Would YOU leave your children home alone over the summer?
Parents are often torn on how best to keep their children occupied over the six weeks of summer holidays.
And with limited annual leave to correspond with children's time off throughout the year, it's no surprise that one working mother felt overwhelmed with balancing the happiness of her children and her boss.
The employee took to Mumsnet to share the guilt she felt after leaving her 13-year-old and 10-year-old alone for the majority of the summer whilst she worked.
Would you leave your 10-yea-old at home alone? Parents were divided over the age that children should be allowed to stay home without an adult
Giving too much freedom? One mother took to Mumsnet to share the guilt she felt for leaving her children home alone throughout the summer holidays
The first response came from a user who couldn't understand why the mother and her partner couldn't take more annual leave to fit in around the children's time off school.
Others quickly agreed, suggesting that sacrifices should be made to meet the needs of the youngsters as they are to young to be left alone.
One user comforted the mother, however - stating that she shouldn't feel guilty about the children being left alone as it was their decision not to go to the activity club.
Some Mumsnetters stated that visiting an activity club should be non-negotiable as children need to understand that paying the bills and working is priority.
The expectation from workplaces and the requirements of being self employed leaves little flexibility in taking time off from work
The mother was also met with a flood of responses asking why the children couldn't stay with friends or family instead of being left entirely alone.
One said: 'Do you have any family members they could go and stay with? Temporary'
Another also questioned if the children could stay with the children's friends parents since they couldn't have their friends come to the house without an adult.
One user spoke from experience saying their child hardly remembers the times they were left alone growing up.
For some users the issue was how the children would divide responsibility between them at their age rather than if they should be left alone
The heated debate continued with some users stating it's irresponsible to leave the children alone for the length of time was met with others saying the mother was being given an unnecessarily hard time.
Some suggested that children enjoy their holidays better when they're given freedom to stay home alone.
Others also debated that the choice of activity clubs isn't great for children their aged.