Letting kids walk to school alone

[sbehr]

I read Robin's and Alena's recent posts about leaving kids at home alone and it made me think of this question. At what age do you all think is OK for kids to walk/ride bicycles to school rather than being dropped off at school? For this example the school is less than a mile away from the children's home, they only cross one neighborhood street

Comments

[robintutt]

I'm much more willing to let Katherine stay home by herself for a bit than I am to let her go to/from school by herself--because if she didn't show up, I wouldn't know it.

I will let her walk home from daycare. I go to daycare, sign her out, and watch her head towards home (through a large, open park). As I drive home, I get a glimpse of the park. And if she's not home by the time I get home (about 3 minutes), I go looking for her.

I walked to and from school from 3rd grade until 8th grade, cutting through yards, etc. I'm amazed at this now. I have two recollections of running into "trouble"---the first time, I fell and scraped my knee. I stopped at the house of one of my dad's friends (about halfway between school and home) to get it bandaged.

The second time I was being teased by a classmate; a teacher on her way home stopped her car and yelled at the classmate.

[clare_s]

I think I will probably take the girls until they are in senior school which is when they are 11.

[radams]

By the time I was ten I was walking over a mile by myself to school. Earlier than that I was always on a bus route I think. I was also allowed to go to the park and play by myself / with friends for hours. My kids don't have the walking to school question but it will certainly be another five or six years (and M is 7 now) before I'll even let them go to our small neighborhood park alone.

[geekette8]

Honestly, it wouldn't be crazies I'd worry about so much as them deciding to bunk off, take a "shortcut" via the local shop, or what have you.

I lived a mile away from my primary school on local streets only until I was 9 and was never allowed to walk to/from school on my own, although that was because there was one specific path I was not allowed to walk down that was quite isolated and had what my Mum called "lurky hedges" along the sides. (My Mum also worried about random crazies).

At secondary school I used to take the (public) bus to school on my own from age 12 or 13. That was a 3 mile bus ride into town and then a half mile walk from the bus stop into school.

[red_ruby]

With that distance in Dave's condition, I might let them walk with a walk-talkie to stay in touch, and if there were other kids and parents walking the same route. I'd feel better in my neighbourhood about walking rather than biking because of traffic (and well C&J don't ride well enough to go without training wheels yet!).