Is your teen nervous about being home by themself? It’s natural but it can also be freeing. Explore how to ease the nerves and build confidence with gentle steps for navigating time alone at home.
What with work, appointments, and family commitments, there are lots of reasons why parents or guardians need to leave the house – and there might be times when you’re not able to go along or when you simply don’t want to.
If, between you and your parents, you’ve decided you’re at a stage where you can stay at home alone on certain occasions, this may come with a mixture of emotions – perhaps a lot of excitement and anticipation, but maybe also a bit of nervousness or fear.
TEEN BREATHE’S TIPS TO FEEL MORE CONFIDENT HOME ALONE
Home alone for the first time? Here’s how to feel confident and stay in control…
1 ASK QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE
Taking the example of whether to answer the door, it could be helpful to agree with your parents what to do in this scenario. For instance, if your parents tell you not to answer the door at all when they’re out and the doorbell does ring, you’ll feel at ease knowing that you can ignore it, rather than panicking at the time about what to do.
2 ESTABLISH THE GROUND RULES
There might be certain things that are not good to do when you’re staying in by yourself for the first time. Each family will have their own ideas, but it’s useful to be clear about whether there’s anything parents or carers would rather you didn’t do, like using the stove or inviting a group of friends over.
3 CLARIFY TIMINGS
Another thing you may want to talk about is how long you’ll be alone for, when you can expect someone to return to the house and whether or not you want a neighbour to pop round or someone to check in on you with a phone call.
4 NOTE YOUR CONTACT NUMBERS
Have a way to reach parents or neighbours if you need them. Being alone in the house doesn’t mean you need to be cut off from the outside world. Balbir suggests having your parents’ and another one or two trusted adults’ phone numbers saved, just in case there’s an emergency. She says you may also want to have someone physically close by that you can rely on. That could be a neighbour who’ll definitely be home, so you may want to discuss with your parents who that could be.
5 TAKE IT SLOWLY
As with anything, the more you do it the easier it will become. Balbir suggests that if you feel any unease, take it step by step. Start off by staying home by yourself for a short while, maybe when your parents need to pop to a local shop. Once you get used to being home alone for short periods like this, you can build up to a whole afternoon or perhaps an evening.
WORDS: Kim Bansi
ILLUSTRATIONS: Nika Mamedova
This article was originally published under the title Room to Roam in Issue 47 – The Truth About You. You can get this issue here to enjoy more mindful inspiration.
