Julie Gumm - Author

Home Alone

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So we’re reaching that point where I’m beginning to wonder if some of the kids are old enough to stay home alone for short periods of time.

Luke is 11 and Noah will be in another couple months. The girls (at 9.5 and almost 8) are still a bit young.

Plus I’m not sure I would trust the combination of the boys and the girls.

(Certain children should not be left alone with certain other children at this point lest they annoy each other to death. I’m not naming names.)

I’m not sure that either boy would necessarily WANT to be left home alone but I think the two of them together for say, a run to the store, might do okay. (I would take the girls with me.)

I try to think back to how old I was when I was first left home alone. I’m the baby of the family with 7 years between me and the oldest brother so I remember lots of times where I was home with one or both brothers.

On one such occasion a man called, I answered the phone, he proceeded to ask me a question or two (don’t remember what) but at the point he asked me what color my underwear were I screamed, hung up the phone and ran to my brother. Completely weirded out over that one. Then there was the time I stapled my finger and ran howling to Phil who calmly pulled the staple out of my thumb.

So I’m curious. How do you decide if your kids are old enough? I did some Googling (seriously, what did we do before the internet) and found this list from the American Academy of Pediatrics that shows the “most important factors in determining readiness to be home alone.”

  • Does he know her full name, address and phone number? Does he know your full name as well, and the address and phone number of how to reach you?
  • Does he have an established routine to follow so she knows what she is supposed to do and where he is supposed to be?
  • Can your child use the telephone correctly, particularly when calling you, a neighbor or emergency services (911)? Which neighbors are available quickly?
  • When he returns home from school every day, does your child know how to lock the door behind him? Can he remember to call you and/or a neighbor as soon as he arrives home, and then check in again at designated times?
  • Have you instructed your child never to enter your home if a door is ajar, or if a window is open or broken?
  • Have you talked about what to do if someone knocks at the front door while he is home alone? (The best advice: He should not open the door and should tell the person knocking that you are home but are busy and unable to answer the door.)
  • Have you and your child discussed how he should exit your home quickly in case of a fire? Does he know which exits are safest, depending on the location of the fire? Does he know what to do in case of an emergency or a tornado, and is he familiar with basic first aid (e.g. applying pressure to a cut?)
  • Rules for staying home alone should be written down and posted somewhere so there’s no confusion. Can friends come over? How much TV is allowed? Can he use the stove?

So those are “rules” and “guidelines” and that’s great, but how do you gauge your child’s maturity level which I think is what dictates how well they can make the head knowledge (of the stuff above) apply in a real-life situation?

Any ideas? Other than a test run of  really short time periods?

Hidden cameras?

The Baby Years: Baby Steps, Baby Boy

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Part 4 of our Debt-Free Story

So there we were in 1999 – both of us working, living in Dallas now and expecting our first child. We were making good money but it was going out as fast as it came in. We had no real savings and no real plan.

When Noah was born Mark had a job that involved a nearly hour long commute each way and it was during that time that he found Dave Ramsey’s radio show.

I would start to get these little tidbits of “Dave Ramsey says…” or “you should’ve heard this caller” each day. He began working on our budget and talking about the envelope system.

I, on the other hand, was knee deep in diapers and daycare and work and honestly don’t remember paying that much attention. Something about “baby steps” (not Noah’s) and paying off our debt. Sounded good to me. Thus a new budget was born and we began to make some progress on our debt with Mark leading the charge.

We moved back to Arizona the summer of 2000 and it was that fall that Mark dragged me to Financial Peace Live, Dave Ramsey’s live one day seminar that he does around the country. (Well, now they’re called Total Money Makeover Live but it’s the same thing.)

It was there that the light bulb went off for me and I was able to put together all the tidbits that Mark kept bringing home.

Honestly I don’t know how someone could attend one of Dave’s events and NOT come away totally excited and ready to tackle their financial issues.

We left there finally on the same page when it came to our financial future. We left there with THE BABY STEPS.

More next week………

P.S. If you live in Phoenix you need to get yourself to Total Money Makeover Life on Thursday, September 23rd.

Archives

Feeling Restless

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I spoke to Mark this afternoon and he arrived safely in Ethiopia, even getting a free upgrade for the last leg of his flight. Praise God for little blessings.

He is staying at the Bole Rock Hotel for the first few days until the rest of the team arrives. This is the same place we stayed for the second half of our Ethiopia trip to get the kids. He said its brought back all kinds of memories of our time there with them – playing soccer in the parking lot after the fitness gym patrons had left in the morning, watching the construction workers with their back-breaking work.

He, of course, had to have lunch at the hotel restaurant were they seriously have the best french fries we have EVER had anywhere. Nice and crispy!

I’m not sure if it’s because he’s off on another “adventure”, but I’m feeling particularly restless today.

Longing for a grand adventure of my own.

I’m not the adventurous type when it comes to things like skydiving, bungee jumping or that sort of thing. But I LOVE to travel. I think I always have. Well at least in my adult years. I have plenty of pictures of family vacations were I look pretty sullen (geez I hope I wasn’t as grumpy as I looked) but maybe it just took awhile for it to kick in.

When Mark and I went to Europe about 5 years ago (England, Scotland, Germany) we had THE best time in spite of missing bus stops and dragging suitcases through the streets of Berlin at 1 a.m. looking for our hotel.

Someday I would LOVE to be on the Amazing Race, not for the money (although I would gladly take it) but for the ADVENTURE. I could do without all the weird eating challenges though.

I remember several years ago when I was doing the Captivating study by Stasi Eldredge she mentioned that this longing for adventure was common in women. I was kind of surprised by that.

So I’m curious, how many of you women out there long for adventure and if so, what kind of adventure would you want to take?