Shindy, if you have trouble leaving your 17 year old alone, I think you have a bigger problem than just leaving your child alone. Who did you want to talk to about your sister? The cops?
If the 10 year old knows that he might wake up and Mom will be out, I have no problem with it if the child is mature. As for the infant with the baby monitor that depends on how far away the baby sitter was. Was she next door or down the block?
BTW, for you parents with boys in dorms, you might not want to know who are the “adults” in the dorm. I was horrified to hear that my 18 years old and his friends were the oldest in the dorm-no dorm councelor. I asked him what would he do if there was an emergency? I don’t remeber the answer, but I remember not being happy about it. Then in another son’s dorm, there was a 19 year old dorm concelor, but he liked to hang out with the councelor from the other dorm, across the street.
My 17 year old “baby” left for a dorm this year. I’m sure I will hear in a few years what went on that he would’t tell me at the time. I heard from my other boys AND from my daughter in sem. So…is your baby going to seminary?