Latchkey kids thrive under proper circumstances
With back-to-school last week one BC father found himself fighting an unexpected battle.
A single parent of five children, he would have been counting on cajoling children into putting on their sneakers and struggling to fill lunch orders and still get out the door on time but he got in big trouble for allowing his four eldest children – ages 7, 8, 9 and 11 – to ride the city bus without him.
This story made headlines, with people weighing in on both sides of the debate.
With the exception of the Stayner bus, most of us living in Clearview, Mulmur and surrounding area don’t have access to mass transit but we do have lots of little ones getting around town independently.
That safe street mentality is one of the great things about this community and something that attracts young families.
Children learn independence from a young age and given the opportunity to be responsible for their own welfare, they often rise to the task.
To be clear, when we talk about allowing children to do things on their own and care for themselves, they must be of a proper age. The tricky thing is to identify that age for each individual child. The confidence and trust to spend longer periods home alone build very gradually. Alone time can be as little as 10 minutes while the parent goes to get the mail, or send the child to the store to buy one small item.
It’s important for children to be raised in a culture of confidence and not one of fear. Adults are constantly telling children to be scared and intimidated (under the guise of being super cautious) rather than going out into the world expecting to be safe. We are all guilty of it but the stats don’t support our fears. Children are rarely randomly abducted off the street by strangers.
People cringe thinking of the possibility but, statistically speaking, a child is more likely to receive help from a stranger they meet, than be harmed.
Having said all this, children must be considered individually and not all kids will want to do things on their own, or at least not yet. Others crave independence and will thrive.
Being without parental supervision doesn’t have to mean they are left alone either. Children learn valuable social skills from working with their peers.
Many of us were latchkey kids growing up and we may not have realized it at the time but we were learning valuable lessons about time management, household duties (maybe there was a list of chores to do before mom or dad came home), we learned how to make after school snacks, to care for siblings and most importantly, how to be alone.
Society loves to hate on Millennials and their helicopter parents and whether that’s fair or not, this is the antidote.
