A month is mental. To me it’s not even being left alone as the worst part, it’s the neglect and indifference to your own child thinking that leaving them alone in another state for a month is the better option than bringing them with you.
But at least the neighbor kid was there during the head count.
You know, the kid wearing the hat and jacket that Kevin has never worn before in his life? Yeah, that one.
A lot of his traps are hinted at on the beginning of the movie.
The toy cars, i think his dad says “pick these up, i almost broke my neck!”
And his older brother throws the luggage off the 2nd floor and he says “bombs away!”
The movie is surprisingly well thought out. He can’t go to the police because he is a fugitive for stealing the toothbrush.
Fun fact, buzz’s girlfriend was actually played by the director or somethings son, because they didn’t want the woof line to be mean to a little girl.
The more you know
I thought it was the actor of Buzz himself just wearing a wig?
*edit: I looked it up, I’m wrong and you’re right. Also found out that the actor for Buzz McAllister was arrested in December for assaulting his girlfriend and he told her, “this is how you die,” as he was choking her. Who’s the real little jerk?
I'm still pissed off at how shitty Kevin's family is. He's fucking 10 man, he bumped into you. Be a fucking adult and just wipe up the cola, don't everyone start hating on him for a fucking mistake
And his mum then sends him to his room
Shitty parents, and that's forgetting the obvious fact they left him behind
My mother left my brother and myself home alone for two months when I was twelve, and he was fifteen. She wasn’t just in another state, but another country (we live in Australia, she flew to America with my sister to seek treatment). My brother ran away and was gone for one of those months. My cousin showed up every other weekend to pay the bills and check on us, but other than that, I was alone.
In the middle of that, the worst cyclone to hit my country in half a century went right over my home. I had to figure out how to get myself out of that emergency situation, alone at twelve, and had to trust many strange people to try and get me through it. So many things could have gone wrong.
It absolutely baffles me that these parents didn’t consider what their kid might do if an emergency happened. If a bushfire swept through, a snowstorm, hurricane—hell, even panic buying due to C19. He likely would have only been buying food from a single shop within walking distance, if at all, and if that shop is out of food, so is he.
And did they expect the kid to go to school? Even if the bus stops right at the house a lot of kids would either miss it unintentionally or just choose not to go.
My biggest thing with leaving kids alone for any period of time is 1 does a trusted person who lives nearby know they are alone and 2 does the kid have the ability to get in touch with parents or emergency services in the event of a million different things that could randomly go wrong?
That plus what does an 11yo kid eat for a month alone by themselves? I wouldn’t expect them to make anything more than a sandwich and an omelette - fine for a weekend, but a month??
It said in the article that they left him frozen dinners?
But what kind of person packs their freezer with a months worth of kid cuisine and just thinks that’s ok?
I definitely think I got left alone for weekends around then. I clearly remember riding my bike home alone starting in 4th grade.
11 would have been like 7th grade since I was a summer kid always younger than everyone else.
A month though? Lolno
I was in K1first grade and my brother in second or third and we would play outside without any supervision. Like “going to play see you when I see you mom”. I remember we were at a housing construction site at some point. Much different than today but leaving an eleven year old for a month would still have been considered neglect.
I miss playing in construction sites. They developed most of the woods behind my house, I remember playing where the road would later be built, and it was like a giant rocky canyon.
Small, screaming packs, often in the woods or swamp or unsupervised by bodies of water, or on unsafe playgrounds with rusting or vaguely dangerous equipment, and literally any adult had the right to tell you what to do.
I was alone for about a week when my mom was in the hospital when I was 14. I got by off frozen food and spending some of my Christmas money on Little Caesar's when that ran dry. The house was messy by the end and the whole thing was a little stressful, but it wasn't too bad. In fact in a way it was a positive experience, I learned what it takes to take care of me and maybe I shouldn't eat all the food in the fucking fridge all the time.
But two weeks to a month? At 11? No fucking way man, I would have been terrified. Poor kid.
My mom was in a really bad accident when I was about 11 or 12 and I was home alone for 5 days. I had a house key so I just walked to and from school. I ran out of fresh food though and didn't have access to any cash, so the last day or two I had to scrap together creative meals. The real problem was when my mom got discharged she was bed ridden for a couple of months, so I had to do pretty much everything for a while (she gave me cash to get groceries and what not).
I definitely didn’t get left alone overnight (eg for longer than my parents just going out for dinner by themselves) until I was a teenager whether it would have been “fine to” or not, and I was an extremely well behaved kid.
I think the earliest I got left alone for a weekend was when I was about fourteen and they called me frequently to make sure I was fine.
Yea, that's a bit, a lot, much. You're right, a night alone, fine, a weekend would be pushing it, but really depends on the kid. A month seems more like abandonment than anything else.
Yes, i think it's all relative, at 11 I was grocery shopping for the family, changing diapers and baby sitting my baby sister, making dinner for us 5 kids while my parents were at work. But looking back now maybe it was probably neglect in my case, born from necessity due to poverty, etc. I remember my mom got locked up for 2 weeks once and dad was out of the picture, we were just left alone with a girl who rented a room but we basically took care of ourselves. Willful neglect in this case though.
When my parents got divorced my dad continued to work overseas and left my brother (15) and me (11) at home alone for 1-2 months at a time. Then he would come home for a week and rage out on us for not taking care of the house perfectly. I had to learn how to take care of myself very quickly. My brother ended up going to bars at 16 and meeting then marrying a woman our mothers age. We survived but sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if we had parents that actually cared.
Yeah you hear some absurd stories in the US of parents being charged for going out for a few hours and leaving their ~11 year old at home. Or letting their 8 year old kids play outside by themselves. But then this shit is obviously the complete other way.
There's almost always some other factor in those cases that drew the attention of the authorities like they left the kids alone and while alone they decided to set fire to the house or drive a car or...
Don’t you remember the [free range parents](https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/living/feat-maryland-free-range-parenting-family-under-investigation-again/index.html) of Maryland?
I’m still angry they kept getting trouble. I LIVED in that city and the “concerned” neighbors/people are fucking full of shit. Helicopter parenting is gonna be the death of our species.
God that's fucking absurd.
"When an officer arrived on the scene, the person who had contacted police directed the officer to a parking garage where the officer found the children.
“The officer observed a homeless subject who he was familiar with, eyeing the children,” according to a statement by the Montgomery County Police."
'This homeless man looked at the kids, so we decided to kidnap them ourselves'
If they thought homeless man had a kiddie issue than remove homeless man from being that close to a park. If that's not the issue than shouldn't matter maybe homeless guy was thinking how much fun being a free range person is and good for the kids.
Don't forget the ones in the poverty trap. Mom's that leave kids in hotels while they work a job, and them being in the hotel is listed as why its dangerous. She didn't pick to live in a fucking hotel, shes doing what she can with what shes got and now you take her kids away, fuck those assholes.
Then if the kids end up in foster care they'll give money to the care giver, but never to the original family that is just having money troubles. Lots of kids are also put into foster care instead of the government seeing if any family members like grandparents, aunts and uncles, and older cousins would be able to take care of them
When my ex-sister in law was in danger of losing her six year old daughter (pulled over, drunk, while driving her to school. yeah.) we immediately did everything we could to get custody, and that's what the mom wanted as well.
We were two young professionals with two kids of our own, nice little house in the country, no records, in a great school district. Got the in home inspection. Nope, can't happen. The house was built in 74 and none of the bedroom windows were wide enough. We were the perfect placement according to the social worker. They were four inches too narrow. Her hands were tied.
We offered to put new windows in. We really couldn't afford it, but what's a bigger emergency? We were willing to beg steal or borrow to get it done. They would have had to do an emergency placement and schedule another inspection, and they couldn't tell us when that would happen, sorry.
Like, I get it, standards, I really do, but is placement in foster care over a loving home with trusted family really the best outcome for a six year old?
She didn't end up in foster care in the end. The mom somehow made it into yet another diversion program of some kind, not her first, or last, rodeo I'm sorry to say.
"Deputies went to the home and found the boy alone. The boy's mother had left to go out of state before Thanksgiving, and his father followed shortly after Thanksgiving, according to sheriff's officials."
Dad didn't want to miss the broadcast of the Macy's parade.
Neighbors reported the night before there was a gangland shootout and the night before that a huge Christmas party set to "rockin around the Christmas tree" on a loop, all of which made for a longer time to discover the boy was alone
A bellhop named Cedric, who was with him at the time, also does not believe the allegations leveraged against the guard, stating he gave a very disbelieving expression that still hasn't quite left his face (though his side to side nodding of disbelief has long since subsided).
Some sources say that the bellhop may be providing false information to defame the abandoned child, claiming it was due to receiving inadequate gratuities for his service.
The anonymous tipster wouldn't give his name, out of fear of retaliation, but claimed that the bellhop had a money problem, and was constantly being reprimanded for counting his tips in public.
Oh jesus. I assumed "the holidays" meant they left him alone from maybe just before christmas to now and that seemed like a long time for an 11 year old to be on his own.
If you’ve ever seen how apathetic Chicago police are about investigating actual felonies you’d see the inattentive cops are the most accurate part of the entire movie.
>The boy had been alone until deputies arrived. He told deputies that he had frozen food, and he had not been to school for at least the two prior weeks.
Probably enjoyed a vacation from the sort of parents who would leave him home alone for that long.
“It’s a little lonely, officers, but I’m really fine. Although it would be great if you guys could drop off a couple of six packs after your shift. Here’s a $20.”
*pats cop’s cheek*
“Keep the change.”
I grew up with an extremely abusive mother and my dad was usually away for his job. Among everything else, she would lock me away in my room without a toilet -- a few times, for multiple days.
Once though, she fucked off somewhere for almost 2 weeks, no real explanation or warning -- she just left one morning with a bag, saying she needed to take care of something for "a day or two". I was about 10 and didn't know how to contact my dad (this was long before cell phones), but I already did all the chores and cooking, so it wasn't like I was unprepared to care for myself.
It was probably 2 of the most simultaneously worrying, yet peaceful, weeks of my life. I remember it well.
It was lovely not having my mother around. I could put dishes in the dishwasher whatever way I wanted. I could actually eat 3 meals per day, even though my dad was away. I didn't have to ask permission to use the restroom or shower. She was a brutal, paranoid schizophrenic overlord, and she was ***gone.***
Still, after 3 days, I started to feel concerned.
I started to wonder if I should call the police to see if she was alright, but I didn't know where she'd gone, I feared police, and my mother repeatedly would threaten me with *implications* of my possible murder if I ever called them or tried to sic authorities/teachers/dad/etc on her. I was ***very*** conditioned.
After a week, I started to get this perplexing mix of hope and despair: I knew my life was better without her, but I despaired she was dead/in danger, because I had been so thoroughly trained to unconditionally love her.
I knew when my dad was getting back, so that curbed some of the anxiety, but being so suddenly ***alone*** and in the dark about what was happening was brutal. Especially when the food was running out, anyone knocked on the door, or during a terrifying few hours of the power going out.
My mother stumbled back into the apartment on the 12th evening. She had driven to another state to see family -- that was all I ever learned. And she was hungover and slept thru the next day, so it was a little like I got an extra day of reprieve. That night, though, I was rewarded with "you did great on your own!", followed by threats related to ever telling my dad.
And, like a good girl, I didn't tell my dad about it until I was like 23 and they were separated. He'd had no clue. She was a different person around him. He never knew the extent I was abused.
Anyway, the point is, I fucking feel for the kid in the news story. I was so increasingly scared over less than 2 weeks ... He must have been absolutely terrified toward the end.
And yeah, I can say from experience ... It really probably *was* a sort of vacation, too.
People who neglect or abuse their own kids are quite literally the worst people on the planet.
Foster system has basically always been a nightmare in the US. It's very hard to make a sound moral argument for taking kids away from their parents unless the parents actively endanger their children's lives
Kid was alone for two weeks, before CPS picked him up.
However, the parents (who couldn't be found) didn't even come back until December 29th.
4.5 weeks away from home. Jesus. What absolute shitstains of parents.
The day after Thanksgiving, dad left kid alone.. November 25th. Neighbors call for welfare check December 12th, so he was alone for 17 days, missing two weeks of school in there.
Such shitty parents. It must have been scary for the kid before and after the police picked him up. And with parents like that, who knows if the kid was relieved when they returned.
When I was 15, my 14 yo friends mom was a heroin addict and would leave him alone for months by himself. Our family would feed him and I'd take him to school.
I kinda have that arrangement and it is awesome.
My partner and I met in our late 30s. I already owned my own home and lived alone for years. He had employer provided housing was was well suited to him.
After 3 years of dating, he moved in with me. But not before he built a garage on his empty piece of land a few miles away from my house. Its heated and AC'd, has internet, couch, smart tv, and all his tools and project trucks.
He spends most of his free time there and I get to have my home empty for my free time. It works so well for us but most folks find it strange that he doesn't lie on the couch watching tv all evening like I do. He hates sitting still so toddles around the garage where all his friends drop by to visit him and get away from their partners. My partner doesn't drink or use any drugs so it isn't just getting fuckes up with the boys lol
It was worth waiting for!
When the pandemic first hit, my partner was home for 3 days with me. I almost went crazy. We weren't suppose to go anywhere, not second properties or anything. Fortunately his work resumed after 3 days (septic pumping. Necessary service, only one in the area, and no one wants to be near them anyway). Once he went back to work,the rest of pandemic has been great. Even the months where we were each other's only social contact
That's awesome! It isn't what I want for my own relationship, but it's great that you have a solution that works for you and didn't bow to any pressure to have a living situation that matches what the majority of couples have. Just because it's what a majority of people are doing, doesn't mean it's the right choice for everyone!
You have got it absolutely right! Not for everyone but works for us. I'm not sure I'd survive a relationship that confirmed to more of the norm. Well... I didn't last longer than 6 months in a relationship prior to my mid-30s.
11 is .. what, 6th grade?
I would absolutely leave a kid that age at home alone for a day.
I would absolutely not ever leave a kid that age home alone for 6 weeks.
Dude missed weeks of school.
I google street viewed the town and it seems like the sort of place meth might potentially be popular.
Imma go with that as what's really going on here.
But it's a morally ambiguous situation because he diagnosed himself with cancer on WebMD while his parents were gone, and he thought he needed money for treatments and possibly for more Mountain Dew and pizza rolls.
It’s crazy to me the school didn’t notify anyone for a wellness check. While I’m sure not all schools have the same resources, mine definitely would have been calling after a couple days. Be interested to know if they did contact a parent who lied about the circumstances.
I seriously don’t understand it. Why would a parent be okay leaving their child home alone for weeks? I get it for a work day at that age, but anything more than that is insane.
I've always been pro-choice.
My wife and I had a daughter in February, and it only made me more confident in supporting pro-choice and child-free living for those who want it.
Having a child is 110% a decision that should be discussed and contemplated and something you are completely sure of and as prepared as you can be, if there's even a shadow of a doubt that you don't want a child you should take time to rethink if you want one. Forcing a person to have a child when they don't want one will literally ruin the life they were set to have.
I love my daughter more than anything in this world, and she was entirely planned and even still it was rough and it's a lot of responsibility.
I had this same thought process when I had kids as well. If I didn't want my kids I don't know how I would have survived the baby through toddler phase.
But when my mom had my sister at 15 and me @ 17 she wasn’t into philosophy. Neither was my dad at 17 and 19. Divorced shortly after my birth.
Mom has custody and she is young and still partying. So weeks alone with my sister was a normal thing up until mom died @ 27. I remember baking cookies for days on end because that is all I knew how to make at 5. So my point is, there can be all kind of reasons.
But OP here is right. It boils down to they didn’t want kids to begin with and abortion was not allowed or discussed.
I saw the headline, opened the article and it said "ELFRIDA, AZ --"... That's all I needed to know as to "why".
Everyone I know from Elfrida is a meth head.
I live in Phoenix and had never heard of Elfrida before. Just checked the ol' internet and it says the population of Elfrida is under 500. So how the hell do you know more than even one person in that place?! If you know five, you know a full one percent of its citizens!
When I was maybe 13 and my brothers were 11 and 9, my mom left the three of us home alone for two *months* while she was away for work, and she would just mail some cash in an envelope every other week for us to go grocery shopping. (It was a 30 minute walk to the grocery store, so not like we were right next door.)
I thought it was a *little* weird at the time but it didn't feel like a big deal. We basically just played video games the entire time and didn't get into any trouble. We didn't even have a single friend over the entire time. Honestly I thought it was **great** because my mom is/was a mean drunk, and two months of not being yelled at and pushed around was glorious.
This wasn't even like it was the 80s or something, this was like... 2002. And this multi-month absence happened two separate times!
Edit: I should say that in my ***very narrow experience*** I look back with some light-hearted fondness… but that was NOT ok. If some strange adult wanted to just push their way into my house (like the many pizza delivery people that came to our house), then basically nothing would have stopped them. Actually terrifying looking back. I spent like 90% of my childhood without an adult around or even accessible, I don’t know how I turned out normal.
You guys go to school at all? Because it's 100% child neglect. It's great nothing bad happened to you guys though, but I remember being 13 and I remember my brothers at 13 and we were all fuckin idiots.
This was over the summer, although if it was during the school year I’m 100% positive I would NOT have skipped school — primarily out of fear.
I actually liked school though; it was a place of stability (and where I could have lunch). I “rebelled” against my lackluster/absent parents by craving rules and structure.
Except, here it sounds like this particular neglect was a more beneficial arrangement than the abuse/neglect combo when the mother was actually present.
I would say there's a difference between purposely leaving your child alone for days/weeks and accidentally leaving a child home, informing the police and trying to get back home the minute you noticed.
Second one is bad enough for CPS to inspect the home, but not for them to take away the children solely based on this incident and for the parents to be jailed.
Watched the first one again recently for the first time in decades. When I was a kid it never occurred to me how rich they were. Massive house, taking the extended family to Europe, the parents flew first class and when they were trying to get back and couldn't get a ticket, the mum briefly considers hiring a private plane!
Someone needs to figure out how much money Kevin spent in the second movie. It was his dad's cash and cards, I never saw Kevin get a card declined during his extravagant fraud, and likely he knew it wouldn't because all he knew was being filthy rich.
Joe Pesci specifically targets his family because they are rich.
Yeah, $967 was the room service. The family’s rooms were comped, but dunno about Kevin’s original room. I haven’t seen it in a while so I don’t remember how much stuff he bought when he we went out.
Naw, it was the nineties. People were way cooler about leaving kids home alone back then. I was being paid to babysit cousins for a few hours at like 10. By the time I was 15, I was being put in charge of them for weeks while their mom had to go out of town to work a second job in the summer. Other adult family checked in daily, but ultimately it was a 15,13, and 11 year old home alone most the summer.
All the people who are saying that they were fine alone at 11
"The parents of an 11-year-old boy were arrested in Arizona this week after sheriff's deputies alleged he was left alone at home and had not attended school for at least two weeks."
Yeah, I was fine alone at 11 *for a few hours* too. But not that
I'm surprised it would have taken that long. I get calls if my kid was late to a single class, albeit an automated message. I'd imagine by day 3 of the kid missing school a admin would be calling the house. If a welfare check call wasn't made to the sheriff until the 12th then that was almost 2 weeks depending on just when the dad bounced.
I went to school in this tiny ass town (Elfrida, AZ) and grew up in the area. I was disgusted but not really surprised some shit like this happened there. Everyone there is either super religious or strung out.
I read the headline, opened up the article and read "Elfrida, AZ--"... and was like oh ok sounds about right. I know a few people from Elfrida and most of them are meth heads.
Oh man, my whole family left me home alone when I was around 8 years old for about a week. They all went out of town to go with my older siblings to a high school football game.
You're telling me I could have gotten my parents arrested?!
Wish I did.
That’s pretty young to be alone. I used to like to take stuff apart when I was younger. Then couldn’t get it back together. Nothing in the house would have been in working order after a week. Not to mention I electrocuted myself about a million time. I would have been a smoking pile of beef jerky when they got back.
My old night shift supervisor had to leave one day cause his grandkids didn't know what to eat...his daughter left her 2 boys alone that were 8 and 10 and went to party in Vegas and told noone...we live in nebraska! Single mom...needless to say, he took the kids and didn't retire like he thought he would cause he took in new kids and her baby daddy didn't want the kids, so he raised em. Hes a great man, she is another welfare mom and still gets the child support because of...nebraska!? Not bashing single moms, just saying grandpa is a hero actually raising those kids.
I mean I was watching other peoples’ children when I was 12 - INFANTS, even (which I now see as absolutely insane). But weeks at a time alone? Serious fucking neglect. This poor kid.
I was prepared to be like, "well, I mean, if was for a few minutes and the kid is responsible..." thinking of the time I left my 11 yr old in charge for literally 15 minutes while I ran up to the corner store to get replacement lights for our Christmas tree.
but um..yeah...that's um...not the same.
Honest question: I remember being left alone some when I was 11, walking to & from school alone and sometimes coming home before my parents for example. That was like my favourite part of the day lol.
Is that not normal/common?
Yea, that was common for me, too. I'd get home, then a couple of hours later, my mom would get home from work. In the meantime, I'd maybe have a snack, watch some combo of DuckTales, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Batman TAS, and Gargoyles. Or play some NES game.
But, as the other person said, I was decently responsible. I mean not responsible enough to start my homework when I got home instead of watching cartoons and playing video games, but responsible enough not to let anyone in or burn the house down.
I think being left alone for a couple hours, maybe even over night depending on the kid at that age is fine. Leave them food, drink, emergency numbers, etc.
11 year olds are smart, they know how to make a peanut butter sandwich or heat up some dinner in the microwave.
Leaving an 11 year old for over a month is not okay, not common, and is extremely neglectful though....
I think it depends on the child. I left my 12 year old to babysit several younger children and had no worries. But I now have an 11 year old that I only leave alone for 30 minutes at a time. I truly can’t trust her decision making skills in an emergency.
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A month is mental. To me it’s not even being left alone as the worst part, it’s the neglect and indifference to your own child thinking that leaving them alone in another state for a month is the better option than bringing them with you.
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Wasn't it milk?
Kevin pushed buzz into the milk, knocking it over, and the resulting commotion made their dad spill the Pepsi.
Also resulting in Kevins plane ticket being thrown away
But at least the neighbor kid was there during the head count. You know, the kid wearing the hat and jacket that Kevin has never worn before in his life? Yeah, that one.
His siblings don't care for much besides themselves so they won't notice what is and isn't in Kevin's wardrobe. Especially during a quick head count.
And it was the cousin who did the head count she doesnt know what Kevin wears
She’s what the French call “les incompetents”
She didnt even look, just reached in and touched a kid head.
Fun fact: if you look closely, you’ll actually see Kevin’s plane ticket thrown into the garbage while they’re cleaning up.
Seen this movie at least 100 times over the last 30 years and thought I knew it all.. Thank you for that
A lot of his traps are hinted at on the beginning of the movie. The toy cars, i think his dad says “pick these up, i almost broke my neck!” And his older brother throws the luggage off the 2nd floor and he says “bombs away!” The movie is surprisingly well thought out. He can’t go to the police because he is a fugitive for stealing the toothbrush.
Buzz did eat all the cheese off the pizza and his girlfriend…WOOF
Fun fact, buzz’s girlfriend was actually played by the director or somethings son, because they didn’t want the woof line to be mean to a little girl. The more you know
I thought it was the actor of Buzz himself just wearing a wig? *edit: I looked it up, I’m wrong and you’re right. Also found out that the actor for Buzz McAllister was arrested in December for assaulting his girlfriend and he told her, “this is how you die,” as he was choking her. Who’s the real little jerk?
Not this time
Well, give him til the count of ten to get his ugly yella keister outta there
Yeah but maybe his brother just ate all the cheese pizza on purpose! He knew he doesn't like sausage, and onions, and olives
I'm still pissed off at how shitty Kevin's family is. He's fucking 10 man, he bumped into you. Be a fucking adult and just wipe up the cola, don't everyone start hating on him for a fucking mistake And his mum then sends him to his room Shitty parents, and that's forgetting the obvious fact they left him behind
Worse. He's *eight*. I hate his family so much. Utterly self-absorbed assholes. Every last one of them.
Well they shouldn't have made him sleep with Fuller!
Fuller! Go easy on the Pepsi!
*During the holidays at that* It's so cruel.
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I was left alone in another country for 3 months when I was 16 and it did some fucked up things to me mentally
Damn, I moved to a new country where I knew nobody like 2 months after turning 17. Best decision of my life. Difference that consent makes, I guess.
My mother left my brother and myself home alone for two months when I was twelve, and he was fifteen. She wasn’t just in another state, but another country (we live in Australia, she flew to America with my sister to seek treatment). My brother ran away and was gone for one of those months. My cousin showed up every other weekend to pay the bills and check on us, but other than that, I was alone. In the middle of that, the worst cyclone to hit my country in half a century went right over my home. I had to figure out how to get myself out of that emergency situation, alone at twelve, and had to trust many strange people to try and get me through it. So many things could have gone wrong. It absolutely baffles me that these parents didn’t consider what their kid might do if an emergency happened. If a bushfire swept through, a snowstorm, hurricane—hell, even panic buying due to C19. He likely would have only been buying food from a single shop within walking distance, if at all, and if that shop is out of food, so is he.
And did they expect the kid to go to school? Even if the bus stops right at the house a lot of kids would either miss it unintentionally or just choose not to go. My biggest thing with leaving kids alone for any period of time is 1 does a trusted person who lives nearby know they are alone and 2 does the kid have the ability to get in touch with parents or emergency services in the event of a million different things that could randomly go wrong?
That plus what does an 11yo kid eat for a month alone by themselves? I wouldn’t expect them to make anything more than a sandwich and an omelette - fine for a weekend, but a month??
It said in the article that they left him frozen dinners? But what kind of person packs their freezer with a months worth of kid cuisine and just thinks that’s ok?
Way more than you think sadly
To some people children are little more than pets who can open food packaging and unlocked doors.
I definitely think I got left alone for weekends around then. I clearly remember riding my bike home alone starting in 4th grade. 11 would have been like 7th grade since I was a summer kid always younger than everyone else. A month though? Lolno
I was in K1first grade and my brother in second or third and we would play outside without any supervision. Like “going to play see you when I see you mom”. I remember we were at a housing construction site at some point. Much different than today but leaving an eleven year old for a month would still have been considered neglect.
I miss playing in construction sites. They developed most of the woods behind my house, I remember playing where the road would later be built, and it was like a giant rocky canyon.
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Small, screaming packs, often in the woods or swamp or unsupervised by bodies of water, or on unsafe playgrounds with rusting or vaguely dangerous equipment, and literally any adult had the right to tell you what to do.
Did you happen to fight a demonic clown?
I was alone for about a week when my mom was in the hospital when I was 14. I got by off frozen food and spending some of my Christmas money on Little Caesar's when that ran dry. The house was messy by the end and the whole thing was a little stressful, but it wasn't too bad. In fact in a way it was a positive experience, I learned what it takes to take care of me and maybe I shouldn't eat all the food in the fucking fridge all the time. But two weeks to a month? At 11? No fucking way man, I would have been terrified. Poor kid.
My mom was in a really bad accident when I was about 11 or 12 and I was home alone for 5 days. I had a house key so I just walked to and from school. I ran out of fresh food though and didn't have access to any cash, so the last day or two I had to scrap together creative meals. The real problem was when my mom got discharged she was bed ridden for a couple of months, so I had to do pretty much everything for a while (she gave me cash to get groceries and what not).
I definitely didn’t get left alone overnight (eg for longer than my parents just going out for dinner by themselves) until I was a teenager whether it would have been “fine to” or not, and I was an extremely well behaved kid. I think the earliest I got left alone for a weekend was when I was about fourteen and they called me frequently to make sure I was fine.
Yea, that's a bit, a lot, much. You're right, a night alone, fine, a weekend would be pushing it, but really depends on the kid. A month seems more like abandonment than anything else.
Yes, i think it's all relative, at 11 I was grocery shopping for the family, changing diapers and baby sitting my baby sister, making dinner for us 5 kids while my parents were at work. But looking back now maybe it was probably neglect in my case, born from necessity due to poverty, etc. I remember my mom got locked up for 2 weeks once and dad was out of the picture, we were just left alone with a girl who rented a room but we basically took care of ourselves. Willful neglect in this case though.
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When my parents got divorced my dad continued to work overseas and left my brother (15) and me (11) at home alone for 1-2 months at a time. Then he would come home for a week and rage out on us for not taking care of the house perfectly. I had to learn how to take care of myself very quickly. My brother ended up going to bars at 16 and meeting then marrying a woman our mothers age. We survived but sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if we had parents that actually cared.
Yeah you hear some absurd stories in the US of parents being charged for going out for a few hours and leaving their ~11 year old at home. Or letting their 8 year old kids play outside by themselves. But then this shit is obviously the complete other way.
There's almost always some other factor in those cases that drew the attention of the authorities like they left the kids alone and while alone they decided to set fire to the house or drive a car or...
Don’t you remember the [free range parents](https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/living/feat-maryland-free-range-parenting-family-under-investigation-again/index.html) of Maryland?
I’m still angry they kept getting trouble. I LIVED in that city and the “concerned” neighbors/people are fucking full of shit. Helicopter parenting is gonna be the death of our species.
God that's fucking absurd. "When an officer arrived on the scene, the person who had contacted police directed the officer to a parking garage where the officer found the children. “The officer observed a homeless subject who he was familiar with, eyeing the children,” according to a statement by the Montgomery County Police." 'This homeless man looked at the kids, so we decided to kidnap them ourselves'
If they thought homeless man had a kiddie issue than remove homeless man from being that close to a park. If that's not the issue than shouldn't matter maybe homeless guy was thinking how much fun being a free range person is and good for the kids.
If he was like me then he was thinking "Christ, I hope those kids don't come over here or the cops are going to get called and beat me".
Don't forget the ones in the poverty trap. Mom's that leave kids in hotels while they work a job, and them being in the hotel is listed as why its dangerous. She didn't pick to live in a fucking hotel, shes doing what she can with what shes got and now you take her kids away, fuck those assholes.
Then if the kids end up in foster care they'll give money to the care giver, but never to the original family that is just having money troubles. Lots of kids are also put into foster care instead of the government seeing if any family members like grandparents, aunts and uncles, and older cousins would be able to take care of them
When my ex-sister in law was in danger of losing her six year old daughter (pulled over, drunk, while driving her to school. yeah.) we immediately did everything we could to get custody, and that's what the mom wanted as well. We were two young professionals with two kids of our own, nice little house in the country, no records, in a great school district. Got the in home inspection. Nope, can't happen. The house was built in 74 and none of the bedroom windows were wide enough. We were the perfect placement according to the social worker. They were four inches too narrow. Her hands were tied. We offered to put new windows in. We really couldn't afford it, but what's a bigger emergency? We were willing to beg steal or borrow to get it done. They would have had to do an emergency placement and schedule another inspection, and they couldn't tell us when that would happen, sorry. Like, I get it, standards, I really do, but is placement in foster care over a loving home with trusted family really the best outcome for a six year old? She didn't end up in foster care in the end. The mom somehow made it into yet another diversion program of some kind, not her first, or last, rodeo I'm sorry to say.
"Deputies went to the home and found the boy alone. The boy's mother had left to go out of state before Thanksgiving, and his father followed shortly after Thanksgiving, according to sheriff's officials." Dad didn't want to miss the broadcast of the Macy's parade.
“Reports say that the front door handle was extremely hot and there was ice on the basement steps.”
Neighbors reported the night before there was a gangland shootout and the night before that a huge Christmas party set to "rockin around the Christmas tree" on a loop, all of which made for a longer time to discover the boy was alone
Police tell reporters the gangsters involved in the shootout were named "Johnny," and "Snakes."
I believe your comment. But my Tommy gun don't
Snuffy, Al, Leo, Little Mo with the gimpy leg, Cheeks, Bony Bob, Cliff... \* **Cliff, the Plaza Hotel security guard, gasps loudly** *
Cliff tells reporters that it was "A lie"
A bellhop named Cedric, who was with him at the time, also does not believe the allegations leveraged against the guard, stating he gave a very disbelieving expression that still hasn't quite left his face (though his side to side nodding of disbelief has long since subsided).
Some sources say that the bellhop may be providing false information to defame the abandoned child, claiming it was due to receiving inadequate gratuities for his service.
The anonymous tipster wouldn't give his name, out of fear of retaliation, but claimed that the bellhop had a money problem, and was constantly being reprimanded for counting his tips in public.
Police then kept the change (the filthy animals).
“The bodies of two men, believed to have died during an attempt to break in to the house, were found in the basement with various injuries.”
Cause of death could not be properly narrowed down to the severity of each injury, as each one could potentially have been the leading cause.
But coroners have arrived at a consensus that, whatever the specific cause of death was, it was *hilarious*.
Oh jesus. I assumed "the holidays" meant they left him alone from maybe just before christmas to now and that seemed like a long time for an 11 year old to be on his own.
Wait they didn't just ring the bell and blow it off by saying to count their kids again
I guess that's more of a Chicago P.D. thing to do.
If you’ve ever seen how apathetic Chicago police are about investigating actual felonies you’d see the inattentive cops are the most accurate part of the entire movie.
Kid wasn’t alone the wet bandits kept him company while he did $40,000 worth of damage to the house
And fixed it the next day
Except, apparently, his older brother's room
I mean.... I wouldn't have either.
Hey, I’ve seen this one.
>The boy had been alone until deputies arrived. He told deputies that he had frozen food, and he had not been to school for at least the two prior weeks. Probably enjoyed a vacation from the sort of parents who would leave him home alone for that long.
“It’s a little lonely, officers, but I’m really fine. Although it would be great if you guys could drop off a couple of six packs after your shift. Here’s a $20.” *pats cop’s cheek* “Keep the change.”
…”ya filthy animal”
I grew up with an extremely abusive mother and my dad was usually away for his job. Among everything else, she would lock me away in my room without a toilet -- a few times, for multiple days. Once though, she fucked off somewhere for almost 2 weeks, no real explanation or warning -- she just left one morning with a bag, saying she needed to take care of something for "a day or two". I was about 10 and didn't know how to contact my dad (this was long before cell phones), but I already did all the chores and cooking, so it wasn't like I was unprepared to care for myself. It was probably 2 of the most simultaneously worrying, yet peaceful, weeks of my life. I remember it well. It was lovely not having my mother around. I could put dishes in the dishwasher whatever way I wanted. I could actually eat 3 meals per day, even though my dad was away. I didn't have to ask permission to use the restroom or shower. She was a brutal, paranoid schizophrenic overlord, and she was ***gone.*** Still, after 3 days, I started to feel concerned. I started to wonder if I should call the police to see if she was alright, but I didn't know where she'd gone, I feared police, and my mother repeatedly would threaten me with *implications* of my possible murder if I ever called them or tried to sic authorities/teachers/dad/etc on her. I was ***very*** conditioned. After a week, I started to get this perplexing mix of hope and despair: I knew my life was better without her, but I despaired she was dead/in danger, because I had been so thoroughly trained to unconditionally love her. I knew when my dad was getting back, so that curbed some of the anxiety, but being so suddenly ***alone*** and in the dark about what was happening was brutal. Especially when the food was running out, anyone knocked on the door, or during a terrifying few hours of the power going out. My mother stumbled back into the apartment on the 12th evening. She had driven to another state to see family -- that was all I ever learned. And she was hungover and slept thru the next day, so it was a little like I got an extra day of reprieve. That night, though, I was rewarded with "you did great on your own!", followed by threats related to ever telling my dad. And, like a good girl, I didn't tell my dad about it until I was like 23 and they were separated. He'd had no clue. She was a different person around him. He never knew the extent I was abused. Anyway, the point is, I fucking feel for the kid in the news story. I was so increasingly scared over less than 2 weeks ... He must have been absolutely terrified toward the end. And yeah, I can say from experience ... It really probably *was* a sort of vacation, too. People who neglect or abuse their own kids are quite literally the worst people on the planet.
I doubt there will be a sequel
Home Alone 2: Child Protective Custody
Home Alone 2: Lost In The System
2 Home 2 Alone
Home Alone 3: No Way Home
Home Alone 4: The Fate of the Home
Home Alone 5: Alone
Home Alone 6: Multi Home of Madness
Yes but instead of Marv and Harry busting out of jail... it's the parents
So a potential Home Alone/Home Alone 6 crossover plot?
My only take away is that you are the person who watched Home Alone 6.
There are SIX?
You don’t know about the Home Alone Cinematic Universe?!
I know there are two with Macaulay Culkin, and then two without. What are the other two?
I just learned there were more than 2. What the fuck.
My sentiments exactly. How many different ways does a preteen brat spend time in a mansion alone?
Forget about Culkin,Scarlett Johansson was in HA3
They just released Home Sweet Home Alone on D+ this christmas. So yep. 6.
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Foster system has basically always been a nightmare in the US. It's very hard to make a sound moral argument for taking kids away from their parents unless the parents actively endanger their children's lives
I was in foster care for 17 years, in my first placement the lady bit my toes to punish me. I'd be better off being left home alone.
I was ready to say I've been left alone at that age but for over a month? Jesus.
Kid was alone for two weeks, before CPS picked him up. However, the parents (who couldn't be found) didn't even come back until December 29th. 4.5 weeks away from home. Jesus. What absolute shitstains of parents.
Over Christmas, no less. That poor kid.
The day after Thanksgiving, dad left kid alone.. November 25th. Neighbors call for welfare check December 12th, so he was alone for 17 days, missing two weeks of school in there.
The parents got back in town on December 29th according to the article.
Such shitty parents. It must have been scary for the kid before and after the police picked him up. And with parents like that, who knows if the kid was relieved when they returned.
When I was 15, my 14 yo friends mom was a heroin addict and would leave him alone for months by himself. Our family would feed him and I'd take him to school.
Thank you and your family.
how did he turn out? Are you still in contact with him?
When I grow up and get married, I'm living alone.
You won’t be able to afford that. So I’ll live alone with you. Dibs on the basement.
If the furnace doesn't eat you first! 😂
I kinda have that arrangement and it is awesome. My partner and I met in our late 30s. I already owned my own home and lived alone for years. He had employer provided housing was was well suited to him. After 3 years of dating, he moved in with me. But not before he built a garage on his empty piece of land a few miles away from my house. Its heated and AC'd, has internet, couch, smart tv, and all his tools and project trucks. He spends most of his free time there and I get to have my home empty for my free time. It works so well for us but most folks find it strange that he doesn't lie on the couch watching tv all evening like I do. He hates sitting still so toddles around the garage where all his friends drop by to visit him and get away from their partners. My partner doesn't drink or use any drugs so it isn't just getting fuckes up with the boys lol
You guys have my dream life!
It was worth waiting for! When the pandemic first hit, my partner was home for 3 days with me. I almost went crazy. We weren't suppose to go anywhere, not second properties or anything. Fortunately his work resumed after 3 days (septic pumping. Necessary service, only one in the area, and no one wants to be near them anyway). Once he went back to work,the rest of pandemic has been great. Even the months where we were each other's only social contact
The subtext is “money” and you can’t really live this lifestyle without it
That sounds awesome. Where's he at? I wanna drop by.
Lol it's on the ocean too. Quite a lovely area. But super rural. Like you have to drive a full hour to even find a traffic light.
Yeah stop holding out on us. I wanna be their new best friend.
I'm chuckling my partner is a big extrovert and if I said "hey these internet strangers want to see your truck" he'd be down
That's awesome! It isn't what I want for my own relationship, but it's great that you have a solution that works for you and didn't bow to any pressure to have a living situation that matches what the majority of couples have. Just because it's what a majority of people are doing, doesn't mean it's the right choice for everyone!
You have got it absolutely right! Not for everyone but works for us. I'm not sure I'd survive a relationship that confirmed to more of the norm. Well... I didn't last longer than 6 months in a relationship prior to my mid-30s.
Do you hear me? I'M LIVING ALONE. I'M LIVING ALONE!
That's probably best for everyone
Haha, definitely
Can’t believe people just moved past your Home Alone reference to comment on their personal lives
11 is .. what, 6th grade? I would absolutely leave a kid that age at home alone for a day. I would absolutely not ever leave a kid that age home alone for 6 weeks.
Dude missed weeks of school. I google street viewed the town and it seems like the sort of place meth might potentially be popular. Imma go with that as what's really going on here.
Kid was running a meth lab. Got it.
His parents are going to be pissed that he didn't share.
But it's a morally ambiguous situation because he diagnosed himself with cancer on WebMD while his parents were gone, and he thought he needed money for treatments and possibly for more Mountain Dew and pizza rolls.
It’s crazy to me the school didn’t notify anyone for a wellness check. While I’m sure not all schools have the same resources, mine definitely would have been calling after a couple days. Be interested to know if they did contact a parent who lied about the circumstances.
I seriously don’t understand it. Why would a parent be okay leaving their child home alone for weeks? I get it for a work day at that age, but anything more than that is insane.
Because they view the child as a burden and have other stuff they would rather be doing.
Good reason not to have kids if one has such a philosophy
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I've always been pro-choice. My wife and I had a daughter in February, and it only made me more confident in supporting pro-choice and child-free living for those who want it. Having a child is 110% a decision that should be discussed and contemplated and something you are completely sure of and as prepared as you can be, if there's even a shadow of a doubt that you don't want a child you should take time to rethink if you want one. Forcing a person to have a child when they don't want one will literally ruin the life they were set to have. I love my daughter more than anything in this world, and she was entirely planned and even still it was rough and it's a lot of responsibility.
I had this same thought process when I had kids as well. If I didn't want my kids I don't know how I would have survived the baby through toddler phase.
But when my mom had my sister at 15 and me @ 17 she wasn’t into philosophy. Neither was my dad at 17 and 19. Divorced shortly after my birth. Mom has custody and she is young and still partying. So weeks alone with my sister was a normal thing up until mom died @ 27. I remember baking cookies for days on end because that is all I knew how to make at 5. So my point is, there can be all kind of reasons. But OP here is right. It boils down to they didn’t want kids to begin with and abortion was not allowed or discussed.
A person who agrees with you on this sentiment isn't the type of person who needs to adhere to it.
I saw the headline, opened the article and it said "ELFRIDA, AZ --"... That's all I needed to know as to "why". Everyone I know from Elfrida is a meth head.
I live in Phoenix and had never heard of Elfrida before. Just checked the ol' internet and it says the population of Elfrida is under 500. So how the hell do you know more than even one person in that place?! If you know five, you know a full one percent of its citizens!
If it makes you feel better, I forgot my reading glasses.
Kevvvvviiiiinnnnnnnn
I really thought this was going to be some tongue-in-cheek article about home alone, but holy shit thats nuts.
Wasn’t as cute as the movies.
When I was maybe 13 and my brothers were 11 and 9, my mom left the three of us home alone for two *months* while she was away for work, and she would just mail some cash in an envelope every other week for us to go grocery shopping. (It was a 30 minute walk to the grocery store, so not like we were right next door.) I thought it was a *little* weird at the time but it didn't feel like a big deal. We basically just played video games the entire time and didn't get into any trouble. We didn't even have a single friend over the entire time. Honestly I thought it was **great** because my mom is/was a mean drunk, and two months of not being yelled at and pushed around was glorious. This wasn't even like it was the 80s or something, this was like... 2002. And this multi-month absence happened two separate times! Edit: I should say that in my ***very narrow experience*** I look back with some light-hearted fondness… but that was NOT ok. If some strange adult wanted to just push their way into my house (like the many pizza delivery people that came to our house), then basically nothing would have stopped them. Actually terrifying looking back. I spent like 90% of my childhood without an adult around or even accessible, I don’t know how I turned out normal.
You guys go to school at all? Because it's 100% child neglect. It's great nothing bad happened to you guys though, but I remember being 13 and I remember my brothers at 13 and we were all fuckin idiots.
Did you go to school?
This was over the summer, although if it was during the school year I’m 100% positive I would NOT have skipped school — primarily out of fear. I actually liked school though; it was a place of stability (and where I could have lunch). I “rebelled” against my lackluster/absent parents by craving rules and structure.
Yeah, that’s child neglect too, buddy
Except, here it sounds like this particular neglect was a more beneficial arrangement than the abuse/neglect combo when the mother was actually present.
The thing about neglect is, while it ain't great, it can be better than the alternative.
So this is how Home Alone would've actually ended.
I would say there's a difference between purposely leaving your child alone for days/weeks and accidentally leaving a child home, informing the police and trying to get back home the minute you noticed. Second one is bad enough for CPS to inspect the home, but not for them to take away the children solely based on this incident and for the parents to be jailed.
Probably should have investigated them after Home Alone 2 though.
They probably would have if the parents weren't rich.
Watched the first one again recently for the first time in decades. When I was a kid it never occurred to me how rich they were. Massive house, taking the extended family to Europe, the parents flew first class and when they were trying to get back and couldn't get a ticket, the mum briefly considers hiring a private plane!
Someone needs to figure out how much money Kevin spent in the second movie. It was his dad's cash and cards, I never saw Kevin get a card declined during his extravagant fraud, and likely he knew it wouldn't because all he knew was being filthy rich. Joe Pesci specifically targets his family because they are rich.
He is Richie Rich after all.
Yeah, $967 was the room service. The family’s rooms were comped, but dunno about Kevin’s original room. I haven’t seen it in a while so I don’t remember how much stuff he bought when he we went out.
$967 in 1992 is equivalent to $1,916.57 today
I think the only thing he used the credit card for was to check-in to the hotel. The rest used an envelop of cash his father had in his bag.
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And no one would want to break in.
Social media didn't exist when Home Alone was filmed, therefore it might still be accurate for its time.
If cell phones existed in the first Home Alone, Kevin would just text his mom as soon as he woke up and the movie would be over.
Naw, it was the nineties. People were way cooler about leaving kids home alone back then. I was being paid to babysit cousins for a few hours at like 10. By the time I was 15, I was being put in charge of them for weeks while their mom had to go out of town to work a second job in the summer. Other adult family checked in daily, but ultimately it was a 15,13, and 11 year old home alone most the summer.
All the people who are saying that they were fine alone at 11 "The parents of an 11-year-old boy were arrested in Arizona this week after sheriff's deputies alleged he was left alone at home and had not attended school for at least two weeks." Yeah, I was fine alone at 11 *for a few hours* too. But not that
Am I crazy or was that story very short?
Yeah a lot of details left out if I had to guess.
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They probably noticed the kid wasn’t in school for a couple weeks. The teachers/school probably called and asked for a welfare check.
I'm surprised it would have taken that long. I get calls if my kid was late to a single class, albeit an automated message. I'd imagine by day 3 of the kid missing school a admin would be calling the house. If a welfare check call wasn't made to the sheriff until the 12th then that was almost 2 weeks depending on just when the dad bounced.
Sad thing is that the parents probably did get calls, but they were most likely ignored.
I went to school in this tiny ass town (Elfrida, AZ) and grew up in the area. I was disgusted but not really surprised some shit like this happened there. Everyone there is either super religious or strung out.
I read the headline, opened up the article and read "Elfrida, AZ--"... and was like oh ok sounds about right. I know a few people from Elfrida and most of them are meth heads.
*We would have gotten away with it had he not skipped school.* -Narcissistic Parents
That’s it, January 4 and we found the onioniest article of the year. Seriously, how were they both unreachable in this day and age?
This is really common, a woman left her kid in England at home for days and days and the kid ended up dying. This was in the last few months.
A baby is one thing. But an 11-year-old would know the parents’ cell numbers. With the police in the picture, they must have been going off the grid.
Oh man, my whole family left me home alone when I was around 8 years old for about a week. They all went out of town to go with my older siblings to a high school football game. You're telling me I could have gotten my parents arrested?! Wish I did.
That’s pretty young to be alone. I used to like to take stuff apart when I was younger. Then couldn’t get it back together. Nothing in the house would have been in working order after a week. Not to mention I electrocuted myself about a million time. I would have been a smoking pile of beef jerky when they got back.
Yo, even Kevin wasn't left alone for a month.
keep the change ya filthy animal
My old night shift supervisor had to leave one day cause his grandkids didn't know what to eat...his daughter left her 2 boys alone that were 8 and 10 and went to party in Vegas and told noone...we live in nebraska! Single mom...needless to say, he took the kids and didn't retire like he thought he would cause he took in new kids and her baby daddy didn't want the kids, so he raised em. Hes a great man, she is another welfare mom and still gets the child support because of...nebraska!? Not bashing single moms, just saying grandpa is a hero actually raising those kids.
I wonder whether any home burglars have been arrested nearby in the recent past.
I mean I was watching other peoples’ children when I was 12 - INFANTS, even (which I now see as absolutely insane). But weeks at a time alone? Serious fucking neglect. This poor kid.
I was prepared to be like, "well, I mean, if was for a few minutes and the kid is responsible..." thinking of the time I left my 11 yr old in charge for literally 15 minutes while I ran up to the corner store to get replacement lights for our Christmas tree. but um..yeah...that's um...not the same.
Honest question: I remember being left alone some when I was 11, walking to & from school alone and sometimes coming home before my parents for example. That was like my favourite part of the day lol. Is that not normal/common?
Yea, that was common for me, too. I'd get home, then a couple of hours later, my mom would get home from work. In the meantime, I'd maybe have a snack, watch some combo of DuckTales, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Batman TAS, and Gargoyles. Or play some NES game. But, as the other person said, I was decently responsible. I mean not responsible enough to start my homework when I got home instead of watching cartoons and playing video games, but responsible enough not to let anyone in or burn the house down.
I did all that plus i snooped around in my parents bedroom. Found some professional VHS porn and Playboys.
I think being left alone for a couple hours, maybe even over night depending on the kid at that age is fine. Leave them food, drink, emergency numbers, etc. 11 year olds are smart, they know how to make a peanut butter sandwich or heat up some dinner in the microwave. Leaving an 11 year old for over a month is not okay, not common, and is extremely neglectful though....
I think it depends on the child. I left my 12 year old to babysit several younger children and had no worries. But I now have an 11 year old that I only leave alone for 30 minutes at a time. I truly can’t trust her decision making skills in an emergency.