US kids not the only ones 'home alone' -- parents working

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/49FC8530-7BD2-4FAD-88EB-F4A7B57B87CD.htm


China is a country on the move. Millions have left their homes in the country's rural interior to seek work in the booming cities.

But not all of them can afford to take their children with them.

Xie Xiang Ling is one of those who has been left behind and she told Al Jazeera her story:
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My name is Xie Xiang Ling. I'm 12 years old and I live in Anhui province in China.

My parents work in the city and I take care of myself.

Sometimes they come home at the weekends; sometimes they don't come home for a month. I call them and ask them to come home.

-snip-

But my family won't have any money to pay for college, so I might just move to Hefei when I'm older to work there.

I miss my mother and father, and that's where they are.





"I take care of myself"
sigh

alone when he walks the dog in the morning. I take our teen daughter to the bus stop (she's the only one at her stop and I don't want her standing there alone at 6am) and here hubby comes walking down the street with the dog. I flipped on him. It's not that I'm worried what our son will get into, but it's that I'm worried he'd be scared waking up to a house with nobody in it.

I can't imagine leaving them alone for days on end to fend for themselves. I will let the 14yo babysit the 7yo for a short while if need be, but we're talking 2-3 hours and we're 15 min. away.