Tips on Staying Home Alone for the First Time

In every person's life, that magic moment comes when you are left at home by yourself. In some cases, some kids have been left alone a number of times before ever reaching his or her teens. In other situations, due to having many siblings or overprotective parents, a person never really gets to feel totally alone at home until reaching adulthood. It is OK. We all experience it at some point, yet some adapt to it better than others.

I am here to offer you some tips no matter what your situation is right now. You could be a 10 year old sitting at home for 30 minutes by yourself or you could be an adult sitting at home by yourself one weekend because your husband took the kids to see your in-laws. Either way, I have some advice for you to get you through the experience if you are having a tough time.

If you are alone at night, it is easy to imagine every sound is a killer trying to break into your home. This is most likely your imagination. Houses tend to settle and make weird noises. Also, familiar sounds like the refrigerator running sounds much more sinister when you are alone.

What I recommend to help you feel better is checking all doors and windows as soon as everyone leaves the house. Make sure everything is locked. Also, turn on some lights so if you do happen to hear something, you can easily check things without fumbling for a light switch. That always looks cool in horror movies, but there is no reason to live your life that way.

If you are feeling especially nervous, it does not hurt to keep a cell phone or cordless phone with you. You can always text someone and keep your mind off your situation. It is also a good idea to be able to call someone in case an emergency should occur.

Another technique I've found that works really well is to simply drown out sounds with other sounds. 99% of the time when you are home alone you are going to hear some sounds, like the faucet dripping, or the hamster running on the wheel, or something falling in the closet. All of these sounds mean nothing when you are not by yourself, but they can make you nervous alone. Drown those sounds out with a TV or music. I find the TV is nice because it creates light and sound. It almost feels like it is keeping you company. Sometimes I may even have the TV on with music playing on my tablet.

The best way to feel comfortable when you are home alone is to do things that keep you busy. If you are under the age of 18, you may want to check with your parents first before starting a major project. For instance, it is probably not the time to repaint your entire room while your parents are away for the weekend. However, it could be a good time to learn how to paint a small painting with that art kit you got for Christmas.

Some other tasks you may want to take on include:

• Reading a book you have not had time to read.
• Watching TV programs no one else ever wants to watch.
• Teaching your pets some new tricks.
• Working on homework or a work project.
• Cleaning out your closet.
• Organizing something in your house that you've been putting off.
• Learning a new skill, like knitting.

Unless you are pretty fearless about being home alone, there are probably some activities you should avoid. Some of these activities are dangerous, but other activities might make you unnecessarily nervous. In general, I find many of these tips are good for anyone, young or old, that is a little jittery about being alone.

Don't watch horror movies. Unless you live by yourself and you are used to being alone, I would not recommend watching horror movies, especially at night. You should really avoid anything that involves the lonely babysitter being terrorized or slasher films involving teenagers.

Do not answer the door without seeing who it is first. I don't care how old you are, you'd better look out the window first before opening the door. If your friends and family members always call before visiting, you'll know it is weird if no one has called or texted you. If you are an adult and it looks like a neighbor or a kid selling cookies, then by all means, open that door. Otherwise, don't take your chances.

Avoid inviting random people over. In many situations, if you are underage and home alone for the first time, your parents don't want you inviting your buddies over. However, if you are a mature teen and your parents gave you the OK to invite a responsible friend or two over, then it is cool. Just make sure you invite a friend that won't try to prank you to make you more nervous. Also, don't invite friends over that are going to invite the entire school over. Sure, it looks like fun in movies, but I assure you, parents never see the fun when they come home to a trashed house.

Don't call 911 for no reason. Yes, you may be a little nervous, but don't just dial 911 to have a chat about it. The operators are there to help people with real emergencies. For example, running out of Doritos is not an emergency. Unless you see a prowler or you just set the house on fire, do not call 911.

Do not try anything too dangerous. While on the subject of setting the house on fire, don't do anything that might do just that. Maybe you've always wanted to see what would really happen if you put that metal container in the microwave, but don't do it. I know there are about a million YouTube videos out there that could inspire you to try dangerous things, but now is not the time (if there ever is a good time). Even something as simple as climbing a ladder into that mysterious attic is a bad idea when you are alone. If the ladder breaks with you on it, who is going to dial 911 while you lay passed out on the floor? Be safe and avoid that kind of activity.

The best part of being home alone is doing whatever you want (within reason) and no one is going to judge you. Don't be nervous about it! It could be the best time of your life. You can finally eat an entire bag of chips and there is no one there to stop you. You get to watch whatever you'd like on TV. You could even blare music as loud as you'd like as long as your neighbors are not grumpy about it.

Most likely, your home alone adventure will be nothing like Macaulay Culkin's Home Alone movies, and trust me, that is for the best. Just remember, this is an important rite of passage and it only gets better from here. So now, go ahead and crank up that music while eating everything in the kitchen!

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