Chủ Nhật, 22 tháng 5, 2016

Important Information Concerning Latch Key Children

By Carolyn Barnes


Many Americans lead extremely hectic lifestyles with loaded schedules that see them have little time for their families. One major effect of this development is the fact that these parents leave at home latch key children who are unsupervised and unattended by any adult especially after school, before or during the vacations. Some kids rarely see their parents because they leave for work very early at dawn and return home late when everybody is asleep. This term refers to those kids aged between five years old up to thirteen and usually takes care of themselves each day with little supervision.

Recent research has indicated that those kids who belong to higher income families are more likely to be left on their own by guardians compared to other type of families. The main reason is such parents are confident that the neighborhoods they reside in are safe and secure. They also fit their homes with good security systems that keep burglars and intruders away. Other families that leave children for long periods unattended are single parent homes.

Children left unattended often suffer from boredom, loneliness and fear. This occurs to those under the age of ten years. This is because they are often home alone for hours while parents are working. They often watch a lot of television to keep them busy and tend to neglect studies and homework. This negatively affects their studies and schoolwork. In addition, their social skills also diminish because they are used to being alone.

Teenagers react differently to being left unsupervised by guardians. They are prone to indulge in behaviors like smoking, drug abuse, theft, alcohol abuse and sexual promiscuity. Common reasons that lead to these acts are peer pressure, hostility, unspent energy and desire to seek attention. Teens who decide to hang out with their friends after school face higher risk of bad behaviors, acting out and getting into trouble.

Amazingly, some kids often left alone at home develop good skills and attributes that help them lead better lives. These include self-reliance, maturing early and quickly adapting to difficulties and other hardships. Often they feel a sense of responsibility and help at home. They will take care of siblings, cook all meals, clean the home and get jobs.

Many of the parents prefer to leave kids hanging out in public libraries as they wait for them to leave work in the evening. This leaves the children spending a lot of time in these public buildings. Yet other guardians prefer to hire babysitters. However, leaving them home alone is better.

Legal issues surrounding latchkey kids defer from state to state in terms of the minimum age for leaving them unsupervised. Each state has set own limits while others have not specified. However, any harm that befalls one due to negligence will attract the attention of law enforcement and child welfare organizations.

A better solution would be to enroll latchkey kids into after school programs or encourage them to engage in extracurricular activities and games. Many communities offer calling programs that check in on any kid who is home alone by calling them.




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