Staying home by themselves. What age?

I was 12 when my mother started allowing me to stay home alone. Not too long ago my younger brother was arguing the same question. At what age can you leave a child home alone? To put an end to their arguement, my mother called the non-emergency number for our area. Of course you should make sure your child is mature enough and responsible enough to be able to handle being left alone; however, the response she got was that as long as the child could pick up the telephone and dial 911, they could be left home alone. I was somewhat surprised with this response because if I recall correctly, that is something you are taught in Kindergarden and I would NEVER leave a 5 year old at home alone. I think a parent must use their best judgement when it comes to this question as every child is different.

I can tell you this much, both of my children are far from being old enough to stay at home by themselves. They are six and two though. Thinking back, I believe that the first time I was able to stay home by myself was when I was about nine years old. The first time that I was able to stay at home with my brother and a couple of other kids was when I was eleven years old. The first time that I was allowed to actually babysit other people's children was when I was thirteen years old. A lot of it depends on maturity and I believe that definitely by the time my daughter is eight-nine years old she will probably be allowed to stay at home while I am running errands. She is extremely mature for her age. But based on the same perception, my son will probably be much older before he is allowed to stay at home by himself.