A Chart Showing When It's Okay To Leave Kids Home Alone

At 8 years old, I walked two miles home from the YMCA following my older cousin who was 10. At 12 years old, I crossed the Pacific on my own. At 16 I entered college. These types of charts are ridiculous. People should use their eyes, brain and the ability to talk to their children, to determine if their children can be left alone.

Some of the safety rules are a bit excessive.

I'd prefer to do more free range parenting with my kids. But we're afraid that a neighbor might call the cops on us for, say, letting them play in front of our home.

I was supposed to be a latchkey kid growing up, but 1. the term wasn't used widely in the '60s, 2. we never locked our doors, so I didn't have a key, and 3. I rarely went home before suppertime.

I'd say it varies greatly depending on the area. In a small town it is probably pretty safe for younger kids to wander around on their own. In a big, crime-ridden city with lots of random eyes around, I'd be careful.

As for teenagers in general, they may be less vulnerable to strangers, but having a house to themselves for hours, with friends around, could be pretty risky in entirely different ways...

According to this chart, girls face very high rates of kidnapping until they hit age 40+...

http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=158

So that's the earliest age at which you can safely start letting them walk home, alone. In fact the numbers peak at around age 22, so that's a terrible time to cut back on your around-the-clock parental supervision of them... You're better off leaving your 5-year old daughter on her own, than when she's teen-aged.

I have some mixed feelings about these guidelines.
I started my first job at 15. I got my driver's license at 15. I also had free reign to travel anywhere in town when I was 7. I frequently explored abandoned military outposts when I was a kid, and even found buried relics from those same outposts that eventually wound up in a museum. That being said, I also had to carry my brother after he sliced open his foot on one of those excursions, so...it ain't all good.
Learned to swim at age 5, so rivers and stuff weren't a problem. I guess there isn't a good chart for this type of thing. The best option is to teach kids early on how to deal with life. Training them to swim, avoid poison, and avoid traffic are probably the best options. Life is dangerous. There's no way to protect your kids forever. Nobody makes it out alive.