Joseph
Are citizens obligated to follow standards?
Yes, they are obligated to be within reasonable tolerances of the standards when non-compliance can cause legal ramifications. In the case of too young a child left in charge of younger children, there would be no fine, but could involve government supervision ordered for the children and/or family, removal of the children from the parents control, mandatory parenting classes, or C”V if there was an injury or worse while the child babysitter was in command, the parents criminally charged with child endangerment.
How does one know what the standard is? In this case, I have seem posters at the public libraries, notices in schools, a person could call 211…Government help line and ask.
Are the same standards applicable statewide? There are variances:
For example, the age of a child permitted to walk to and from school alone would rise in a community that does not have sidewalks. It’s called using common sense. Also, here in CT if the child lives more than 1 mile from school the community must provide free bus transportation.
I live 1/2 mile from the local elementary school in my district, on the same street. It is a hilly, curvy, heavily traveled road. There are no sidewalks. NO children living on my street are permitted to walk to school. Even children living 200 feet from the school receive bus service for safety reasons.