TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A child left home alone must have the maturity and knowledge to protect him- or herself and any younger child at the home too.

The child must be educated on the myriad of things that can go wrong -- an accident, a stranger at the door, the potential to drown, to name a few.

That's what experts say is important when leaving children unattended by adults.

The issue is a daily one everywhere, but it was highlighted Wednesday in Bakersfield by the drowning of a 4-year-old boy left in the care of 10- and 11-year-old children when their grandmother briefly went to a store.

Police said the pool drowning of LaJarvis Cantrell Nelson Jr. appears "to be a horrible accident."

So how old should a child be to be left home alone?

No law in California sets out a minimum age.

Safe Kids USA, a group that focuses on preventing accidental childhood injuries, recommends no child under 12 should be left home alone.

But age isn't as critical as maturity and knowledge.

Psychologist Dean Haddock, recommended a child should be old enough to babysit. That's typically an 8th grader who is about 13 years old, he said.

"The rule of thumb for a babysitter is he or she knows how to behave in a safe way and to take care of the children," Haddock said.

Experts say the child should know:

* How to call 911

* Not answer the door for a stranger

* How to prevent fires.

* Be able to stop bleeding

* Be able to prevent drownings

But even babysitters can fall short of their duties.

Sandy Lujan, director of Garden Pathways Child Care, recalled leaving her 3-year-old with a teen babysitter only to come home and find her toddler all alone.

"I was just horrified," she said.

The babysitter came back to the house later that night with two friends, she said.

When clients ask about leaving kids home alone, Lujan is emphatic that if there's a pool at the home "you can't take your eyes off of them."

An average of 240 children under 5 years old drown in swimming pools each year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported.

California enacted a law in 1998 requiring a 5-foot-tall fence and latch around pools for new homes, but that leaves a lot of homes without fences.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Saleen said there's been very few prosecutions.

Those that have been prosecuted typically involve adults on drugs or leaving very young children home alone, he said.

Most often child deaths at home are unintended accidents, he said. Jurors consider "the suffering of the parent," he said.