As a child, how much of the time were you left unsupervised?

Never. I was home schooled but before that I spent half of 1st grade in a Catholic School. Supervision was almost always constant. I don't think I was allowed to be left at home by myself until I was about 16 years old. I always envied my friends because they could go out for fun with each other and not have any adult supervision. My family was too overprotective not just on the subject of being unsupervised. My lack of freedom in that sense further alienated me from my peers. I think when parents are overprotective it causes more harm than good for their children. Kids need freedom for growth and confidence. They also need knowledge of the world around them.

Just from school until they got home from work. 3-5:30 or so.

I'm seriously concerned that there seem to be loads of parents that think it's ok to leave a child under the age of 11 by themselves for an extended period of time, all by themselves!?!?

That's insane, here, you're not legally allowed to leave a child home alone until they're 14. Jeezus.

My parents let me wander the nighborhood with my siblings from a young age. I also grew up on five acres and could play in the yard without my parents watching. I climbed trees, played on the wood pile and played on a broken well. That was fun to stand on and roll around the yard. The house was in constant repair so there was always scaffolding to play on. I'd climb it and jump off onto an old mattress. My mom was home, but she just sat inside and watched TV and cooked food.

As long as I responded when my parents yelled for me, they didn't really pay attention to what I was doing. Sometimes I would walk to the end of the lane and play in the creek. As long as I told my parents where I was going and I checked in. I often went with the neighbor kid, my brother, or my dogs.

I do believe this was a good thing for me.

I was alone for long periods of time in my room but I don't think that counts because my parents were right next door.

I was 14 when I was finally allowed to see friends outside school, that was my first experience of being unsupervised. This only happened because I went out to see them when I was at my granny's. I was caught because I didn't get home on time (it wasn't late but my parents were there for a certain time to pick me up). I thought I'd get punished but my parents just said that I was long overdue being allowed to go out and see friends for a couple of hours at a reasonable time of day. So they let me from then on.

When I was around nine or ten I remember being a bit of a latch key kid on occasion but never more than one or two hours at a time. We never had babysitters except around Christmas time when my parents would go shopping and have a visiting relative watch us. When we were unsupervised my sister and I would let the dogs in the house, have them sit on the furniture and share snacks with them. Also I made a beer milkshake which turned out to be kinda yucky so I gave that to the dog too.

I remember wanting more independence and wishing I could go places alone after school which I was able to do when I was around 14 years old. Now that I'm 43 I'm grateful for how things turned out because I've met a lot of people who were molested by adults, babysitters and older kids. Words cannot express how grateful I am that my sister and I were never molested!

Hardly ever.

Always supervised , had a nanny

You don't want to know my childhood.

From the age of 7+ I didn't have mandatory adult supervision. My brother is 4 years older so he watched my sister and I. My parents were poor so they couldn't afford a babysitter. My mom works in retail so sometimes she wouldn't be home until 9pm. I don't remember my dad being home ever, even though he didn't really work.

So from 2pm-9pm, somewhere around 3 days a week, we'd be home alone.

I was raised by my father for most of my life, and he worked full time to support me and my sister. My sister was a big time trouble maker when she was younger (and still is really) so she wasn't able to be counted on as a babysitter, which was probably for the best. I'd just go play with my friends, or sit home and play Nintendo 64. It was fine, and I don't think it affected me in any way whatsoever.

When i was 11 years old it was 7-8 hours a day and we partied every day and night and had a very good time.

I think it was introduced by degrees and my parents got it pretty much right. Until the age of six, I didn't go more than about 400 yards from the house on my own but I could do it unsupervised (usually with the kids from next door). At eight, it was about a mile, and I started walking home from school on my own. At ten, I'd learned to ride a bike (yeah, I know... I may be driving before I'm 100) and from then I was pretty much unsupervised from the moment I got home from school until I came in for tea, and then from when I'd eaten tea until I came in because it was dark. Best time of my life! I know kids need to be safe but we need to feed their urge to explore and to learn too.

My mom had to work often because my abusive dad wouldn't and instead of watching me he would drop me off with random people where there would be little to no supervision. As a 3 yr old girl I was molested by a woman and exposed to porn. Today I'm 20 and have had more sexual attraction towards females than males. I do believe my childhood experiences are the reason for this.

Very little, discounting time spent in my room. I was walked or driven down to the bus, had a babysitter for after school until my parents got home... I had to go there for a long time, going into high school. Even though we lived kinda out away from things I usually couldn't even go outside unless they were keeping an eye on me. I started sneaking away during the summers in high school so I could see my friends, it was a routine of getting up kinda early, biking the hour-ish ride to my buddies place and then getting my ass home before them.

I was never unsupervised. Never. I was wrapped up in cotton wool as a child.
When I did finally experience a bit of freedom I completely shit myself I was that scared.

Probably 3 or 4 hours a day when I was a kid, mostly because I was outside playing with friends.

My mom didn't care what happened to her kids so unless she wanted someone to yell at we were free to roam the streets.

One or two hours, or sometimes none. Usually out playing football, or something. I was left unsupervised because playing football with your mates when your parents are around isn't cool, and trying to be cool is important to little 11 year old dom180. Alternatively, I'd play alone in my room either with my parents out or working or shopping or something.

I don't think it had any impact on me whatsoever, although I have occasional good memories of being out with friends. There were also periods where I'd refuse to leave the house at all, tell my parents to tell my friends I was sick or away somewhere if they came to the door. I guess those times would qualify as zero hours :P

There seemed to be an unspoken law in my house when growing up: They didn't have many rules at all, and so long as I followed those very few rules, they would continue to be lax. However, if I started acting immature and as if I wasn't able to control my impulses, they would come down on me a lot harder. I enjoyed my freedom and independence, so I made sure to be responsible when left alone.

My parents never worried about me. I never did anything to worry about. So I played on my own a lot. Not even with friends. Just alone.

My mum worked at the hospital and sometimes on night shift and my dad believed that we could watch over ourselves so I was left free most of the time. My aunt looked after me but here children are left free and if they hurt themselves they are shouted after. Haha! I had a wonderful childhood playing in the woods and in the river.