October 24, 1996

latch-key children

What is the origin of the phrase "latch-key children"? The word "latch" would suggest it's old, maybe from the 30s. Was it always a term of opprobrium?

To start, the word latchkey is first attested in the 1820s, then meaning a key to open a latch on a door. As locks developed and spring locks became the standard, the word also developed an encompassing sense 'a key for releasing a latch or a spring lock on a door'. In modern times latches are rather rare, but the word continues to be used to refer to a key for any outside door.

Latchkey is found in combination with other words, in reference to people who use a latchkey, since the turn of the century. An example from 1902, referring to lodgers: "At the beginning of the latchkey life everything looks delightful." Another construction was "latchkey voters."

The special formation latchkey child (or kid) is first found in 1944. Here it means not just 'a child who uses a latchkey' but specifically 'a child who spends part of the day alone and unsupervised, as when the parents are at work'. This sense seems to have become common in World War II, when the need for women to work in the war industry led to a large number of children being left alone after school. Even at the time it was considered a distinct social phenomenon; the 1944 example is from an NBC documentary about the problem and what could be done about it. Thus, to the extent that the existence of latchkey children was something to be avoided, the term has apparently always been opprobrious.