Vaguely inspired by Adolesence, but also by a slight family debate ...what time would you let a 14 year old walk home alone?

I have boys, and if they are at local (around a mile away) friend's house I expect them to walk home at that time. They would message me as they left (they are 14 and 15).

Inner London, would've walked home from scouts at 9:30 from 12-13ish, and sometimes out with mates, on buses or walking round town. Can't say we always 'allowed' it exactly- there was certainly friction. Our streets have got much quieter at night now post covid and with traffic calming schemes, not always a good thing for safety.

I don't see why they would need to be out with friends in the dark and if it was winter I would pick them up from activities, in summer they can walk themselves but my 14 yo is still in bed by 9 so isn't out late.

I remember being harassed walking home from the local Spar aged 14 (and looking much younger. At the time I was under 5 foot and weighed less than 6 stone soaking wet with big braces) by blokes in a car following me slowly and shouting obscenities (they clearly thought scaring a child was hilarious!) -- this was in a nice suburb of a smaller city at about 7:30pm (but getting dark).

I'd be very uncomfortable having kids out walking home alone after dark.

Can’t here as it’s rural villages, always has to be a pick up job and will probably remain that way until shes old enough to cab into the city (Shes 13). All her friends are in other villages.

Bit of an aside to this thread, but they said on the show the girl was two years older than the 13-year-old boy who killed her. So in Adolescence she would have been around 15

Ds2 is 14 and he has to be home by 9:30. We live in a small semi remote town in the highlands, the furthest away from home he’d be is 2 miles I can see him on life 360 all the time.
Our small town is probably like suburbs of a bigger city and does have problems but is fairly safe overall. I’m not sure what the situation would be if we were still living in a city in our old neighbourhood. It was a good area but still different to where we live now.

None of mine would have walked home in the dark. Ds2 has been mugged twice, both in day-light. Even now he is at uni I tell him to get an uber if alone at night making his way home. He has my bank card linked. My dad picked me up from nights out until he no longer could anymore, even when I was in early 40’s.

I live in Australia, in a Brisbane suburb and it’s a no from me. I don’t know any of my kids friends parents who’d be happy them walking 20 mins late at night either. I always drop mine off or collect them from places.

Yes, agree. I don’t know if my experience was irregular but also there were in late80/early90s rapes and attacks around richmond hill/richmond park that really scared me as a child, combined with multiple times of being followed home and incidences of men trying to grope me/ pals. I do wonder now if lived in an area that had high number of peodophiles, as a few friends in Surrey had some very strange incidents occur, incl with now convicted celebrity peodophiles.

I wouldn’t be happy with DD walking home alone in the dark at 14 at any time. I’d go and pick her up.

Me too, mostly drunk in a field. Not really wishing the same for my dc 🤷🏻‍♀️

Home by 6.30pm if winter and dark, out later in summer months but home by 8pm.

I still collect dd1 at 17 rather than her walk home at 10pm. My parents always either picked me up or gave me money for a taxi until I could drive myself. I was a very independent teen in all other ways but my parents wanted me to be safe.

Walking home from Guides and Scouts, so about ages 11 to 14, and that was 8:30 and 9pm. It's a 5 minute walk tops, even with lots of chatting on the way. I felt perfectly happy either way them doing that.

It'd depend if it was dark or not

And then DS maybe, DD no way

Responses on these sorts of threads tend to be very different from those who have teenagers or young adults and those who don’t. Remembering back to your own youth isn’t the same.

My daughter is 12 and she can’t walk home after dark. I live in a city and it doesn’t feel right yet and I can’t see it feeling right anytime soon. She has a dance class at her high school every week and it finishes at 9 and we pick her up- but the walk has a short bit through a wooded area with low light and no view on it so I doubt I’ll ever let her walk there in the dark.

By 14 DD and DS were having to find their own ways to and from places in the evenings. We had no choice - DH works long hours in London and I can’t drive. I can’t even really get around on my own outdoors at night as I’m visually impaired and I can see f*ck all in the dark.

DD comes home from Scouts "alone" (its a group of them, but they split off as they get close to their homes). Done it since she was 11. Its 8pm, walking along a road joining our village to the next one. I pick her up in bad weather (heavy rain or fog) if I can, but her sister has sports practice at the same time 20 minutes drive away so I'm not always available

I think saying not in the dark is a bit silly, that's coming home from school for part of the year!
We have 13yos picking up younger siblings from Beavers/Cubs at 7pm.

Exactly. I’m very shocked at the responses. No wonder kids are scared to do anything for themselves nowadays.

parents looking out for their teens are not the biggest problem out there at the moment

Yes I thought that soon and also that Jaimie was out every late

We live in London. DD had to be in at 10pm when she was 14-16. I'd meet her outside her friends ' house (so I didn't embarrass her) and we'd walk home together. Or there's a local landmark we'd meet at and I'd walk her home.

I used to insist she never went anywhere after dark by herself, and that if it wasn't possible for her friends to take her home to wait at the land mark, in the local station or in the local supermarket where I'd pick her up. I'd usually meet her at the station if she was going further than our postcode.

Now she's 18 and I just ensure she's got enough for a taxi in her bank account.