Latchkey Kids Essay

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Latchkey kids, who are they, what are they, and how it affects them? The term latchkey kids refer to the latch of a door to ones home, and a child who uses that key to return home to an empty house. The key is usually placed around the neck of a child or hidden under a flower pot or rug around the home. The origins of the term latchkey kids comes from WWll, when historically fathers were of to war and so mothers had to taken on work to support the family/ war effort, although latchkey mostly is know for returning home from school it also refers to children who are left home alone at night, while parents work the swing shift/ night shift. Although the term was coined during WWll is widely used and still very relevant today. There are not as many fathers or mothers off at war today with a spouse left to fend for the family or war effort. But, there are a large number or children still today that are " Latchkey kids ", the need of dual incomes to support a family due to the economic state, as well as the number of single parents needing to work sometimes multiple jobs to provide for their child or children. Are the cause of the increase of latchkey kids to day. According to the U.S. one third of all school aged children are for some part of the week a latchkey kid, they are coming home to any empty place of residence. The estimated numbers are between five and seven million kids between the age of 5 and 13 years of age. These are numbers provided by the U.S. census. However, Mariaan Wright Edelman, the director of the Childrens Defense Fund believes the numbers to be highly under estimated Marian believes the numbers to be closer to 16 million children could be defined as latchkey kids. The census bureau found that 15% of kids were left home alone before school, 76% after school, and 9% at night. It is reported that half of U.S. children between the ages of 12
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