How old were your kids when they stopped going to daycare?

[Jumpem]

Around 11 or 12? Did they stay home alone during the summer and school breaks as well?

 

[TwiceOver]

Depends how you define "Daycare". My son is 6, he started kindergarten last year half days and then went to the Boys and Girls Club after that. He went there all summer also. I don't really consider this "Daycare".

Here is South Dakota the minimum age a child can stay home alone is 12.

 

[Jumpem]

Twelve seems to the age that I am hearing. It seems a little on the old side to me.

When I was a kid I think we were home alone around age seven. A little older and I was running through the fields and woods a half mile to my Gramma and cousins houses. By twelve I was working and paying taxes.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

My 7 year old daughter was at daycare until she started TK (transitional kindergarten ~ 5 yrs old). After her class, she would go to a program called Access for a few hours before we could pick her up after work.

 

[Jumpem]

My 7 year old daughter was at daycare until she started TK (transitional kindergarten ~ 5 yrs old). After her class, she would go to a program called Access for a few hours before we could pick her up after work.

What did she do over the summer and when school was closed for the day?

 

[HumblePie]

By 7ish I was no longer in "care" of anything other than school or parents. Basically I and my 5 year old brother by the time I was 7 were "latch key" kids as I remember the description. Then again we were military kids living on base.

Not sure how well that is going to pan out for my kids though.

 

[OverVolt]

When I ran out of money for it

 

[thestrangebrew1]

What did she do over the summer and when school was closed for the day?

Summer or when closed for the day, she would stay at her aunt's and hangout with her cousins. Not usually an option for most people I'd imagine.

 

[Homerboy]

Mine never went.
Stay at home mom.

 

[ControlD]

12 for my daughter.

 

[mike8675309]

Wife stayed home with ours and ran a daycare until ours were in Highschool.
Mom stayed home with my brother and I until our parents divorced, then baby sitters/daycare until about 12 years old aka 7th grade. Then we became "latchkey" kids.
That said my dad was driving pickup and tractors on the farm when he was 7 in rural South Dakota.

 

[Chapbass]

I was a weird case because my "daycare" was my best friends house (my mom paid his mom for babysitting ever since I was 4). Being an only child with zero kids even close to my age on the block, I ended up going to his house all the time anyway. That said, I remember being roughly 9-10 years old when I had a lot more free reign to stay home or do whatever regardless of whether my rents were home or not.

 

[Jumpem]

Summer or when closed for the day, she would stay at her aunt's and hangout with her cousins. Not usually an option for most people I'd imagine.

Yeah, I have no relatives nearby that could watch them.

 

[Printer Bandit]

why do you pay oher people to look after your kids? isn't that the job of a parent?

 

[Jumpem]

why do you pay oher people to look after your kids? isn't that the job of a parent?

Because houses, safe cars, groceries, and doctors expensive. My wife make more than day care costs.

It is also very good for the kids to develop socially in an environment with other children. Children that are never away from their mother tend to have problems adjusting to school and interacting with other kids.

 

[bbhaag]

Our oldest stop going to extended after school care around fith grade. This year since our oldest is a freshmen in hs we decided to let our youngest(nine yo)ride the bus home since Trent would be home before he got off the bus.

So far it has worked out great and my wife and sure don't miss those extra costs of having a child in daycare/after school care.

 

[JEDIYoda]

My kids all had jobs before they could go to school!! Gotta start em young these days!!