All Parents of mature 16.5 year olds please help me out here

Question

My son is 16.5 years old and my husband and I have to leave the state on biz forabout 8 weeks. I have to good friends wanting to help out with him. One will check on him every day and make sure he gets to and from school and the other will check with him every evening and make sure he has food in the home at all times and is available for any emergenecy that may arise. He is in our home with the supervision and access to adults at any time, should we give him the chance to stay home and become even more independent then he is now. I trust him and he is far older then his age in any situation but I am just not sure. Like I said he has acces to an adult 24/7 if he needs it. Should I let him do it?

Answer 1

dunt leave him alone....... he'll do something bad for sure.....  

Answer 2

I would definitely give him that opportunity! it sounds like he is up for the challenge, and you know your son more than any of us do! One thing I would be sure of, is the person who comes over at nights, comes over at different times so he never quite expects her...  It will teach him he has to clean up, prepare meals, and do everything on his own, while having someone there for him! IF something goes wrong, just have him stay with a close friend/relative.  

Answer 3

Even though you do trust him and he is responsible you should have someone stay with him, like a family member or close friend to the family.

You are going to be gone quite a while and sometime a phone call just isnt enough.

I would either arrange for him to go with you, get someone to stay with him, or let him stay with a family member for the time being.  

Answer 4

I think that on this one you should fall back and use this as a test to see if he knows to do the write thing, But i also think you should have someone check up on him like every two days to see if he is safe, if there is food, etc. Also he is a teen so there is a good chance he will do teen things such as inviting some Friends over.

Answer 5

8 weeks is way too long, that's 2 months! I would say a week at most but 2 months is ridiculous. I mean, I moved out at 17 but I was nowhere near ready. If he's in school I'd say not for this long. 10 days would be the maximum I would leave my 16.5 year old alone and I'd realllllly have to trust him.

Answer 6

I have a mature daughter that age and I wouldn't leave her that long alone.  Thats a long time.  Can he stay at a friends for part of that time?  Thats giving him a lot of responsibility.  I mean what if something

( God forbid) happend to the house.   Or he has people over without you being there and something would happen to one of them, its your home and you would be responsible.    

I honestly dont' think 8 weeks straight is a good idea.  Its your call though LOL.   What are the laws on that anyway?  How old can they be left like that for that long.

Have fun.,

Answer 7

If you feel that he'd be fine then I don't see why you wouldn't leave him. You trust him, and that's the only thing that matters, we don't know him, you do. Do you feel like he'd be ok there for that long? Has he ever shown you that he can make the right decision under stress?

My best advice would be to actually sit down and talk to him. Find out how he feels about the situation. Because he may not want to stay by himself for that long.

From personal experience, if he stays home and plays computer games most of the time now, you don't really have anything to worry about, it'll be the same exact thing when you're not there.

Good luck and I hope you figure out what you're going to do.

Answer 8

If it was for a week I could see letting him stay alone with someone checking up on him. For a whole 2 months that is really pushing it. He will get more comfortable as time goes on with y'all not being there. And 16 is the time of peer pressure if his friends aren't as mature there will definitely be some partying or something.

Answer 9

ok, I'm not a parent, but from what u r saying, YES, I think you should let him do it.

For one thing it's not his fault u guys are gonna be gone 4 so long so to make him stay somewhere else or have somebody stay at the house (unless HE  picks the person) is totally unfair. I would NOT want to have to sleep on a couch somewhere or have a non fam stay with me for THAT long. Uh uh. Noooooo.

He's gonna be fine! He's got a cell, ppl checking up on him, all that. Dont worry. Just enjoy your vacay or whatever.

=)

Answer 10

party baby

Answer 11

He might be mature, however, there are others he knows who are not. I would be careful of leaving him alone like that.

Answer 12

What a difficult delimma you are facing...but as the parent of a very mature 17 year old girl..there is no way I would leave her alone for 8 weeks...that is a recipe for disaster...find someone your son can stay with. A Close Friend, Grandparent, Aunt, Uncle? Do Not leave him by himself in your home. NOOO!  NO WAY!

Answer 13

Eight weeks is too long to leave a minor alone, no matter how mature he is.  Can he stay with grandparents? Aunt? Uncle?

PS: Why do both you and your husband have to leave? Can't one of you just go? Or just alternate the weeks you're gone?

Answer 14

no. this line " I have to leave the state on biz forabout 8 weeks" is complete bullshyte.

no parent leaves their children alone for 2 months.

Answer 15

he is at the age where he needs to learn some responsibility and being at home this time will do that...it's good that you have people to look after him but i think that if he is mature and you feel you can trust him then go on the trip...we leave our 16 yr old at home and she does just fine...good luck

Answer 16

No, he should have someone spend the night with him every night, like a grandparent or family member. It is not a matter of distrust but safety.  

Answer 17

Chill out, you're overprotective, he doesn't need 2 persons checking him everyday, he's almost 17, you need to show him that you trust him.

Answer 18

well. if you say you trust him then...trust him......and if all he does is play computergames.... i dont think much will change....and instead of getting like 10000 of ur friends to check up on him daily just call a neighbor to make sure he doesent throw any parties