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| Thu, 08-23-2007 - 3:16am |
Here's the deal. I am going to be going away for the weekend in November, dh will also be away at the same time. Tonight we were talking about it and I said my nephew would probably be willing to stay with the kids. My SIL said that we should leave them alone for the weekend, after all Kelsie will be going to college next year, she is 17.
I just never thought about it. Kelsie is 17 and is pretty responsible, I really don't think she would have anyone over that shouldn't be in the house. I know that Jaryd would let me know if she did. Jaryd is 15 and is a good kid and I wouldn't see any reason not to trust him. But are they really old enough at 15 and 17 to stay from Friday until Sunday alone.
Here is what we have: both are good kids, pretty responsible
neither drink
neither smoke
they know the rules about not having friends in when we aren't home
my brother and SIL live about 1/2 mile from us
they know how to cook for themselves
BUT
have never stayed alone before
they do get into some fights, nothing terrible, just yelling matches
Oh and our next door neighbor is a cop.
What do y'all think?
I haven't talked to dh yet about it, so I don't know what his thoughts are. Just thought I would put it out there for some opinions and thoughts.
TIA,
Kristie


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Going to keep my response simple here...
It might actually be better during the school year and during the week because they will be very busy with school and activities.... less time to get into difficulties!!! LOL!!!
I tend to be a parent who does not hover over my children... no one would ever accuse me of being overprotective! I am working hard to teach them to be responsible for themselves. Years ago a 16 yr old would have been considered an adult. I am not suggesting we do that again, but I do believe we often encourage our children to stay children too long......
I haven't made up my mind yet about what I will do....
hope it helps somewhat...
i suggest they have an adult in the house for the weekend ur gone to set boundries and that they're not being mischievous
If you trust them I would say to leave them. I stayed home alone at 16 when my parents went on vacation. I got to school, cooked, cleaned and cared for out pets (dog and several cats). My parents called every night to see if I was ok and I knew the phone number of where they were in case I needed them. There was never any issues and or trouble.
My parents knew they could trust me to be responsible and I knew who to call if I needed something. After all, your 17 will be in college soon and if she goes away will be faced with lots of adult decisions. I am sure she can handle 3 days alone.
Well....we left DS17 alone for a weekend a year ago. He'd never gotten into any trouble prior to that. That was the Friday he drank before a football game and, four days later, ended up getting suspended from school for 5 days for having admitted to doing that. We called him and talked to him while he was at the location they were drinking before the game, and he sounded just fine...we thought all was fine. We later called him when he was at the game and he sounded just fine. Nevertheless, he got in big trouble for having drunk a little alcohol that Friday night.
Then, on that Saturday, he called us to see if he had to stay at his friend's house that Saturday night, couldn't he just stay at home and sleep in his own bed? Later we found out that he had a whole group of friends over to watch a college football game. DS is and introvert and knowing our rules, would not invite a whole gang over, but he has friends who would not hesitate to say, "Hey, no one's home at X's house, let's go there." Our guess is that they did more than just watch the football game, and they would've liked to have an all-night party but we spoiled their night by requiring that he stay at the friend's home, as originally planned. We never found out exactly what went on that afternoon/night at our house, but I know someday we will find that it was as we suspect--not all clean fun.
Our neighbor who knows all the cops was gone that weekend. We did not ask another neighbor to keep watch cuz we thought DS was staying with a friend. That friend's parents trusted them and did not know kids were at our house on Saturday. With the better surveillance you have planned, and with a younger sibling around, all could go well. But if you have any doubt, have your nephew stay with them.
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http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/meet_the_new_health_.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTBYQlQ7yM
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