After School

Here are some steps that you and your child can take to help ensure a positive after-school experience and some decisions to make before allowing your child to go home alone.

Should Your Children Be Left Home Alone?

• Determine if there are community organizations providing after-school programs.
• Ask your children how they feel about being alone.
• Determine if your children have the maturity and initiative to assume the responsibility of being home alone.
• Decide how long your children will be alone, how accessible you or another trusted adult will be in case of an emergency and how safe the neighborhood is.
• Make sure you've set specific rules that your children are to follow while they're alone.
• Provide specific instructions on how to reach you and another trusted adult at all times.
• Remind your children that you're in charge, even if it is from a distance.

What Should Your Children Know?

• Know their full name, address, and telephone number.
• Know your full name, the exact name of the place where you work, your work telephone number, and mobile phone number.
• Don't walk or play alone on the way home, and never take shortcuts home.
• Stay away from bodies of water, unless they are with an adult.
• Always check out the house when entering. If something doesn't look or seem right, go to a safe place to call for help.
• Always lock the door after entering and make sure that the house is secure.
• Immediately check in with you upon returning home to let you know that they have arrived safely.
• Tell callers that you can't come to the telephone instead of letting people know that they are home alone and offer to take a message.
• Don't open the door for, or talk to anyone who comes to the home unless the person is a trusted family friend or relative, and the visit has been pre-approved by you.
• Know how to make an emergency telephone call to request help.

What Should Parents Provide?

Here is what you should provide your child with before allowing them to go home alone.

• A daily schedule of homework, chores, and the activities for your children to follow.
• A list near the telephone that includes numbers for you, the police, the fire department, an ambulance service, your doctor, a poison control-center, and a trusted adult who's available in case of emergency.
• A plan if you are detained and what to do if your children's plans change.
• Instructions about watching television, using a computer and household appliances, talking on the telephone, and inviting friends over.

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