How Old Does A Child Have To Be To Stay Home Alone In New Mexico?

How Old Were You The First Time You Stayed Home?

I remember the first time I was allowed to be at home without any adult supervision and I was definitely NOT old enough but if I would have been living in New Mexico at the time, I would have been fine. Unless I was living in Albuquerque, then my dad would have been in some trouble.

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New Mexico is one of 36 states that actually doesn't have ANY statewide laws about what age your kids can be home alone. Now just because the state of New Mexico itself doesn't specify, that doesn't mean there are no laws about it at all.

Home Alone In Albuquerque

See, New Mexico gives its cities the power to decide these things for themselves. Meaning instead of one statewide rule about it, each separate city determines the age so it can change depending on where you live.

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Albuquerque, for example, says you cant leave your kids home alone if they're 10 years old or younger. Anything over 11 is fair game!

Just Be Smart About It

Honestly, I stayed home alone a lot as a kid. My parents both worked full time jobs in factories when I was growing up so I kind of had no choice, especially when we couldn't find a baby sitter.

Ultimately, parents know their children pretty well and if you know you've taught your kids how to be safe at home, then it might not be as big a deal to leave your kids home for a couple hours now and then.

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I was about 8 years old when I started staying home by myself but I knew how to make simple meals, use the microwave, and safely clean up things like broken glass if I ever dropped something that could break.

As long as you have done the work to make sure your little ones are using common sense when at home, an hour or two on their own might not be such a big deal. Especially with the internet. You're gonna leave and find those kids in the exact same position you found 'em when you left!

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