cac0fae8c8f092b7d7e32f10d5d4e9c220d2969b My Health Is My Life: Risks Faced By Latchkey Children

Risks Faced By Latchkey Children

By Carol Thomas


Parents are often constrained by income reasons, mental illnesses and work reasons to leave their children home alone without parental guidance. Kids who are left without adult supervision are susceptible to picking up bad habits from random people and hanging around persons with adverse influence. These children are those left to look after themselves on regular basis for extended periods of time are referred to as latchkey children.

Kids who have to look after themselves after school hours because their parents are too busy are commonly known as latchkey kids. At times such young individuals are compelled to remain in public libraries to kill time before their guardians get home or pick them up. In America the term is used to describe members of the famous generation X who went through the most significant youth years with the least parental guidance and least nurturing from guardians. Divorce and maternal involvement in the work force are the most common reasons for lack of enough parenting time.

Less parenting time poses many adverse effects to individuals who go through this phase. Effects range from loneliness, fear, low self esteem and boredom. During adolescence, young persons become more susceptible to peer pressure, drug abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior and alcohol abuse. These kinds of behavior creep in due to hostility that develops due to the lack of adequate parental attention, peer pressure to rebel and excess unused energy.

Time alone spent by children has to have some negative and positive effects. These kids encounter numerous challenges when their parents are too busy fighting or working. The unsupervised time exposes children to a lot of negative activities. Prolonged periods of screen time affect kids behavior and attitude to the society. High percentages of kids performing poorly in schools consist of these kind of kids. Additionally, statistics have recurrently exhibited that most kids who engage in child abuse are those with minimal adult supervision.

There are negative and positive effects of being a latchkey kid. Negative effects include exhibition of fear, isolation, low self esteem and hostility. Latchkey kids usually have higher probability of engaging in unsafe practices such as substance abuse and criminal activities. Kids pick up such habits from friends they stay around when parents are away and even from the extended periods of watching television programs.

Leaving kids to deal with limited guardian time and attention comes along with multiple legal issues. Law enforcement, child welfare and child protection services have the duty to ensure that kids are well accounted for. The age of the child is the most viable consideration to determine whether they can be legally left alone without supervision.

Not all consequences for unsupervised kids are negative. Some kids come out of the situation with better life skills than others. Due to the extended periods of extended periods some children develop the sense of independence and the zeal to provide for certain tangible needs in the household. Children sometimes grow out of the inadequate parental time and become responsible and accountable individuals in the society.

In conclusion, the existence of such children is more rampant in the modern day due to cases of divorced and maternal employment. Therefore it is advisable to consider the legal clauses that are laid down for the accountability of kids who are left alone often without enough parental guidance.




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