Home alone: aligning childhood supervision guidelines with child neurodevelopment

Abstract In Canada, decisions about when a child can be left home alone are guided more by legal ambiguity and social norms than by developmental evidence. Most provinces rely on the concept of ‘reasonable supervision’, leaving families to navigate this question with limited guidance. However, the neurocognitive abilities required for safe independence—executive function, emotional regulation, and risk assessment—continue to mature through late childhood into adolescence and are not yet fully reliable in younger children, particularly under stress or in emergency situations. This article examines the paediatric neuroscience of leaving a child home alone, highlighting gaps between legal requirements, societal expectations, and what we know about brain development.