I love these replies. I was afraid the responses would be "How could you even think about leaving your precious ones by themselves?" or "Parents are so overprotective, I can't believe you're even worried about it." Opposite responses that are both judgmental & rude.

I like the "try it & see" approach. I know that my sister & I had plenty of hair tearing fights and we made SURE parents' didn't find out because they had too many other worries and there weren't any options; the jobs were an hour away. But that doesn't mean anything because every set of kids is different.