What age can kids be left?

From Diana:

I would like to know at what age can children be left home alone, 2-3 hours after school. Thank you in advance for your help.

Dear Diana,

There's three issues here:

The law - depends where you live, but there's probably a law setting the minimum age

Safety - depends where you live, but how safe would the children be on their own?

Maturity - are the kids old enough "in their heads" to be alone without getting bored and messy? Only you can answer that, as I'd trust my 8 year old neice (but the law says no) and I'd not trust my 16 year old nephew - he'd not notice if the house burned down!