Latchkey Children are children who are home alone while their parents work. Latchkey Children go home to empty houses after school, and are left alone until parents arrive home from work. These children are usually told by their parents to; do not answer the door, do not go outside; call the parents phone in an emergency, and to finish the homework when they get home. I'm sure that eight out of ten children honor these wishes. Parents usually leave a snack out for the children until they arrive home from work, or they would prepare dinner the night before so that the children could just warm the meal in the microwave. I'm familiar with this characteristic because I was a Latchkey Child. I remember the Community Action Agency van would wait for me and my sisters after school and would take us to their office. The Agency would provide snack and games for the children there. They also taught us how to do helpful things. Not knowing that the program was helping my mother out by keeping us busy, we just thought that we were in a special after school program. Community Action Agency did a wonderful job making us feel as though we were no different from the children that went home to their parents. I did not know at the time that being a Latchkey Child labeled me as an At Risk Child.
The program that I found is called "Library Latchkey Children". The American Library Associate quotes that "their libraries do not have sufficient staff to provide child care". Children tend to flock to the Library after school and wait for their parents to pick them up. The Library is a good choice because the children would have a better chance of concentrating and doing something positive. Even though Librarian feels as though they are not paid caregivers, in a way they are. Children out number Librarians by far. Because the Library is open to the public they cannot refuse any of the children as long as chaos is not present. Parents agree to letting their children meet at the Public Library because they do not have the concerns that they would if the children were home. The concern of safety, to questions of supervision, lack of help with homework, and too much TV, is what would bother the parent if the children were home while they worked. The Library has Security on the premises at all times. Volunteers frequent the Library just to help with pedestrian needs. There are no TV's at the Library so the only thing the children could do is read or surf the web. Surfing the web is monitored so worrying about what the children are viewing would be out of the question as well.
This program is beneficiary and exemplary because the school is involved. Parents have to give the school permission to drop the children off at the local Library, and the Library agrees to be the monitor of the children. The Library Latchkey Children Program is free to parents, so there is no charge. The children are able to go from one learning environment to another. The Library and School days coincide, so for Holidays the Library is closed just like school. While on winter and Spring Break the doors of the Library are open. This ensures the parents that the children will have some place to go while they are working. The Library offer programs to the children who frequent there on these Holidays.
This program ensures that they reach all targeted students by enlisting college students to volunteer. The volunteer hours help out the college students and the younger student's benefits by having someone there to help them. The children's needs are met, because these children tend to want to return instead of being home alone. Parents remind the children to pack an afternoon snack, and the vending machine is always handy. Parents are pleased because most of their worries are taken care of. The fact that the Program is free truly beats childcare cost, and the children enjoy the environment.