At what age did you/will you/would you let your children go to school unaccompanied?

[emkana]

Apparently teachers in Germany ask the parents to stop taking the children to school when they are seven years old. Strikes me as rather young! My dd1 is only three, though, so I don't know how I'll feel when she's older. Seeing people walk past my house every day it seems as if parents here take their children to school all through primary school.

[jampot]

well I know what I'd say to the german teacher if I was asked that!!!!!

Really what business is it of the teachers (no offence to teachers generally) how children get to school.

[blossomhill]

Probably once ds is in year 7/8.

[LIZS]

Here in Switzerland they are expected to be unaccompanied from Kindergarten - 4/5 years old. They are given a safety chat from Police and fluorescent flash and are expected to take walk to school and home again. However in practice that is often only a few roads away.

Because ds goes to an International School at least 15 minutes drive away he takes a school bus and has done since he was 4 1/2.

[MummyToSteven]

I would say 11 years old. how near do German children typically live to their schools?

[roisin]

And as a result in Switzerland/Germany there is much less traffic on the roads around schools at start/finish times, and the traffic that is around expects to see hundreds of kids around the place, so it's safer for everyone.

We walk 0.6 mile to school, and some yr 5 boys (aged 9) on our street have been walking on their own for some time already. I have told ds1 (7) he can walk to/from school unaccompanied when he wants to, and atm he doesn't want to.

[lou33]

Dd1 walks about a mile or so to her school , she has done since she started year 7 and is year 8 now. She does have to walk downa road with no path at one point, but it's used by many schoolchildren, then there is a v busy road to cross outside her school, but it has traffic lights and a crossing there.

When she was year 6, we dropped her just away from the main hustle and bustle of hte school run, made sure she crossed the road safely, then let her walk. At the end of the day, she would walk up an alley at the side of the school to the infants , where we would be collecting dd2 and ds1. Again well used by parents and pupils alike. Now dd2 goes to junior school and is in year 3 (nearly 8). Dh drops her by the side alley, she walks into school from there, avoiding crossong the roads, or he hands her to a friend, whohas a child there too. After school she walks up the alley and meets us in the churchyard opposite the infants, as we still have to collect ds1. Three schools all starting and finishing within 10 mins of each other, and in 3 different sites!

Ds1 gets dropped into the school playground by dh, but he doesn't wait about for the bell. I would be worried about him walking on his own, as there are no paths at all around the infant school, and it is down a pretty narrow lane, so cars are a concern.

[suedonim]

Ds1 started school in 1980 and began walking to school on his own when he was 5.5yrs. Honest!! We lived in the far north of Scotland and absolutely no one took their kids to school, I'd be the only parent there. Looking back on it, I can hardly believe we did that.

I'll probably walk dd2 to school until she has to catch a bus to senior school. Istr that with ds2 and dd1 I let them walk on their own when they were about 9yo. But they used to walk with friends, not actually on their own.

[nutcracker]

I have told Dd1 that she can walk to school alone when she starts secondary school.

[hmb]

I would think about age 11.

When I was little I walked to school from bout the age of 5, but that was loooooong in the past in the days of horses and carts.

[Demented]

LOL, I think I started School the same your as suedonim's DS1 (also in Scotland) and my Mum took me the first day and that was the only time she took me, I also don't remember any other children being taken/picked up from School.

Obviously times have changed and I really don't know when it would be OK to let my DS1 walk to School on his own (certainly not just now as he is only 5.5) but I wonder if waiting until he is at High School is perhaps too late, I wonder if he should be given the opportunity in his last year of Primary (only problem is DS2 will be at School and will be three years beind DS1 so when DS1 is ready to go to School on his own DS2 will still need accompanied).

Sorry that's no help and probably just a ramble.

[frogs]

As a child in Germany I started walking to and from school alone from my second day at school (age 6). That was typical then (in the 70s), and still is to my knowledge, though children are perhaps more likely to attend the nearest school than they are here.

My dd1 (Year 5, turned 9 in the summer) now walks to school by herself or with a friend, five minutes walk away across one busy road (zebra crossing, not v. safe) and one small road (plenty of mad parents dropping off).

It does slightly give me the heebie-jeebies, but she is really happy to have the added freedom and responsibility. Here in London most children have long journeys to secondary school, generally involving several different forms of public transport and lots of horrible roads, and my feeling is that she'll be safer then if she's had a bit of small-scale practice while still in junior school. She's now also allowed to go to the local library, the corner shop and the church youth group by herself (subject to asking us first, obviously).

I'm sure lots of other parents think I'm irresponsible, but I'm also slightly horrified when I see mothers not only accompanying their strapping 11-year olds to school, but carrying their bags for them.

[ScummyMummy]

I'd consider it from seven or eight unless they seemed really rubbish on the road sense front. Most of the older juniors seem to walk to my boys' school sans parents and I've been pleasantly surprised at how careful and responsible most of them seem to be when crossing roads.

[hercules]

11

[misdee]

when i went to school i think we walk from around the age of 6/7? But there was 4 of us at the same school so we were safe and we had one small road to cross, plus it was about 300metres up the road from our house.

As dd1 will be going to a school further away (tho still walking distance) i dont think she'd be walking alone till she is about 10, unless i find some other mums walking the same route and try to do a walking bus style thing.

She'll have tp learn to get herself to school about then as the nearest secondry is miles away and she'll be biking it or taking a bus lol.

[Hulababy]

I would seay when they go up to secondary school, so around 11.

[Twink]

Mum wouldn't let me go alone on my first day (I was 4, nearly 5) and we lived one big main road away with a lollipop lady plus a 1/4 mile walk.

I made mum wait at the gate, no way was she going to come into the classroom and from the next day I walked to school with the 'big' girls (ie 7 year olds) from our road.

When I went to secondary it was an hour each way on the school bus but as I did music & sport I had to make my own way home most nights which meant a minimum of 3 buses and a walk through Rusholme & Longsight (Manchester) wearing a 'posh' uniform to get to the bus stop, all from age 11.

I NEVER had a problem with other kids but some adults were difficult and I really believe that it helped me deal with tough situations from an early age.

When I started Uni, most people I encountered in the kitchens of our halls thought I was at least 2nd year as I can 'appear' as if I know what I'm doing just by pretending to be confident and more importantly, reading situations and adapting my behaviour accordingly.

I truly believe that my parents' confidence in my common sense has helped me enormously throught out my life - and now as a parent I'm discovering how hard it was for them to let me be independent..

[Tiggiwinkle]

I have usually started letting them walk there and back on their own during their last year at primary school, in preparation for secondary. This seemed about right for the busy area we live in.

[Tortington]

my kids started cycling to school last year of primary. aged 10.

[Wallace]

I think I will let ds when he is 7/8. As far as I know his school requires an adult to be there to pick them up until they are in P4 (age 8), so this may be a good guide.

We do live in a village, and once he had crossed our street there would only be one very quiet road (more like a lane) and the road into the car park to cross. And he is very sensible

[Galaxy]

message withdrawn

[coddychops]

abut atged 7
we live really near

[firestorm]

it all depends on how close you live to the school. i started walking to school when i was about 9, but it was only 10 minutes away & back then the roads werent as busy as they are now.
unfortunately my dd`s school isnt within walking distance so if we stay where we are (hoping to move) she will never get to walk to school which is a shame really. slightly off topic but it annoys me that so many people seem to needlessly take the car to school nowadays. we dont have a choice as our nearest school is rubbish & i have to drive, but i do get p**d off that i have to leave the house by 820 or all the spaces will be taken up by people who live 5 minutes walk away & are just too lazy to put one foot in front of the other.
i suppose i should just be grateful that i managed to get dd into this school at all though & not moan.

[Cam]

firestorm I have to drive dd to school as its a long way from home but I'm thinking of parking a little way from dd's school and walking the rest of the way.

[tabitha]

Ds is now 7 and has been walking to and from school since he was 6, but we do live very near. In fact him and his friends spent most of the summer holidays playing in the school field. Now that I am back at work, he goes to a childminder who also lives very near the school as does another boy in his class and they walk to and from school together and cross at the lollipop man.
With dd1 and dd2 we lived in a different area and were further away from their school but they both walked to and from school from about 7 or 8. I started off letting them walk part of the way home on their own and met them halfway and then made the meeting place further and further from school so that eventually they were walking home on their own but they did it gradually.
It helped that where we live (and lived before) lots of Primary age children walk to and from school on their own, or get the bus home on their own. There are very few mums or dads waiting at the school gate especially for the older ones (Primary 3 and over)