“Latchkey” children:
- Are those who must stay at home alone taking care of themselves for some part of the day
- Often feel lonely, bored and scared
- Should have a clear understanding of why they must be left alone and what they may and may not do so that they have a decreased risk of injury and victimization
Promoting Self-Care Skills
- Parents should focus on setting rules and limits, increasing levels of responsibility and communicating basic safety information. Discuss the routines they are to follow — household chores, pets to tend, homework, family policies on visiting friends or having friends visit them and what to do when the phone or doorbell rings.
- Parents are encouraged to teach their children:
- To memorize their name and address, including city and state
- To memorize their phone number, including area code
- To use the phone to make emergency calls when needed
- To check in with you, a neighbor, or other trusted adult immediately after arriving home
- To never go into your home if there’s an open door or a broken window
- How to work your home’s door and window locks and to lock them when they are at home alone
- How to answer the doorbell and phone when they’re home alone
- Not to go into anyone else’s home without your permission
- To avoid walking or playing alone outside
- That a stranger is someone neither you nor they know well
- That if they feel they’re being followed, either on foot or by a car, to run to the nearest public place, neighbor or “safe house”
- To tell you if anyone asks them to keep a secret, offers them gifts or money or asks to take their picture
- To always tell you if something happened while they were away from you that made them feel uncomfortable in any way