Would you leave your 12-year old alone in hotel room?

[Scrappy_Tink]

For our next trip to WDW, DD will be 13 & older DS will be 12.

We plan to stay at the Contemporary, & DH & I are talking about having our 1st ever "date night" in Disney World. We'd like to leave the kids in our hotel room & have dinner at the California Grill.

DD & older DS stay home by themselves w/ younger DS (who will be 4) when I run errands. I'm not worried at all about DD & older DS, but I am a tad bit worried about leaving younger DS w/ them in the hotel room because I don't know how obedient he'll be for them. I could see him jumping on the bed & falling & cracking his head on the nightstand.

However, I'm not worried about their safety/security - especially since we'd be eating at the resort & they'd have a cell phone. (And we'd tell them to stay in the room.)

So, in your case, no, I wouldn't hesitate at all to leave my 12 year old DD in the room.

You're lucky!! While I'd trust one of my sons at that age, i would NEVER trust the two of them alone together. Too many shenanigans and fighting for my two boys at that age! I'm with you about not wanting to leave the younger one with them, most famous 3 year-old comment to older siblings...."You're not my boss!"

 

[dis-happy]

Yes. We left my 12 yr old alone in the room while my dh and I ran the 1/2 marathon. He's a Boy Scout, trained in First Aid and aware of basic safety rules. I had no qualms about leaving him. He did have a cell phone and we had ours just in case there was a problem.

 

[jahber]

I would add that she should be sure to put the chain or deadbolt on. A man walked into our room the last time we stayed in a hotel. Apparently his key card was accidentally coded to our room. He was pretty flustered and walked out immediately, but whoa!

I'm not saying this or any other bad thing WOULD happen, it's just something that I would worry about now that I know it's possible. Fwiw, I say go for it. It might be an exciting "grown-up" kind of experience for your daughter!

 

[Bob NC]

Yes.

 

[cornflake]

I would not be comfortable leaving a child of 12 in a hotel room alone.
what if there was a fire drill or she was scared or she decided to leave the room of her own accord?

even though she maybe sensible and reliable ordinarily, you never know..

If a normal 12-year-old didn't know that 'leave' would be a good response to a fire drill, or to take the key if she decided to leave the room to go down to the lobby or whatever, I'd have other problems.

Wouldn't think twice.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Since you consider her responsible then yes.

I will have to reinterate the "don't fall asleep with the deadbolt on so you can get back in the room".

I had to take older dd to the hospital while younger dd stayed in a hotel room with our 2 big dogs. Yep. Had no choice and she was around 12 at the time. (this was not a WDW)

Anyway she feel asleep and we were at the door trying to get her up. She had a cell phone, but that did not help since she was sound asleep.

The stinking dogs refused to wake her up. I think we waited an hour before she finally heard the cell phone and then got up and let us in.

 

[Swimnoid]

I think she is old enough...well, dont know her but if you think she would be fine, she will be.

However, other side of the coin...will she resent it? Mom and Dad get to go out on a special date, siblings get to go to a special program and she is stuck in the room. My DD would have hated that. Yours may be thrilled to be away from her siblings!

 

[wdw4rfam]

I would totally and I consider myself an over protective parent. She will be in a LOCKED room where she can even put the extra lock on that even resort employees can't get in. As long ad she is comfortable with it, I'd say absolutely.

 

[Erin1700]

I think she is old enough...well, dont know her but if you think she would be fine, she will be.

However, other side of the coin...will she resent it? Mom and Dad get to go out on a special date, siblings get to go to a special program and she is stuck in the room. My DD would have hated that. Yours may be thrilled to be away from her siblings!

This is what I was thinking. My DD12 could stay in the hotel room alone but would not enjoy it on vacation!

 

[goofyintoronto]

I think she is old enough...well, dont know her but if you think she would be fine, she will be.

However, other side of the coin...will she resent it? Mom and Dad get to go out on a special date, siblings get to go to a special program and she is stuck in the room. My DD would have hated that. Yours may be thrilled to be away from her siblings!

Good point! id try to either get her into neverland with her siblings, or get a sitter in the room to watch all 3. if you have no other choice, then i agree with the others that its ok to leave her alone in the room. she is old enough. I have a DS12, i leave him alone for short periods.

Sent from my Galaxy SII

 

[gardenia]

You're traveling to a different city in a different state to a resort cram packed with strangers and you want to have a date and leave your 12-year old, who (I guarantee) has the mind of a child, alone. I say No. I would not, ever. What if someone knocks on the door and says they're a manager? What if the fire alarm goes off? What if your child decides (despite what you have told them) they can sneak down to the vending machine, but they forget to take a key? What if, what if? Just because it's Disney doesn't make it safe.

 

[kidzmom3]

I would do it, but you need to go over safety procedures. Our local middle school used to go to DC every year. One year a man knocked on the hotel room door, called the girl who answered by name and said there was an emergency and she needed to come. You guessed it, he assaulted her. 3 other girls let her go because he was a "hotel employee".

A frank talk and safety procedures in place that she is comfortable with and understands. I would do it.

 

[happygirl]

What are Fl laws about leaving children alone?

 

[horseshowmom]

You're traveling to a different city in a different state to a resort cram packed with strangers and you want to have a date and leave your 12-year old, who (I guarantee) has the mind of a child, alone. I say No. I would not, ever. What if someone knocks on the door and says they're a manager? What if the fire alarm goes off? What if your child decides (despite what you have told them) they can sneak down to the vending machine, but they forget to take a key? What if, what if? Just because it's Disney doesn't make it safe.

I think this comes down to knowing your child. I can guarantee you (yes, I said guarantee) that my daughter would not have opened the door to anybody without talking to me on the cell phone first. Further, she would not have sneaked down to a vending machine. She was well aware of the dangers of the world.

OTOH, she would have enjoyed watching a movie with some nice snacks and hanging out on her own for a little while.

Regarding emergencies, she and I always discussed everything like that ahead of time. She would have been aware of what to do (not to use elevators, where the stairs were, etc.) and would have contacted me by phone immediately.

She should be fine for a couple of hours.

 

[horseshowmom]

What are Fl laws about leaving children alone?

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/childwelfare/caregivers/whentoleaveyourkidshomealone.shtml

According to this, no set age, but it does reference the age of 12 as being acceptable (per the National SAFE KIDSCampaign).

 

[zurgswife]

I did it and left all the kids together. We did have ressies at the same hotel and they had walkie talkies that reached the restaurant. We tested....before cell phones were something everyone had.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I would feel comfortable if we were eating dinner at the same resort, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable going to a different resort--unless it was something like staying at Beach club, but going to a restaurant at the Boardwalk...I might even be comfortable enough staying at the Beach club, eating at one of the Epcot restaurants...my main criteria would be how fast can I WALK back to the hotel--not depending on transportation, possible traffic issues, etc.

 

[horseshowmom]

I did it and left all the kids together. We did have ressies at the same hotel and they had walkie talkies that reached the restaurant. We tested....before cell phones were something everyone had.

That's funny! That's what we used to do at horse shows. We had Motorola Talkabouts that we used. I wanted my daughter to have some freedom, but I also wanted to be sure we/she could make contact at any time.

 

[Micca]

If the kid is cool with it, I would be too.

 

[Robbi]

I think she is old enough...well, dont know her but if you think she would be fine, she will be.

However, other side of the coin...will she resent it? Mom and Dad get to go out on a special date, siblings get to go to a special program and she is stuck in the room. My DD would have hated that. Yours may be thrilled to be away from her siblings!

I don't know about the OP's daughter but I would have loved time to myself away from my younger brothers on vacation.

OP, you know your daughter best. If you and your husband feel she can handle, then she's fine. At 12, I was babysitting and I mean baby. My mom had my younger brother and went back to work 2 weeks later. It was summertime, so I babysat.