What is your 8 year old allowed to do?

[OkMaybeNot]

DH and I have been talking about giving DS a bit more freedom. I would say he's a fairly responsible, mature-for-his-age 8yo. He's been allowed to play 'out front' for a few months on his skateboard (we live in a little square where he's able to circuit round) and we keep an eye through the living room window.

Beyond our little square is a short path leading to a small road and opposite is a Co-op food (we can see it from our house). DH thinks it would be ok for him to cross and buy a loaf of bread or something by himself, says he was practically going shopping at 8 and crossing several quite busy roads in London (we're in Kent) so he'll be fine and that it'll give him a bit of independence. But that was 22 years ago...

What age would you say is appropriate for something like that? What is your 8yo allowed to do?

Fart! No road crossing.

Well we live in a rural area so he heads of on his bike to visit friends in the next few fields, and they’ve now been allowed to cycle the 1/2mile to the local shop for sweets. I do worry about the cars & vans slowing down for them on single track roads, but I put up with a lot of “cons” living rurally so a care free childhood is something my kids deserve!

Yes I’d send yours to a shop you can see from your window.

If you can see it and its not a main road then Id definitely allow it.

That sounds like a good way to build up his independence. At 10/11 most kids are expected to get to senior school by themselves, building up road awareness and confidence before that is a good idea.

I have an 8 year old who is desperate to go to our local shop by himself. The only problem is we have one road to cross which is horrible even for adults to cross. I think I’ll get him across that and he can do the rest on his own, including the pedestrian crossing. At 8 I was walking home from school on my own including road crossings and a section of country lane with no footpath.