I was curious about laws and such (since they said in the article that children under eight were legally supposed to be under supervision in that jurisdiction),

I was curious about laws and such (since they said in the article that children under eight were legally supposed to be under supervision in that jurisdiction), and came upon this study on unsupervised kids: http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/04/unsupervisedRB.pdf http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/04/unsupe... That says that 7% of kids age 6-9 are under self care. Not a huge percentage, but millions of kids. Which is to say, there's nothing unusual about kids on their own – but maybe to avoid criticism, keep them hidden away inside when they are on their own.