She is an assistant childcare teacher who encounters many parents who leave their kids at home alone.

And every time she comes across such parents, she explains how dangerous it is, because the children may hurt themselves.

But Madam Siti Aisyah, 27, does not practise what she preaches.

She, too, was guilty of leaving her two young sons without any adult supervision at their second-floor flat.

She did this for two months, from June to July when her sons were left alone in their one-room rental flat at Bukit Merah View for up to five hours every evening while Madam Siti attended night classes.

Her husband, a delivery driver, could not help as he was arrested for drug-related offences last year and was in a drug rehabilitation centre during those months.

Said a teary-eyed Madam Siti: "I realise I really didn't have much choice. I felt very guilty every time I had to leave the house." Her two sons, Fitri, seven, and Iman, nine, were enrolled in a student care centre in the day. But they had to be left alone in the evenings, when Madam Siti attended part-time night classes at Seed Institute, a skills training institute for childcare professionals.

Her lessons sometimes ended as late as 11pm.

Madam Siti, who earns $1,000 a month, hopes to get a certificate in early childhood care.

That could lead to a promotion from assistant to full childcare teacher.

But it also meant that her boys had to find ways to occupy themselves.

Said Madam Siti: "I thought very hard about dropping the course to look after the kids, but I had to upgrade myself if I wanted to provide for them in future.

"I was caught in a bind."

She decided to go for the course because she felt she could trust her eldest child to care for the younger boy.

She said: "There were times when I kept crying because my husband was not around.

"But my kids would always come over to comfort and tell me it was okay.

"I know they're mature enough. I have to trust them."

She would run through the list of do's and don'ts with her children, which includes avoiding the stove, windows and dangerous objects.

PROBLEMS

But unsupervised children can get into all sorts of problems, like accidents, or with strangers loitering in the common corridors, she admitted.

Can the older boy really be trusted to care for his sibling? Asked what he would do if he suspected a problem, he replied: "I will not open the door to anyone.

"If there's an accident, I would call mum and use the spare key to escape with my brother."

Said Madam Siti: "It's not right that kids are left alone at home, but the reality is that many families do not have much choice in the first place."

Things have improved since July. Her husband was released from rehab last month and now helps to care for the kids in the evenings after he finishes work as a delivery driver.