Sunday, October 9, 2016

Risks Faced By Latchkey Children

By Carol Thomas


During the World War 2 women were compelled to toil and men were deployed hence their kids would come to empty homes. Kids of young ages, between the age of five and thirteen were forced to spend extended hours of time alone without adult attention and supervision. Latchkey children are usually compelled in compromising situations, and thus have no choice but to tend to themselves for school and after school.

The phenomenon has spread since the prolonged World War 2 when men had no option but to go to war and women were left to fend for the household. Children used to return to empty houses from school and spent long periods of time under self care. Latchkey kids rarely spend any time with their parents for some reasons which mostly are inevitable.

After school when kids are alone with no adult to account for their actions, they tend to engage themselves in irresponsible behavior. Income is a factor that increases the number of kids with such conditions. Both parents with a high and low income choose to leave their kids under self care. Most times it is because parents cannot trust anyone else to look after their kids or because the available care options are too expensive or they believe teen siblings can responsibly account for their young ones.

However, there are some kids who develop positive behavior and character for lack of adequate parental attention. Some of the positive effects are premature awareness of independence, adaptation to adverse situations and the need to fulfill certain visible requirements in the household. Most latchkey kids develop a sense of self reliance and they are likely to display more maturity than normal kids of their age.

Research conducted not so long ago showed that kids who spend more time under self care have higher chances of experimenting with drugs. Additionally, latchkey kids who spend after school periods with friends rather than going home are more susceptible to peer pressure which subsequently leads to drug abuse, irresponsible sexual engagements, alcohol abuse and crime. It is therefore necessary for parents to account for whatever activities their kids engage in when after school.

Unsupervised periods without guardians supervision makes children opt to remain in public areas or have fun with friends. Such practices make kids more vulnerable to criminal occurrences such as kidnapping and rape when parents stay past the closing time without picking up their kids from public spots. Divorce and single parented households are the most fundamental causes for the multiple latchkey youths in the society.

Numerous circumstances can bring about a latchkey situation. These factors include increased divorce cases, additional destitute families, and struggle for inadequate day care services. Sometimes children are bound to be left alone without adult supervision on the grounds of social cultural factors in the sense that it is not reasonable to stay home and look after the kids instead for earning an income.

Lastly, the culture of opting for self care as the only best alternative for kids is based on numerous considerations. Before settling for self care, guardians weigh between affective factors such as income, safety and age of the kids before deciding they have no alternative aside from self care. It is advisable to look out for the legal concerns that are associated with leaving kids under self care.




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