Is it legal to leave small children without parents' supervision?

Question

My wife and I went to check out an art studio (NJ, USA) for children to see if we can send our 4-year old son there to learn some drawings.

It came to my attention that there were a bunch of 5,6-year-old boys and girls sitting in the studio drawing pictures but their parents (at least not all) weren't there in the waiting room.

While there was a teacher in the room looking after the children, I am not sure: Is it legal to leave children of that age alone without parents' being nearby? What if a child needs a bathroom break?

After all this is not a daycare and I don't think teachers there have license that entitles them to look after children in the parents' absence.

Answer 1

Any parent may leave a child in the care of another responsible person. There is no special license required. The parent may use sound judgement in selecting the caretaker. Nor does a caretaker even have to be an adult -- teens are often used as baby sitters.

If a reasonable parent would have known that a particular person was not a safe caretaker, then selecting that person might be negligence or child endangerment.

Nor is there any legal requirement in most US states that a child be under anyone's direct supervision at all times. See "Free range parenting". Again, if in particular circumstances a reasonable parent should know that supervision is needed, failure to provide it might be child neglect or endangerment. Some US states set minimum ages for children to be unsupervised. NJ is not one, to the best of my understanding.