Well, I can see it depending on the kid, but that seems just crazy. Of course, it is until a kid does something stupid. I’ll have to check NY law, and OH law, too for that matter, since that’s where my parents live. Christ, I babysat when I was 13. I also hurt myself when unsupervised. (And yes, I know, that holds just as much water as people saying they were never hurt so helmets are dumb.) Ok, nothing worse than a severely sprained ankle, and I can see laws being necessary to protect kids.
It was just a tongue in cheek comment about him breaking his leg. He’s not going to, but I’d be worried he’d get some hairbrained idea or have an accident while I was gone. Honestly, I thought I was being overprotective by worrying about him home alone. Sheesh. Thanks for the heads up.
Actually, what he needs protection from is not himself, because I have not the slightest doubt that a 12-year-old is perfectly capable of making sure he doesn’t set himself on fire or poison himself with Drano if left alone for a few hours unaccompanied by an adult, but from the larger world around him, with its “safety-first!” legislated paranoia.
BTW…make sure he buckles his seat belt if you go anywhere in the car, too. If you’re in a fender-bender and he bumps his head, and the cops find out he wasn’t wearing a seat belt or doesn’t have the requisite booster seat if he’s small enough to need one as required by your state, you’re in deep shit.
ETA: Shoulder harnesses have a minimum height requirement for safe operation, too. If you’re in a fender-bender, and he’s injured because he’s really too short to be wearing a lap-and-shoulder combination but you had him buckled into it because you didn’t have the kind of booster seat he’d require, you are also in deep shit.
See, this is the kind of thing that parents have to think about 24/7. But normally we get a chance to grow into the role, learning about it on the way up so to speak. But you’re going into it cold. You may be forgiven for perhaps vowing at this point never, ever to have children yourself.
Gee, and I was about to suggest a stack of towels and a box of assorted porn.
Although, why so much planning, I vaguely remember being on vacation at that age and enjoying doing absolutely nothing - if I wanted to grab a book and hang out on an adirondack chair with a glass of iced tea looking out over Silver Lake I could.
I cant remember which parenting thread it was in, but i have always been of the opinion that todays kids are jammed into so many activities that they have forgotten how to relax. They need to be able to just hang out, play penny toss with the gang, sit around and read a book or just watch the tube.
You can always get a selection of those tourist rest top brocheures of stuff to do, hand the stack to him and tell him to pick out the stuff he wants to do.
shrug No planning, really, more like trying to figure out if I should plan. It’s less for him than for me, because I’ve got to work while he’s here. I’m just a worrier, and you guys tend to have practical advice for situations like this. Although, I should have expected the 5 porn jokes…
He specifically requested everything I mentioned (laser tag, a movie, the park, a couple board games) other than the trip to the library/coffee shop during the week, and I just added that to get him out during the day and show him a-day-in-the-life sort of thing. Besides, he spends too much time inside anyway. (Damn kids!) I’m actually pretty comfortable with it now. I talked to him this weekend and his opinion is: “Ok, that’s fine.” (So talkative at this age, yes?)
).