Oklahoma has "guidelines" but there are no laws

[MamaMia]

According to what I was told by a friend who use to work for the Oklahoma child welfare office, the guideline for a child to be left alone is 12 years old, as long as they are mature, an adult is near by and its for no more than a couple of hours. There is no law about how old a child has to be before they can babysit. I suppose I can see Child Welfares division of the DHS's point in that there are a lot of 14 year old children, and even older, who are too immature to be left alone to tend to a hamster.

Whats confusing about their guideline is that when that guideline is followed but ends up with dead or injured children, then the parents go to jail.

My daughters were not allowed to babysit until they were 14 and then only in our own neighborhood where I was within running distance. I didn't allow them to babysit infants and toddlers until they were 16.

What is it with all these parents who leave their young children with 11 and 12 year old babysitters? A lot can happen in 15 minutes.

[oumartin]

my soon to be 12 year old son takes very good care of his 5 year old brother. they both know that when they are there alone they best sit on their rears and play nice. of course my 5 year old is more mature than most teens when it comes to this.

[MamaMia]

my soon to be 12 year old son takes very good care of his 5 year old brother. they both know that when they are there alone they best sit on their rears and play nice. of course my 5 year old is more mature than most teens when it comes to this. People, especially children, panic in emergency situations, so I'm guessing that you don't leave your children alone for long and not without having an adult close by.

[yermom]

we got in lots of trouble like that when i was a kid :O

and there weren't even cell phones back then :eek:

[oumartin]

no more than 12 hours. :D