Sorry dotto - I obviously didn't express myself very well. I was agreeing with you :)

The part about not having had much to do with raising kids was directed at Ludwig. I should have made that clearer.

Interesting case.
I have similar parenting ideas to dotto and consider myself to be somewhat overprotective of my children (one of whom is still young), although I have misgivings about the way it is for children these days, and wholeheartedly support Houellie's idea of allowing your children at least the freedom of walking to school if it is possible.
This woman's dilemma is something faced by many single parents who are expected to carry the entire load on their own. Many find that the minute something goes awry with school, that they are intimidated by the system to such an extent they they try to cobble together a solution by themselves.
My son, whom I homeschool, is mildly autistic. I spend a fair amount of time on another forum informally counselling parents of diagnosed/undiagnosed children on their options regarding getting assistance with school situations wherein their children are unable to cope. These parents are desperate to find a solution to alleviate the child's distress. Many are totally intimidated, not only by the school, but also by the idea of contacting their state's education department - which is usually my first piece of advice in their direction. I use the autistic example because many children at the high end of the spectrum remain undiagnosed and are prime targets for bullying and manipulation at school.

It's incredibly irresponsible for a parent to leave a nine year old girl alone for a day. Five or ten minutes ok, but the whole day = irresponsible.

Ludwig, leaving a 9 year old child alone for a WHOLE day is NOT the same as allowing the child to go to and from a nearby school alone, or to walk to a nearby friend's place alone or to walk from point A to point B in a shopping centre etc.

At 9 or 10 years of age a child can be given some tiny amount of freedom, but in NO way should they be left alone for the entire day. Ludwig do you have children? I suspect not.

It depends on the child really, and their upbringing. I was left at home during the day at the age of 9, not often but it occasionally had to be done so that my single parent could work. However, we had been raised to be pretty independent and self-sufficient and knew how to contact dad (or others) if we had any problems. I suspect that kids in single-parent families are more likely to be capable of being "older than their age" precisely because there is only so much one parent can do.

Would I let my own kids stay home alone at that age? I think probably no (they are younger at the moment, so hard to say) - they have not had the same upbringing that I had and thus are unlikely to have developed enough "street smarts" by that age.

It is always a judgement call and in order to be resilient, children need to be exposed to calculated risk. However in saying that I know I am telling the good people here how to suck eggs.

The elephant in the room is the lack of support. The parent and child did not have access to the sort of counselling and support that could have prevented this. There is no evidence that any support will be provided even now and certainly not the continuing interest and problem-solving that will prevent the student from falling through the cracks as thousands do very year, eventually being lost to society.

Lateral thinking is required in counselling and student services, because the reactive, "See the counsellor after three red cards" problem fixing doesn't work. Many students would benefit from non-judgemental 'big brother' or 'big sister' support from trained younger counsellors. Others would do well if schooling was more flexible and there are plenty of successful models to choose from.

Wouldn't it be good if the independents of the hung parliament could demand such improved counselling and support? It would be great for their future election prospects too. Ahem, no Julia these kids don't vote Labor either - too young of course - but what about the savings from health alone from fewer young people dropping out to turn to drugs, crime, violence and other 'solutions' for their sad lives?

Thanks Antiseptic, yes now I see that CJ Morgan was actually agreeing with me, not Ludwig.