Would you leave your 7 yo?

[GladysK]

I live in a very small town. The kids who live in the immediate vicinity of the Library, go ride their bikes there all the time.It's a safe place to go,IF the librarian knows who you are. But 7 does seem too young.

 

[Snowysmom]

I am constantly amazed at how many young children are left alone in the library I work at ( and the one I used to work at.) Parents need to realize that these are public places where things can happen to their children. The staff cannot watch each and every child. Some days we close at 5 pm and many times there are children waiting outside for rides and they have no idea when their parents are going to show up. A staff member stays until the parents come but the is not fair to the staff member who wants to go home. From what I understand, chlidren under 12 are not supposed to be left without an adult in my area but many parents do it any way. At the other library where I used to work, if the library closed and there were children left without adults, we called the police and let them handle it from there.

 

[shamrock bunch]

I agree w/ everyone's comments so far. It sounds to me that the parents didn't want the child to be in the way at home, so they took her to the library. What a sad story. I never leave my kids side and they are 4 and 6. It's a shame there has to be signs put up about no babysitting.

 

[sharbear]

I have to agree with the majority opinion here, 7 is a little young to be left at the library.

When I was a kid, my mom used to drop me off at the library every Saturday. I was older probably about 10. We lived in a small town, my mom dropped me off and did her Saturday errands. I have fond memories of spending Saturdays at the library. The librarians all knew me and remembered me when I was an adult. I still love the library, and I can find a book all on my own. There is something about poking around a library, I can't explain.

 

[dizneenut]

I agree with everyone else. I have a 7 yo and there is NO WAY I would leave him alone at the library!!

 

[Tink42]

About a year ago, the library in my city had a sign up in the children's section asking parents to stay with their children in the library because they had problems with a person exposing himself. The children's section is downstairs and the adult section is upstairs. They didn't want you to leave them alone at all, not even if you were upstairs.

 

[allicat]

Here in NJ, a year or so ago, a young boy(around 4) was left in the library kids section while his teenaged sister was in another area. The boy was led out of the library by a 10 year boy,molested and killed.
It only takes a second for the unthinkable to happen.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

Can you be too careful when trying to keep your children safe? I think the answer is NO! "It takes a village"....but your local library isn't there for free daycare. A 13 year old girl was abducted in front of our library (in Idaho) 2 years ago while waiting for her mom to pick her up. Now our library has a security guard by the front door.

Maybe posting a sign as you walk in to the library would be a good idea.

TTFN!