I was the original commentor on that thread about the 12 year old age limit. I will leave my 11 year old home in charge of my 7 year old for an hour or two. My 11 year old is INCREDIBLY responsible. My 12 year old I will leave home alone ... but HATE to leave him in charge of anyone, or home alone with any of his brothers (including the older) because he picks fights and has poor impulse control. My 14 year old has been left in charge of his brothers on several occasions, with never a problem.
My husband and I both carry cell phones and our town is small == we are never more than a 5-7 minute drive away. And without fail the kids call it to ask permission for things exactly the same way that they would if I was at home eg "Can I have a cookie" "can I go on the computer" etc
My biggest deciding factor on when kids are ready to be left home alone is when THEY are ready and asking for the privilege. FOr some kids it might be 9 or 10, for some it might be 12 or 13.
In regards to our 12 year old, his counsellor is encouraging us to leave him home alone more often to increase his resiliancy for "alone time".
Anyways, I think SOME kids are perfectly capable of staying home alone for brief periods at 9. In our province there is no "minumum" age. And yes, I was babysitting for 8-10 hours at a time at the age of 11. Wow. hard to believe that now
