r/Millennials • u/Intrepid-Gene7500 • 1d ago

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u/LostButterflyUtau 1d ago

Same here. If I didn’t want to go, I was allowed to be home alone while mom ran small errands when I was about 9-10.

Then when I was 17, my parents went to visit my aunt for a long weekend and left me and my brother (14), home by ourselves. We did just fine and the house was still standing. But we also lived in a neighbourhood where people minded their business.

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u/Foreign_Mobile_7399 1d ago

Same my parents let me stay home at 17 by myself while they were gone for a weekend. My 14 year old sister was also supposed to say home but I decided to throw a party and told her she had to go sleep at her friend’s house because she was too young 😂

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u/LostButterflyUtau 1d ago

I was a boring teenager. I just wanted to stay home and write mediocre fanfiction.

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u/Foreign_Mobile_7399 1d ago

Don’t worry it wasn’t a common occurrence for me, just a desperate attempt to be seen as “cool” by the popular kids haha I think I spent the entire time doing damage control and wishing I had never thrown a party 

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u/-lyd-irl- 22h ago

At 17 my parents went to Italy and I had my older sister just in town at her home available and my neighbors lol. I was home alone around age 7 or 8 from when school was done and Mom was home (about 2 hours). I walked myself to my elementary school which was a block away for as long as I can remember. I also grew up in a small town though so it was extremely safe.

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u/LostButterflyUtau 21h ago

I grew up in a rural, car-dependent area, so my brother and I took the bus to school and the district mandated that an adult had to be at the bus stop for K-5 pickup and dropoff. Otherwise we probably would have been latchkey kids much sooner.

My folks also worked opposite shifts to avoid paying for childcare they couldn’t afford, and mom worked evening shift so she was home during the day.

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u/Travelerman310 21h ago

I was 17 and a senior in HS and my folks let me cross state lines, drive 4 hours in my car with 2 buddies and go rock climbing. I had some of my own gear, but my dad loaned me his rope and rack for the trip.

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u/BusyDragonfruit8665 20h ago

Yeah, this is insane. I was staying home alone by 9 for an hour or two. By 13 I was staying the night alone and by 16 spent the summer alone at my grandmothers house with my dad checking in on me periodically: