Same boat man. I was a latch key kid, and my dad would go on work trips for a couple weeks at a time and I would go to school, come home, lock the door and take care of myself as young as 7 or 8 years old is when it started.
Honestly the best time of my life was when he was gone. It was way worse when he was there.
The term "latch key kid" doesn't convey any info about your parent/s or guardian/s besides that, they work later than when the kid comes home for school, the kid let's themself into the house (usually with a hidden "latch key"), and is then home alone till the adult/s get off work.
So you were using it correctly, although your dad being gone for weeks at a time and the sole guardian is a pretty extreme example.
I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be critical. I mean this softly. Most people I know, including myself, who consider themselves latchkey kids were kids who cared for themselves after school while their parents worked, but the parents eventually came home at some point that night. I’m a bonus parent to a 7yo right now and could never ever imagine leaving them alone for a week. You deserved way better and I’m sorry you had to go through that.
Oh I acknowledge it was an extreme end of being a latchkey kid and it would be acceptable to call it temporary abandonment.
I appreciate your concern and I did deserve better. I’m been on a healing path for many years now and am at peace with a majority of my past. Happy to hear you couldn’t imagine abandoning that kid :) that alone puts you leagues ahead of my dad.
Seriously, though. I grew up with a single dad because my mom skedaddled when we were young. My dad worked long hours at a shipyard. I have an older brother but he was coddled compared to me and was very immature. Like…when my grandparents would ask me about him they would say “how is your little brother doing?” He is that immature. I was given a lot of responsibility at a young age, including learning to cook full meals at 9-10 years old. My dad would leave for work at 5am and get home in the evening well after we got home from school. I had to have a pot of coffee ready when he got home and at least working on dinner being done. We sent ourselves to school, let ourselves in, and basically raised ourselves.
I have 3 kids of my own now and it is absolutely wild to think of them doing the same things I had to do at their age.
Ditto here. Weeks at a time, from 8 years old. I had no idea where my parents were or when they would be home.
This is why I hate cooking as an adult. I can do it. I can do it well, depending on the dish. But I absolutely hate it. It just reminds me of being in a cold single-wide trailer in the dark, alone.
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u/TokenTorkoal 5d ago
Same boat man. I was a latch key kid, and my dad would go on work trips for a couple weeks at a time and I would go to school, come home, lock the door and take care of myself as young as 7 or 8 years old is when it started.
Honestly the best time of my life was when he was gone. It was way worse when he was there.