AIBU to not let Y7 DD walk home in the dark?

Year 7 at 530? Yes. Assuming she is happy to walk home.

At 730am/ pm? Yes.
And yes at 8pm
any later? No. Young brains get more distract able the later it gets. So for safety from walking near the road I would pick up or arrange a lift share.

it is age appropriate to walk home at 530pm. Unless it is an unlit alley way - or remote field - where the community are aware criminals are operating.
and then I’d want to know what the school, police and council were doing about it.

you need to increase her confidence In walking home - to learn from your experience not disabled by it.

has she attended a self defence class? Does she have friends to walk with? Does she know not to walk home with ear buds in and to remain aware of her surroundings?

give her the tools and her wings.

Is this about her age or the darkness? I work 13 hour shifts which start at 7am, a 40 min train ride away. In practice this means I cycle to the station at 5:20 in the morning and then do the reverse at 8:20 in the evening. It’s nearly always dark. Sometimes darkness can’t be avoided if you want to live a fulfilling existence. If it is about her age, then have a think about at what age you’d feel comfortable-otherwise you’ll restrict her life forever which isn’t fair and, most likely, unsustainable.

I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's 5:30pm, not 3am.

At what age will you let her? How will the risk have changed between now and then? Don't put your anxieties onto her.

In a group fine. Left alone not.

I would allow it if she's happy to do it. It's 5.30 and she's home by 5.40 - hardly a very quiet time when only criminals are out and about. Presumably people live in the side street (as you described it as a side street, not an alley or a lane) so some of them will be coming home at around that time, and she could knock on someone's door in an emergency.

Being attacked is very rare, and physical accidents seem more likely in this case, though not very likely. If parts of the road are very dark, it would make sense for her to carry a torch. Last year I had a minor accident caused by stepping into a ditch at the side of a path because it was too dark to see where the edge of the path was! Wearing a reflector on her clothes or bag would be sensible precaution too, especially if the pavement is narrow.

For what it's worth, it might also be worth contacting the council to see if the street can be lit any better. The other residents and parents of schoolchildren who walk that way might be very happy to join in with that request. It could be that there are street lamps that are just out of order and need reporting, but if there aren't enough of them at all, your DD wouldn't be the only person who might benefit from an extra one being added.

But is she walking it alone or with her friends? Was it a stranger abduction?

I agree about reflective stickers for her coat and bag, regardless of what decision you make about this particular walk home.

Is there a particular reason you worry about this route, or is it just the dark?

Mine walk home year round, as late as 8pm, but I know the route and have no worries about it. Their friends do as well. Its dark before 4pm here in winter.

However I didn't let them in Yr6, with a shorter route, as there was a road to cross which is poorly lit and used as parking for parents and I don't trust school run drivers.

I retract this, apologies I read age 7 not year 7, my bad. Year 7 yes I would.

Gosh, how many year 7 children have been abducted or murdered this year? I haven’t heard!

I suspect the road and cars are the biggest danger. Attach something reflective to her bag or coat for huge safety improvements.

Yes, this is a good point and my response was based on the area I live in, which is rurally but on the outskirts of a market town. I would have thought that a city or bigger town would have been more likely to be well lit up in the evenings or have had an alternative route that had street lighting.

The last child i can think of who was abducted and murdered whilst walking home from school in the UK is Milly Dowler in 2002.
Thankfully it is super super rare.

I do wish posters would state the actual age of the child rather than what year of school they’re in which means nothing to posters who don’t have children in the English school system.

Also, it makes a difference depending on the area you live in and whether it’s considered fairly safe or not.

A 12yr old will still be in Primary school in Ireland.

Yes - just “dark” is a poor reason

dark and no pavement ?
dark and a known crime spot ?
differnet

If I’m reading this with the correct assumption then she wants to walk, or is happy to do so, and isn’t alone because she is with friends? Yes, I’d let her do so provided she was happy and in company.

The crime profile of the local area makes a massive difference here. If it's an inner city location where people regularly get mugged at knifepoint I might be giving somewhat different advice than if it's a quiet middle-class market town.

Even just in the town where I live there are areas I'd be much happier to let a child walk alone than others.

Exactly how many 11yos have been abducted or murdered whilst walking home in the dark, in say the last 5 years?

Y7 are so mollycoddled now

It's 10 minutes.

Stop raising girls to be terrified of everything. Your trauma is not hers.

I'm sorry but I think this is slightly ridiculous, unless your streets are unlit?

At 5:30 many people will be out and about, coming back from work etc. It's hardly the dead of night, is it?

To everyone saying "follow your gut" - please read Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman's book "Thinking, Fast and Slow", which pretty comprehensively shows how poor our "gut" is at making good decisions.

I'd pick up after 5pm on winter evenings as there are fewer people on the route from school to my house at that time. And the street lights are too obscured by trees.

Definitely a no from me. Follow your gut, you're correct to be worried.

If she’s with friends I’d say yes she can continue to walk. Both my children walk independently to school and have done since start of y6. Youngest gets a train into town and bikes either end of the journey. He goes to a different school to most of his peers, but there are other people travelling and walking a similar way. This time of year it’s often in the dark. I work, as does my husband, so we don’t have much of a choice. If it’s ever a v late finish I’d pick up, but not for standard after school stuff…

Good grief, what world do you live in?
She's year 7 not age 7 and really no, they haven't. Children are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be abducted by a stranger.

Anyway - my DD walks home from the bus (also Y7) which is now in the dark, and goes for night games in the park with Scouts. She's allowed to walk TO Scouts (7pm) on her own, we only draw the line at walking back (8.45).

Get her a head torch if it's dark.

Won't she be with other friends walking back?