Have you ever heard of the term latchkey kid? I can't remember where I first heard this term; it was probably after listening to a song by this American band. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXtyudljpM

Curious, I quickly googled and found this. 

> A latchkey kid, or latchkey child, is a child who returns to an empty home after school or a child who is often left at home with no supervision because their parents are away at work. The child can be any age, alone or with siblings. ~ [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid)

**That describes me to a T!**

You probably know my childhood background if you have followed and read my past posts. I wrote a bit about that in this post: [Running On Empty | Struggling With Childhood Emotional Neglect And Developing Resiliency](https://peakd.com/hive-194848/@coloringiship/running-on-empty-or-struggling-with-childhood-emotional-neglect-and-developing-resiliency). Writing that post was hard on so many levels but talking about it was cathartic because putting it all down in words brought clarity and peace to the soul. 

So yeah, like many kids of my generation (we are the Gen-X), I was a latchkey child. Back in the 80s, in the small town where I grew up, my mom was one of the few mothers who worked outside the home. I envied my friends who had moms waiting at home after school. I have older siblings with wide age gaps, so I was left to be on my own pretty much of the time. But don't get me wrong. I wasn't neglected because my aunts and cousins lived next door and kept an eye on me the entire time. 

I did homework and read. And if I was bored, I picked up my bike, took off to my friends' houses, and just hung out. This was life in a small town in the 80s, and it was safe to roam on our own.

A couple of pictures from my childhood. I was 9 in this picture, taken together with an elder cousin who lived next door. 

![1.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23zbVoYbT7fKdFiLJaPej5jVcTvy9yck9WLY9YhaKGM3vi2Uc6Jbj9f7i6Lr9tLKydD4x.jpg)

I was the one on the left, age 8, taken with cousins. Did you notice our feet? We were barefooted. Just some typical Asian kids. I loved to roam around barefooted and had to be regularly dewormed 🤣. 

![2.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23x1KmAU5TJF5ytsPKuoR9LQ9YLyJG6nrxQuFdvMwWa6AeHTYGsV6VoBAKz4MK3QoHF5K.jpg)

##### ❤️ The Perks Of Being A Latchkey Child ❤️

###### *Being Responsible*
Being responsible would be number 1. Early morning before leaving for work, my mom would leave us some to-do things for the day. That included cooking instructions, laundry, and general housekeeping. I hated that because it sounded naggy. Looking back, I realized that she was giving us a valuable lesson about being responsible. I learned to hand-washed my laundry when I was 8 years old. I washed my school uniforms, hung them up to dry, folded, and stored them away. I left the cooking to my sisters because I was too young to operate the stove. But I was still required to clean up the table and kitchen after every meal. I doubt I would learn to do all these things if I had a stay-at-home mom.  

###### *Grit and Endurance*

We had no internet, no gadgets to use and refer to whenever we encountered some crises or needed to fix something. We had plenty of room to make our own decisions and face the consequences of our mistakes. We were given the trust by our parents to figure things out on our own, experiment, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. This experience shaped the resiliency that continued to benefit us as adults. 

###### *Social skill*
I spent a lot of time at various friends' houses after school. This unstructured time gave us plenty of time to be creative with our activities. We played all kinds of games or just goofed around. We had disagreements and crises from time to time but we patched things up on our own terms without overbearing adults meddling in our affairs. 

###### *Self-reliant*
Being left alone allowed me the room to learn problem-solving and make decisions by myself. And it allowed me to be creative to make my own activities and be content and happy by myself without needing to rely on others. 

I think there are more, but the above four are the major ones. Any disadvantages? Of course. Without proper adult supervision, latchkey kids are easily influenced by peers to venture into the negative side of their freedom. That includes substance abuse, promiscuity, and the like. And, of course, being left alone for an extended time means we must figure out how to deal with other aspects of life, like handling emotions. How do you deal with anger? frustrations? Without parental guidance, a young child wouldn't know how to process big emotions. And that lack of guidance may contribute to bigger issues later in life. 

##### ❤️ The Painting ❤️

I completed this mixed-media painting yesterday. I wanted to honor and celebrate this big part of my childhood in a painting. I used to envy my friends for having stay-at-home moms at their beck and call. But now, as an adult, I wouldn't trade my childhood experience for anything. There are some disadvantages, but my parents gifted me with something valuable. They gave me their trust and room to discover and learn. They had taught me resiliency and independence in their absence. And that is a wondrous gift indeed. 

Here are some progress photos of the painting. 
![3.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23wXBaJFRZBaeTnx8J3vEgaVYZCoWQyk1mDJVYr2LxR5YWweY51TWXnL6SzfsJENAPrsZ.jpg)


![4.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/EocAtLrrbhMdmnw6sTckqokGf3JcTXVoPrRBVGBNP4DKQdqJdCWsoev7rnfiLHhzo5j.jpg)


![5.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/48QRrRgcVhVifLFZbZxUFuJ6p8jXhN3uq19MQDfkPmHi3SGC29CMH8PzntQFJTmV6r.jpg)


![6.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23uRBUcXErupb7PLJCBqo8yydLYiw5TCthhsMbomP1CVRGU6eQviE5S7PV3BnomEJbZBb.jpg)

***Note: All images belong to me***
_______________
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

#### Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!

##### 💲💲💲 [Blog on Read.Cash And Earn Bitcoin Cash Like Me. Click Here ](https://read.cash/r/coloringiship)💲💲💲

My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On [OpenSea](https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017)

![](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23xyjxiuxzdf58jNwRfC5W7DFfMTAb93gqepUN2ZW8TPQpFd6ikmg97hfdiM8qjiuTNqX.png)

My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On [OpenSea](https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse)

![](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23xVcCoWpSioTziZhFnsDMSXi7jR1ndft6Kpcd1Kj7WnsrFVhCAHsW7LJyXVCRWnTPU9h.png)

My Third NFT Collection - Women Empowerment - Is Now Available On [NFTShowroom](https://nftshowroom.com/coloringiship/gallery)

![nftshowroom.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/coloringiship/23x1L8uCFQwPem4ijsqdgtmFAQDbbEYXa2XuH7EFQ9DRoJodJFytEz3ZpFfmH2HTCyMhb.jpg)