How Old Do Wisconsin Kids Have To Be To Legally Be Home Alone?

Are we leaving the kiddos home alone this summer?

Remember the summers that you were home alone as a kid? Maybe you were running around the neighborhood with your friends or maybe your parents gave you a curfew to get home by. My summers home alone were spent binge-watching old-school MTV with my friend across the street.

Several states, like Illinois, require kids to be a certain age before you leave them home alone. But other states, like Iowa and Wisconsin, give you a bit more freedom with it.

Wisconsin State Law Library says there's no specific legal age that a kid can be home alone but...responsibility falls on the guardians. If something happens that proves you left the child in a dangerous situation, you could get nailed with Child Neglect or Abandonment.

There are several questions you should ask yourself and your kid, according to the City of Madison, like:

• Physical readiness (can your kid lock/unlock doors, do basic tasks like fixing a sandwich, etc)
• Mental readiness (can the kid tell time, understand what 'stranger' and 'emergency' mean and what to do in those situations, etc)
• Social readiness (can they solve sibling conflicts on their own, easily talk to you, feel confident to talk to an adult if something happens, etc)
• Emotional readiness (are they comfortable with being home alone, do they know how to handle things like fear, know responsibilities when it comes to siblings)

Of course, authorities remind you to consider things like the safety of your neighborhood before you leave your kiddos home alone.