A mum has divided opinions online after sharing plans to leave her 16-year-old son at home while the rest of the family go on holiday. Explaining the predicament on internet forum Mumsnet, she wrote that her son will be 16 and a half years old next year and he does not want to join the family on their trip away, the Mirror reports.
Although she doesn't want her son to be left at home, she believes he will be able to manage just fine for the week. Asking for advice from fellow users, the mother wrote: "Dear son insists he doesn't want to go on holiday with us next year. He'll be 16 and a half.
"I don't want to leave him as I think it's too young. He's mature for 16 but doesn't cook (younger child and dear husband have food allergies so the adults cook), he knows how to make oven food like pizza/nuggets etc so wouldn't starve.
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She continued: "He'd be home alone as his sister will be at university and the last thing he wants is her coming back to 'babysit'. They get along ok but he wants a week of just being by himself with nobody else home.
"I'm not worried about him having parties etc, he's not yet into that scene and has had offers of going to parties but said they're not for him." She added that his friends are "always" around, so it won't bother her if they are around while they're away.
"Grandparents from both sides of the family live within 10 minute walking distance, aunts like 5 minute drive away and would pop in to check if he needs anything," she also mentioned. The main problem playing on the mother's mind was whether leaving him would feel neglectful.
"This is one of my main reasons for not knowing whether to allow it as it feels a bit neglectful but he says he's completely self sufficient when it comes to getting ready for school including doing his own lunch and washing his uniform so should be allowed to stay at home for the week and get himself to school every day," she wrote.
The Mumsnet community was divided over the post, with the mum's words sparking a debate among users. Some people brought up the amount of responsibility they had when they were 16 and the legal rights her son has.
"You do know that he is old enough to get married at 16, he will be fine." @Slowquickstep wrote. @SpinningFloppa added: "I lived on my own at that age."
Others couldn't quite imagine things going smoothly if they were to leave their child. @Muchtoomuchtodo commented: " I wouldn’t leave my 16 year old for a whole week but maybe yours is a bit more sensible and conscientious than mine!"
Some users simply predicted disaster. @LynetteScavo added: "He could be a father himself. Of course leave him alone I've never actually met a 16yo father. I have, however, met several 16yos who flooded the bath, forgot to lock the back door and the house was burgled, had a small gathering, which turned into an epic party and the police were called."
Another appeared to be holding on to some deep-seated resentment about a similar scenario. @Blix typed: "My parents left me home alone at 15. I resent to this day that they went on holiday without me. Some horrible kids from school found out and kept coming round. My grandparents lived nearby but I was scared to tell them. I wouldn't give him the choice but I would go after gcses."
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