the media to the prevalence of child predators, parents should be aware of the risks of leaving their children alone, especially at ages 11 and 12. What is not discussed in these tips is the logical other side of the accountability suggestion. While children may arrive at home around a scheduled time each day and check in with someone, their patterns may also be observed by child predators. Therefore, if a child predator knows the routine of a child, the child might not any longer be as safe as the parent assumed.

If a child is confronted by an adult with bad intentions, chances are that the adult will be successful in harming the child before anyone can help because the adult can target the child inside the empty house. Therefore, this article recommends that parents should go above and beyond normal efforts to arrange supervision for children because of the risk of child predators and other risks.

Children also face other dangers when left at home at the ages of 11 and 12. These changes can best be viewed as related to their development, their curiosity, and their own judgment. Parents should also be concerned that children will have an opportunity to access inappropriate TV, movies, and web sites. There is also the potential for inappropriate behavior with other young children in the privacy of the home and the potential to become involved in illegal activities from petty crimes to serious criminal mischief. With all the predicaments that children of 11 and 12 can get themselves into, parents should be careful to minimize opportunities to stay home alone and closely monitor what types of adults with whom the child stays alone.

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