Comments on: 5-Minute Courage Workout: Home Alone http://www.lionswhiskers.com/2011/04/5-minute-courage-workout-home-alone.html A parenting coach and a children's book author discuss raising their kids to have courage for the challenges on the path ahead Tue, 02 Jun 2015 06:55:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8 By: Lisa Dungate http://www.lionswhiskers.com/2011/04/5-minute-courage-workout-home-alone.html#comment-102 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:54:00 +0000 http://www.lionswhiskers.com/?p=82#comment-102 Thank you so much "elsewhere" for your thoughtful research! We will also do some more digging. Living in B.C. with my own kids, before moving to Upstate New York, I knew of the home alone guideline and used that as a guide. However, when I moved to NYS and called the local police department here when my eleven year old wanted to stay home alone, I was told there was no such "law" or "guideline", but it was up to the discretion of the parent based on the maturity of the child. We hope readers will check the guidelines for their particular community, province or state; prepare their children to be safe and confident while home alone; and assess the maturity of their own child before leaving them home alone.

]]> By: elswhere http://www.lionswhiskers.com/2011/04/5-minute-courage-workout-home-alone.html#comment-101 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:40:00 +0000 http://www.lionswhiskers.com/?p=82#comment-101 Canadian websites have some contradictory information about legal ages for leaving children home alone; Citizenship and Immigration Canada specifies age 12, as you cite, but I've never read of this nationwide law in any other context. Child Safe Canada says there's no one specific law:
http://www.childsafecanada.com/faq.aspx
and the Canada Safety Council sponsors a "Home Alone" class for children aged 10 and up, which would seem to indicate that it's legal for children of this age to be home by themselves:
http://safety-council.org/safety/public-safety/children/home-alone-program/

I was concerned when I read this post, because we live in BC and have been letting our daughter stay home alone for short periods since she was 8. But it seems that in this case CIC may have their facts wrong.

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