This might not be very popular among the "think of the children" crowd, but what if we plainly stop classifying 12-year old kids staying at home alone as child

This might not be very popular among the "think of the children" crowd, but what if we plainly stop classifying 12-year old kids staying at home alone as child neglect for the duration of this crisis? Asking kids to run a gauntlet of bureaucratic strictures with all of the stress that school entails but not half the socialization and fun is not going to do them any better in terms of mental health. And parents are spending as much time with their children as never before (see https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/11/27/parents-now-spend-twice-as-much-time-with-their-children-as-50-years-ago#:~:text=Daily%20chart-,Parents%20now%20spend%20twice%20as%20much%20time,children%20as%2050%20years%20ago&text=PARENTS%20these%20days%20spend%20a,but%20104%20minutes%20in%202012 https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/11/27/parents-.... ); it's not like we're in danger of getting wolf children if we turn the crank down a bit.