Speaking of latchkey kids. I was the only mom in the neighborhood home when we lived in Maryland and the mothers found out about me. I worked out of my house and had a helper for the children.
I was asked by mothers to keep house keys for when the children lost their keys and help if they had an emergency. It was a zoo. The emergencies turned out to be hunger, lonliness or math homework... I could not work from three to six pm and had to work after the kids went to bed to make up for it. What a zoo!
You needed to charge for “emergencies”.
Back in the Dark Ages when I was in elementary school, my mom worked. I would just go to the public library on the next block to the school and hang out there doing homework and reading until she came and got me.
Having nothing to do but read for three hours a day greatly increased my reading level.