What is the age when a child can be left at home alone? Shouldn't we know as parents the answer to this?

I was never a latchkey child and actually had to look it up to know what the term actually meant.  I had a mother who never left us with babysitters.  The one and only time I remember being left with a babysitter I jumped out of a tree and cut my foot on a broken coke bottle, the only stitches that I ever had as a child. I was 10, I was actually quite old for a 10 year old having so many younger siblings, and, no, I was not old enough to be alone.  We didn't always have a lot of money growing up but we had parents that loved us and were there for us.  I realize that people who have to use babysitters love their children and have a reason to use babysitters. They have to work to feed their children or there are other reasons to need the assistance of a babysitter.  Babysitters should be thought out, someone you should trust to take care of your child. If you don't have a friend, or family, to do it by all means make sure that it is a vetted childcare person.  No, the direct tv man is not a suitable candidate.  I know a woman who left her 8 month old with the direct tv man for over an hour while she visited the neighbors.  The baby was asleep and the man was there, go figure.  Common sense? no.   The law in Montana allows for us to leave our child alone at an age we think they are ready, we are to use common sense.  No, the woman didn't leave the baby alone but when did direct tv have to check background for registered offenders?  was the child with a pedophile for an hour?  did she pay him for taking care of her child? What if the house burned down did he even know the child was there? I digress.

When is you child old enough to be left alone?  I heard of a woman recently asking around the baseball field if anyone knew how old her kids had to be to be left alone?  She was heard to have said she thought a 6 years olds could be left alone.  Really is that a common sense reality?  Most people suggest that 12 or 13 is the age when a child can be left alone.  Are they old enough to be alone by themselves? sometimes.  With an other child to care for? sometimes.  Is 13 the age? sometimes.  15, sometimes.  18? sadly they are legal but sometimes they are not old enough to be left alone.  Is your child trained up to be responsible?  Have they ever been taught to have the skills to be alone.  Do they have the ability to take care of other children, one hour? an afternoon? a day? No, you can not leave your 12 year old alone for a week.  Is your child anxious about being left alone?  Does leaving them alone cause them fear? Depression? Do they misuse their alone time, do or will they bring friends in and do things they aren't allowed to?  Do they know how to cook?  do you want them to cook?  Is your child a victim of Murphy's law?  Do you have a back up, a safety measure if they need help or someone that will check in to see how things are going?  Do they need these measures?

In third world country's children are quite often responsible for younger children, at unheard of ages, a nine year might be the soul caregiver of a 1 year old in Africa but in this country if your nine year old is taking care of your 1 year old for hours on end you will eventually get a visit from CPS and law enforcement, no your child is not ready to give that kind of care.  Yes, you may have the most responsible 9 year old that ever existed but no your child is not ready to babysit a one year old for extended time periods daily.  Common sense is a subjective thing but it is something that is a part of the law, and in reality it is the best way to decide when a child is really ready to be alone. The problem with common sense is that sometimes people, in general, and parents, in particular, don't have any and that is when the law has to step in and say, No, your six year, your nine year old and most certainly your 8 month old are not ready to be left alone to take care of themselves.  A child's childhood is so short let them have time to be a secure, well rounded and safe, they will know, with your guidance, when it is the right time for them to be alone.  They will know when peer pressure won't get the best of them, when they are ready to be alone and ready, if ever, to take care of younger kids. It is just one step on their way to adulthood like anything it has to be in the right time for them and not about the convenience it might be for you to leave them alone... tomorrow.