# Kids and school holidays in the US

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-school-holidays-in-the-us/564351>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-school-holidays-in-the-us/564351 "2010-12-16T10:59:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-school-holidays-in-the-us/564351/21 "2010-12-17T16:31:12Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Illinois allows for a lot of judgement on the part of the court for this. They take into account the environment the kid was left in, the circumstances (parents at work vs. parents take off to the casinos), even the maturity of the kid involved. It’s a refreshingly common sense system, actually, not based on a strict rubric of age. But it’s anything under age **14** , not **12** , where if the situation is brought to the state attention, they will look into it.
> 
> [The majority of states actually don’t have any laws about this.](http://www.latchkey-kids.com/latchkey-kids-age-limits.htm)

I live in Illinois and I knew there was a bit vagueness in the law for kids left alone, but I wouldn’t chance it.

When I was younger, it wasn’t until high school when I was left alone in charge of my brother who is 6 years younger than me. And we still had all out fights - to the point where he pulled a steak knife on me. But it all ended well and we’re good friends now. 😉

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**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-school-holidays-in-the-us/564351/22 "2010-12-17T19:30:05Z")

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> [@even\_sven](#):
>
> “running feral”

great band name! 🆒

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**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-school-holidays-in-the-us/564351/23 "2010-12-18T00:07:30Z")

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Mine are currently 11 and 12.

My mother has watched them the past two summers. I’ll leave mine alone together for a day - but not longer than a day - too much junk food, bad tv and “running feral” - not to mention the sibling battles.

The summer before that they had “day camp” at the community center. Before that, when they were little (like until the oldest was in third grade) they did summers back at their old daycare.

Next year, I’m not sure what we will do. They are getting a little old for Grandma, but a little young yet to leave alone.

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