Would you let a 12 year old and 5 year old go to the playground together?

But come on now, how likely is a tween child going to have such a serious accident in a playground that he can't make a phone call?

This is what I mean about balancing likelihood and severity.

Op works from home. If the kids are stuck inside every single afternoon they will 50-90% likely become fairly screen dependent and anxious.

If they go out, then maybe 0.0000whatever% chance they'll be abducted or stabbed.

Edit - my local estate has a playground that is frequented by an ice cream van but i accept that isn't common

I posted the email maybe you missed it, very common in my area.

Yeah but you said UK which is why I was surprised you thought it wasn't common. So no transport and kids aren't allowed to walk themselves until high school? Sorry I know I'm derailing the thread here, I'm just interested. Guess I assumed councils had similar policies for schools UK wide.

Nope. I would leave a 12 yo in charge of a 5yo at home for instance, but not away from the house.
They're both a bit too young IMO, if one of them was a couple of years older it would be fine.

My 12 year old takes siblings 9 and 6 to the park. It’s usually instigated by 12 year old And 9 times out of 10 she goes with her friend who takes her siblings 7 and 5 to the park. Both have phones and the park isn’t that far.

I draw the line though when she asks to take them to town.
12 year old also likes to take my 1 year old for a walk around the block in his pram every now and then. That one she asks the most to do.

that being said my 18 year old would never of been allowed to at 12. Her maturity level is completely different.

England

Your school has quite poor judgement in my opinion. At ours they can’t be collected by someone under 16.

Especially as you think some of the equipment is unsafe I’d say no, it’s not fair to expect them to follow that rule or your 12 year old to implement it for her sibling. Just take them out on your lunch break to the park for 20 minutes

Where I live (non UK) this would be very normal.

To add, there were school buses even when I was at school. I just didn't qualify because of the walking distance.

I'm in Scotland and we've stayed in 2 different areas and both provided school buses for primary and secondary (depending on how far the school is). One house we stayed the council put taxi's on for my sons because there was no room on the small school bus when we first moved there.

There's a school 5 mins walk away from me that my kids didn't/don't go to, but I regularly see kids from around p5 - P7 walking themselves. And I know at my DDs primary some of her friends walk themselves.

So where you live do you need to pick up/drop off until they reach high school?

For me it wouldn’t be so much about this as I also have a responsible older one and live in a safe area but -
it doesn’t mean we are immune from things like flashers or weirdos walking about.

I would be okay about them walking to the park or the shops but I would be a bit wary about the playground equipment but that’s because most 5 year olds that I know seem to lose their minds when they get to a playground.

OP needs to judge on her local knowledge. We have a playground 5 minutes walk from us which involves crossing no roads and it's quite often empty. And it never has icecream vans - I'm not sure small residential area playgrounds, typically do?

I would not assume in OP's situation that someone would be there to jump in and help if the 12 year old was hurt. on the ohter hand i'd be totally happy for the 12 year old to walk the 5 year old to school because I know the route would be swamped with other parents.

Mums tend not to climb up climbing frames or play on the play equipment. Nor are they so likely to be targetted by teenage boys. I'm assuming these are the prime likely culprits for causing serious accidents.

This.

The playground isn't empty or in the middle of nowhere, though. In the very very unlikely event that the 12yo is so injured he can't dial 999 himself, another parent nearby, or the man in the ice cream van etc would do it, as I would be very happy to do if I saw an injured 12yo in the playground.

What happens if a mum gets injured on the playground? The nearby 12yo could phone 999. This is the meaning of "society"

Oh dear. You need to unclench a bit!

email from school

If the 5 year old has an accident, then presumably the 12 year old deals with it (if it's something like a cut knee) or rings you (if it's something like a broken leg).

What happens if the 12 year old has an accident?

I let my 12 year old take my 7 year old and they are both incredibly sensible. But I’m not sure I would have let them go if he was 5. Like you we live in a nice village and no roads, but I think I would have worried too much. I still worry now if they go!

Absolutely not.

No school buses here, thats not common in the uk it would be a public bus where I am and that would be even weirder allowing a child to go on alone

No I wouldn’t because every single one of my children has managed to injure themselves at the park! Including 2 broken arms. What would the 12 yr old do if the 5 yr old did that, or vice versa?

I would also worry that there might be trouble with another group of kids or an interfering adult- again Sod’s Law this would be the one and only time this happened!

Probably, yes. If they are siblings, the 12 year old is fairly sensible/reliable, it's a safe area/walk and the playground is safely designed. And you are a phone call and short walk away.

No I definitely wouldn’t. It is too much responsibility for a 12 year old which is unfair on her. It is too much of a risk and things do go wrong sadly.

Yes I just made it up. No, obviously a I said. I also said my children always took the school bus so wouldn't have affected us. I assumed it was common sense, younger end of the school you walk your child, older end they can walk alone at your discretion.