<p>One of the employees in my office went on leave today for a C-Section delivery. Another staff member mentioned to me in general conversation how much this employee already handles at home (this is baby #5). The staff member commented "you know she leaves at 2:30 every day picks up her 9 and 5 year olds, drops them off at her house then comes back to work. The kids stay by themselves until she gets home…</p>
<p>This is very sad. I know it’s legal in some states for kids to stay at home pretty young, but what about the responsibility of the older child and how bad it will be if something happens to one or both while mom is not there? But it seems like given our economic climate, some people feel forced to do things they’d rather not do. Of course then there are people who just make bad decisions…</p>
<p>How long does she leave them home for? And are you sure this staff member knows no one is at home? Where are children 3 and 4?</p>
<p>My boss does this (5 kids too) and it drives me up a wall! Stop having kids if you don’t want to take care of them (and she doesn’t!). (Stopping before rant).</p>
<p>In my opinion, no 9 year old should be left alone, and certainly no child that age is responsible enough to care for a 5 year old. I’d report this to the relevant child protection agency immediately. Let them evaluate the situation and make a determination. Your first responsibility, everyone’s first responsibility, is to protect children.</p>
<p>My mother did this. She left my older sister in charge (9) of the rest of us that were moderately younger. My mother worked about a quarter mile away from home so we could always walk there if there was a big problem.</p>
<p>In the summertime, we were mostly alone for the whole day. She worked about 1.5 to 2 jobs. During the school year there was less unsupervised time.</p>
<p>That’s life. We don’t all get to live in a walled garden.</p>
<p>In our state it is not legal to leave anyone under the age of 12 home alone. I also don’t think it is legal to leave the 12 yr old in charge of a younger sibling.</p>
<p>I probably would call the police before I called CPS.</p>
<p>If you are worried about your employee’s family you could offer to let her work at home from 2:30 on.</p>
<p>There are some very responsible 9 year olds that can handle a 5 year old for 2 hours in the afternoon. Especially if they have helpful neighbors nearby. </p>
<p>It sounds like all you know is hearsay, I wouldn’t call authorities on anyone, much less an employee, for something I’ve heard from someone else who could be making everything up.</p>
<p>I am at loss why she is doing this. Every school has after school care. My D. was in after school care for many years and before and after camp care in a summer.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP -</p>
<p>There is every chance that this mother cannot afford the cost of after care on her salary. There is no mention of a second parent in the original post, so this may be a single mother. But even with two incomes (and mine was the bigger one), we came out ahead when I went to part-time work and we didn’t have to pay for after school care.</p>
<p>I agree with UCD. Get the first hand facts before you call anyone. It could be that there is an appropriately aged sitter at home that is just not able to collect the kids from school. It could be that this woman really does need some more flexibility. I agree that an unsafe situation needs to be addressed, but you may make things WORSE if you don’t understand the situation correctly. I think it’s appropriate to find out more, but to proceed cautiously.</p>
<p>"There is every chance that this mother cannot afford the cost of after care on her salary. "
-It is NOT my impression by far. If she can afford that many kids, how she cannot afford after school care, which is by far not the biggest cost of raising kids. I could afford having only 2 of them, she can afford many more, she must have what it takes. Otherwise…oh well, she is simply not a reasonable person. You cannot worry about every person out there who is behaving in unreasonable manner, we all do at some point of our lives, there is no exception.</p>
<p>In Seattle there are very few schools that have on site before/after care. Additionally those centers may be full/expensive for many families.</p>
<p>It may be a news flash to some but the instinct to reproduce doesn’t have a lot to do with the skills & resources needed to be a good parent.</p>
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<p>Perhaps in your school district.</p>
<p>My district doesn’t provide this. They will put your kid on a bus to the local YMCA though if you enroll them in a program there which may be free or near free. The city where I work will put your kid on a bus to the Boys and Girls Club or the local YMCA under the same conditions. My kids have been to programs at the Boys and Girls club before and the place is a complete zoo when the kids arrive from school. There’s something like one adult for 50 kids.</p>
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<p>Sometimes parents have a tough time making ends meet and camp in the summer is not an option financially.</p>
<p>“In Seattle there are very few schools that have on site before/after care.”
-Don’t they have busses that shuttle kids to schools with day care? It is very strange</p>
<p>"It may be a news flash to some but the instinct to reproduce doesn’t have a lot to do with the skills & resources needed to be a good parent. "</p>
<p>-Well, I was considering the fact that we are discussing human beings. Yes, all biological creatures have instincts, including humans, but humans have capacity, knowledge and technology to control them. So, there is NO instinct when we are talking about human reproduction, it is a calculated choice, especially for someone who is capable of having work related responsibilitites. She is definitely not mentally challenged in any respect, she is not 12 y o, not even 16, we are talking about normal average adult here. Have as many kids as you can afford, there is nothing unreasonable in this statement.</p>
<p>Many schools do NOT offer after-school care. Day care centers will often pick kids up after school but that’s very expensive. (I know - did that for years.) In my state, there is no set age where kids can be left alone. Child Protective Services is likely not going to put a lot of resources into looking into this situation.</p>
<p>That being said…my boss at my previous job did this. Her kids were exactly the same age. I felt so bad for the kids - they were not allowed to go outside and play after school, etc. And this woman could absolutely afford after-school care. She made at least 175K. It infuriated me. I lost all respect for her when I found this out.</p>
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<p>Biology, sociology, psychology, economics. Sometimes it’s nice to know about the variation of the human condition.</p>
<p>And as Elvis Costello would say: [Elvis</a> Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen (‘A Case For Song’ VHS) - YouTube](<a href=“Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen ('A Case For Song' VHS) - YouTube”>Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen ('A Case For Song' VHS) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Accidents will happen…5 times… are we in Africa? I do not care one way or anther, it does not bother me, apparently it does not bother mother either, so what we are discussing here, we do not have any say / any control. Any kid could be in danger, any person in fact, sometime having somebody else in a house will not prevent it anyway. One can fall taking stairs and die, having another person in a house will not have any effect. We can get electricuted, burned, burn house down (almost happened to us), poison ourseves by accident…whatever.</p>
<p>I still want to know where children 3 and 4 are. Is dad involved? Could he be at home?</p>
<p>There are laws in some states about the ages when children can be left without adult supervision or permitted to supervise other children.</p>
<p>For example, where I live, a child has to be 8 to be left unsupervised and 13 to supervise a child younger than 8.</p>
<p>I have no problem with the 9-year-old being home alone, although it would be rather boring if it happens every day. I do have a problem with a 9-year-old being in charge of a 5-year-old. Regardless of whether there are specific laws forbidding it, I think it’s dangerous.</p>
<p>That said, there may be cultural differences at play here. When my kids were young, one of them had a friend, age 10, who was left in charge of her 6-year-old sister after school. The family was from another country and considered this normal, and the 6-year-old preferred the arrangement because she disliked the school’s aftercare program. The situation made me uncomfortable, but the family who did it thought it was fine. When the two children came to my house, I always made sure to be home the entire time they were there – although I didn’t necessarily do this when only the 10-year-old was visiting because she and my child of the same age were very trustworthy.</p>