Rarely do you hear about the issue of latch key kids any more. Whether it is because the media is busy with other topics or the subject is so common, it continues to be a widespread phenomenon.
The topic initially arrived on the scene in the 1980s. The U.S. Census Bureau carefully monitored the increase of latch key kids and documented that 1.6 million, or 8 percent, of kids ranging from ages 5 to 14 spent some time alone at home. In 2010, the Center for Family Policy & Research calculated that there are 6 million latch key kids, but the Children’s Defense Fund estimates that those numbers might reach as high as 13 million.
However, the issue of latch key kids did not begin in the 1980s. Debbie Aragon, of the 55th Wing Public Affairs, says the actual phrase, coined in the 1800s, indicated children who carried the key to their house on a string around their neck when going home alone. Characterized as the poorest of the population, these latch key kids were few in number, and included situations where both parents had to work, or they lived in a single parent home.
In the 1980s, the increasing numbers of kids staying home alone began to spread into a larger population that included children from all ranges of middle-income families, not just the poor children that19th century history designated as latch key kids. Aragon stated, “In 2008, ‘latch key’ children are becoming as common as apple pie.” A number of factors played into the increase of latch key children in the 1980’s.
The U.S. Census Bureau finds that beginning in the 1980s, factors that contributed to the latch key kid phenomenon continues to influence the increasing numbers today. These factors include the age of a child with an older child more likely becoming a latch key kid than a younger child. Another factor revolves around the mother’s employment because children of a mother who works full-time rank four times higher to become latch key kid.
The extreme media coverage of latch key kids in the 1980s and early 1990s, dealt with two primary factors, socio-economic status and the race of the latch key kids. In 1991, the U.S. Census Bureau identified suburban kids twice as likely to be latch key kids as children living in metro areas. As latch key’ kids began to encompass varying demographics that included white Americans, it no longer became an issue delegated to poorer, urban areas where predominately African-Americans, Hispanics, and other disadvantaged groups lived.
In the article, “Latch key Children: By-products of a Changing Society,” Mark Vanden Berge explains. “Latch key kids are everywhere, not just in the inner city, not just in broken homes, but also in middle-class white families, and in ‘nice’ neighborhoods.”
When the statistics indicated that white children outnumbered other races as latch key kids, the issue of children being home alone, unmonitored, left a more personal impact on Americans. White Americans could identify with white middle class latch key kids. When the latch key kids were identified as poor and minority groups, the categorization of those groups, viewed as different, was perceived as difficult to empathize with because there was no apparent shared bond between the poorer minorities and the white middle class.
Frances Kemper Alston’s article, “Latch Key Children,” assesses that the number of latch key kids today, demographically includes all ethnic, racial, and socio-economic statuses. With the current economic distress, the proliferation of latch key kids swells, and the conversations about the numbers of children going home without parental supervision persists. Vanden Berge says there is little difference in the intellectual development, social adjustment, or academic achievement between latch key kids and children going home to a parent.
Vanden Berge suggests that there is a possibility that latch key kids exhibit higher levels of stress, fear, and anxiety, and how a child responds to being unsupervised depends on each child. The Office of Criminal Justice says some children find gratification with the responsibility and eagerly take care of themselves. However, other children get scared, bored, or lonely. Some coping mechanisms latch key kids use to handle the adverse feelings, may include hiding in a closet, shower, or increase the volume on the television. When parents try to protect their child by limiting who can visit while they are gone, may increase the child’s sense of isolation. Other factors that increase this feeling of segregation may include forbidding the child from going outside, which is another protective measure by the parents, but one that fosters additional loneliness.
Many varied opinions and differing views exist among researchers in regards to leaving children home alone, as well as the acceptable age for a child to be unsupervised. Some researchers believe leaving a child unattended is a form of child abuse. Aragon reminds that children mature at a different rate, and it is not feasible for any government agency to enforce that a set age is appropriate. An Auburn Agricultural Experiment Station study says the decision of leaving children at home unsupervised is a last option for many parents when they cannot afford childcare. The study also points out that the actual number of unsupervised children is elusive because no parent wants to look like an abusive or uncaring parent.
Whether the latch key kid began coming home alone years ago, or is just beginning the process, parents must remain vigilant in ensuring the safety of their children. As children, latch key kids may let their guard down, but parents should consistently remind them of the rules and any prearranged safety plan while at home alone.
For parents with no other option than to leave a child alone at home when they are at work, the Auburn University study encourages communication to ensure a latch key child’s safety and happiness. The Office of Criminal Justice Planning instructs parents to establish limits and rules for the child. The rules may include completion of chores, caring for pets, finishing homework, defined guidelines on which friends and family a child can visit, authorized family and friends allowed to visit the child at home, answering the phone and doorbell, and internet usage.
An issue new to contemporary latch key kids is the Internet, which until the past decade, parents had more controls and limits over, but in today’s society, most of these kids know more about the internet then their parents.
Once parents bestow the responsibility of self-care upon a child, the Auburn University study says children respond positively when included in family decisions like managing allowances, choosing restaurants, and even feel safer when they are unsupervised at home. The study also says, “Parent’s who do not monitor their children’s activities, and use a totalitarian style of parenting may face more problems from latch key situations.”
Once parents grant the responsibility of self-supervision, a shift occurs in the child-parent relationship, and the latch key child must receive the same trust whether the parent is at work or at home. While growing up, parents witness their child’s decision making skills, and often become comfortable with the child’s ability to make good choices when unsupervised.
Sources:
Alston, Francis Kemper. “Latch Key Children.” NYU Child Study Center. May 1, 2007. http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/latch_key_children
Aragon, Debbie. “’Latch key’ children as common as apple pie.” Offutt Air Force Base. September 16, 2008, http://www.offutt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123115436
“Communication One Key to Happy Latch key Children.” Auburn University. March 4, 1992, http://www.ag.auburn.edu/comm/news/1992/communication.php
“Do You Have a Latch key Child?” Office of Criminal Justice Planning. 2011, http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/978596171691962788256b350061870e/e4d9c789411f0d8d88256e6000678152/$FILE/pub-ltch.pdf
“Latch key Children.” City of Phoenix Official Website. August 20, 2003. http://phoenix.gov/FIRE/keykids.html
“The State of Early Childhood Programs.” Center for Family Policy & Research. 2010, http://mucenter.missouri.edu/stateprograms10.pdf
Vanden Berge, Mark. “Latch key Children: By-products of a Changing Society.” Urban Mission. November 1985, http://www.strategicnetwork.org/pdf/kb15232.pdf
“Who’s Minding the Kids.” Bureau of the Census April 1994, http://www.census.gov/apsd/www/statbrief/sb94_5.pdf