Mom Makes Plans for New Year's Eve Without Teenage Daughter. Now She's Not Sure If She Should Leave Her Home Alone
- - Mom Makes Plans for New Year's Eve Without Teenage Daughter. Now She's Not Sure If She Should Leave Her Home Alone
Hannah SacksDecember 31, 2025 at 7:00 AM
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A stock photo of a teenager babysitting. -
A mom isn't sure if she should leave her teenager home alone on New Year's Eve
She explained that her daughter was supposed to join her for the holiday, but ended up being asked to babysit
Now, she's not sure if she should let her stay alone on the notorious party holiday
A mom isn't sure if others would let their teenagers stay home alone on New Year's Eve.
The original poster (OP) shared their story on Reddit and explained that she'd had plans on the holiday and was going to bring her teenage daughter along with her. However, her daughter was offered a babysitting gig on the night.
Now, OP said her daughter will be babysitting very close to home until 2 a.m. and would be coming home to spend the night with their dog. She said that she has "no doubt" that her daughter will behave herself and that they live in a moderate sized town that is "safe from crime."
However, she asks if other people would let their "responsible 14-year-old daughter" stay at home alone overnight.
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getty
A stock photo of a teenager babysitting.
In her comments, many agreed that OP should let her teenager stay home alone on the notorious party holiday.
"I think she’ll be okay. I babysat like this as a teenager starting at 13. Parents got home at 1-2am and they’d watch me run home a few houses up when they got in," one person wrote.
Another said that they'd let their daughter stay alone but would make sure there are "safe guards in place" in case anything went wrong.
"Yes but make sure you have some safe guards [sic] in place, have a contact who can check on her in an emergency, make it clear that she can't tell friends or most other people that she'll be home alone and make sure she knows who her emergency contacts are," the commenter said.
"She should be fine though, at 12 I was staying home alone for days at a time and everything was usually fine."
getty
A stock photo of a teenager babysitting.
Others pointed out that they were concerned with how the teenager was getting home after the babysitting shift was over.
"The only real concern that I would have is how she is getting home. If the people she is sitting for are giving her a ride, I’d want to be certain they would not be drinking and driving," one person said.
"I’d ask the people she’s babysitting for to watch her walk from their house to yours and see that she makes it inside. And I’d ask her to text when she’s in the house with the door locked (and would stay awake or set an alarm to make sure I got that text when expected)," another said.
"But other than that, yes. You know her best, if you think she’s responsible enough to stay alone overnight I think you’re probably right."
However, one person said they wouldn't let their teenager stay home with only a dog to protect her.
"Personally, it would be a no for me. Not actually because I don’t trust the child, but because I don’t like the idea of her being home with just a dog to protect her," they said. "Dogs are not always best in an emergency situation. I would be stressed the whole time wondering if she is safe. I don’t think it’s worth it personally."
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
