Latchkey Kid

From all the funny terms psychologists use to describe children with different experiences, my favorite is "latchkey kid".

It's a child who, when they come home from school, has a key in their pocket because their parents are not home.
They are at work.

When I was a child, such children were called "children whose parents have jobs", and it was great because many simply didn't have jobs.

People, of course, may try to say that we might have had some problems, but I see it quite differently.

We learned to cook quite early, and even deliciously. There was a period when all my dishes tasted like vinegar or soy sauce, but otherwise, I could do much more than just make a sandwich.

Also we knew everything about where things were in the house because we had rummaged through it from top to bottom.

Therefore, many things were revealed to us earlier than to other peers, for example, how children are born, how tasty cherry liqueur actually is, and what we would get for Christmas.

Third, communication.
The keys were regularly lost, and it was necessary to figure out where to stay until the evening. Sitting on the stairs always seemed unappealing.

Usually, the older sisters of friends and neighbors were the ones who helped out.

Also, I knew all the transport schedules, especially the last trips of all transport.
I still remember that the last train from the center to our station arrived at twenty-five minutes to midnight.

When I was waiting for the last train,
an unpleasant thought would creep into my heart about what I would do if mom didn't get off this train.

But fortunately, she always got off with a whole bunch of other parents who had jobs.

Sometimes, when I meet older people in my hometown, they never ask me
how I'm doing, how life is, how I feel?
They ask if I have a job? And when leaving, they ask - did you take the keys?

I don't remember if I asked my mom how she felt back then.
And I didn't know that being a "latchkey kid" was a concept.

I liked coming home and being alone.
At least until it got dark outside.