Are my children to young to be walking to school alone?

[Scorpion111]

My children go to a school that is on the same street as our house. They leave through the front door, cross over the road and then walk up the road for around 3-4 minutes and they’re at the school gates.

Because the school is so close, I can watch them walk the entire way from my bedroom window. Both of my children are extremely sensible, not just in my opinion but their teachers and their friend’s parents are always singing their praises.

They have only walked to school alone 2x and I take them through the same safety briefing in the morning - stay out the road, stay together, look where you’re going, look left and right before crossing etc. Also before letting them walk to school alone (which they have been begging to do btw) we started with saying bye to them at the gate instead of walking them to class, progressing to only walking to the top of the road with them, then half way up the road with them until I was confident in their ability to stay safe.

My children are 7 (almost 8) & 6 years old.

I think it's absolutely fine.

It is extraordinarily sad to me that childhood in the UK (and some other countries) has changed so much in the past few decades. One of the biggest changes has been the tightening of restrictions and increase in supervision, the reluctance (and even refusal) to allow children to experience any freedom whatsoever. So many children spend their lives either in front of a screen or participating in adult-directed activities. They are missing out on some crucial opportunities for development, and it does them no good at all IMO. In fact, it can be quite damaging. Walking to school alone is one small way to give children an appropriate level of freedom which will help them gain independence and confidence.

@FlabMonsterIsDietingAgain Some schools actively avoid stating a position. It's entirely reasonable for a school to see this as an area for parental discretion. Some schools which avoid implementing 'rules' on how children get to and from school simply ask to be informed when a child is travelling independently so they are clear that the school isn't expected to retain responsibility for the child until an in-person handover has occurred.

Unfortunately, UK schools have gone ridiculous in curbing kids' indepedence skills.

To do with their insurances i think and fear of liability if a child comes to grief on the trip.

I have 5 kids.

Child 1 born 1993, child 2 born 1996 both walked 15 mins to school from 5½ years and no one batted an eye.

Child 3 has learning disabilities and had to be driven to a different school.

Child 4 i had to get permission from the local authority (he was born 2002) as it is now a 'grey area' as to who takes responsibility if he doesn't make it.

They do agree to let him walk but he was nearer 6.

By the time child 5 is born (2007) even I am beginning to question my own parenting as by now everyone drives their child to school (this is the 15 min walk school) and only really very few 10 and 11 yr olds walk.

So I had her meet me at the path next to the school from 6 yrs but she didn't walk home til about 8yrs and even after that i used to meet her at the school path quite often after school.

And, since covid, the same school has gone ridiculously over protective.

Children up to 8yrs old have to be met at the classroom door by an adult (over 16yrs) and the teacher hands each individual child to the adult.

They cannot even cross the playground alone.

The danger at the school compared to 25 yrs ago is the amount of parents' cars parked all around the school. There have been no abductions or any change to the routes to school apart from selfish parkers.

So, OP, I totally agree with you that you know your kids and that kids that kids that are on target with development and have plenty of pre school experience of walking with an adult, learning how to cross safely and stick to the route, use the pavement etc, should be perfectly capable of going it alone.

But, unfortunately, in the UK, you are probably going to be in a small minority of one - and unfortunately that means that your kids won't be walking to school with their pals. I'm with you on this though - they are old enough if they are up to speed with development.

You're fortunate - the school i refer to in my post above is in Scotland! Honestly, it is like whacky races round the school as practically everyone drives their kid to school. Not much walking at all.

It's now quite common here (very north England - quite heavy Scottish influences in a lot of things) for children of 8 upwards to walk to school. It wasn't common before because the old school building was in a really bad place with a tricky road crossing. The newer building is in a much better position. Lots of parents from the edge of the village or next village drop their children off at the community centre a very short walk away (and are actively encouraged to do so).

There is a lollipop man who covers the only remotely busy road kids from the village would have to cross.

The new HT was initially horrified last year when she started, but seems to have got used to it.

Mine have walked since young as our back gate was 100 yards from the school gate and parents weren't allowed in the gate so I just watched them.

Would be a safeguarding concern here. Children can walk alone with parental consent from year 5 and in surprised anywhere else is younger

Schools don't actually have the authority to decide that.

They can of course report safeguarding concerns on if they have them, but in 20 years in education I only ever saw one passed on for that. Numerous times HT's had to accept it was a parental call and they can't actually make the decision for you.

If it’s on the same street, the school is in watching distance and there are 2 of them so they aren’t alone, I’d be ok with it but then I was only taken on my first day aged 4 and I walked the mile to school crossing several roads on my own thereafter. Maybe you could get them to walk with the other children who walk unaccompanied by an adult. I know mine walked across the park to the crossing patrol on his own, at his request, aged 6 and I watched him all the way.
in other countries children are allowed to learn some confidence and independence and I think we should credit our children with a bit more capability.

Far, far too young. I used to be a teacher and would have logged this as a safeguarding concern if they were in my class.

When I was their age, I was walking to school by myself for the same reasons yours are. We lived 500 yards from the school and Mum could watch me all the way.

I don't see any problem OP.

"Far, far too young"? Nonsense.

It's not nonsense. It's crazy for such young children to walk themselves to school.

I disagree completely. I am of the opinion that two sensible children of this age are perfectly capable of walking 3-4 minutes down one road while their mother watches them the whole time.

I have lived in other countries where it is considered crazy for children not to be given this very reasonable level of independence. It seem so odd to me that in the UK, children are actively prevented from developing independence and confidence. Parents are damaging their children and we are already seeing the fallout. It's very sad.

One of them is 6! It's not damaging to protect a 6 year old. Independence at that age doesn't mean taking yourself to school. It means making choices of games to play, playing independently in the house/garden etc. There is no UK school who wouldn't have concerns about this and rightly so.

It's fine. 3 minutes of well known, pavement, broad daylight walk with no road crossing, 20mph speed limit is perfectly OK.
I don't like the notion that an older child is somehow responsible for the wee one. But a nearly-7-year old p3?) walking along a pavement in a well known place for 3 minutes? It's totally fine, they have to be trusted.

Many children walk to school alone at the age of 6 the world over. It used to be standard in the UK as well. Sadly, childhood has changed in the UK (and some other countries) and not for the better. But take a look at Norway or Sweden. Parents in these countries encourage independence and responsibility in their children from an early age, including walking to school on their own and even spending several hours at home alone after school. These countries consistently rank among the "happiest" countries in the world, with the best mental health.

Childhood has changed because society has changed. It's not a whole community looking after the community children anymore. Maybe it's like that elsewhere but it's not like that in the UK anymore.

In part, that is true. But it's also true that nowadays people tend to see high risk in situations that are actually low risk (and vice versa). That is a cultural shift that has far-reaching consequences, none of them positive.

OMG I can't believe I've just read this and can't believe you have to ask,
Not only are cars a danger but there are a lot of weird people around, take your kids to school and pick them up for as long as you can, protect them.

Its pretty normal in many places. I regularly see tiny children, with their backpacks almost as big as them, walking to school alone, or with their friends, in my town.

@Scorpion111 How are your kids getting on with this? Have any of their friends with similar easy journeys also started getting to school independently?

How in that situation would they be safe-guarded from an over anxious, smothering mother who will do a Philip Larkin on them…

www.familyeducation.com/kids/responsibilities/understanding-smothering-mother

My eldest 2 ended up at different primaries as we moved. Obs needed to take younger but my8/9 year old cycled to his friends then they went together from there. There was a small group of them. We were just outside catchment so crossing 1 quiet road alone then through the houses to his friends. Then ds2 started walking about p2 or 3 with his little friend from the end of the road. Sometimes I would walk up or his friends mum but both of us had young babies/toddlers so they’d walk themselves. Small village everyone knows everyone so keeps eye on kids only road is the one with the lollipop lady, all made it through primary intact (Scotland)

the younger 2 have been taken and dropped off mostly all through primary as we moved again, I parked a bit further away and walked them in, and collected them at the end of the day. Up to p7 for my youngest who has Sen who could never have walked to or from school alone anyway. Still doesn’t from high school.

Sounds fine to me as it’s a specific situation where you have walked them across the road and then you can watch them up the pavement (so no further road crossing) and see them enter the school.

They are not really ‘walking to school alone’. As you can see them.

Don’t understand the panic posters have about traffic and cars as they don’t have to cross any further roads.
Abduction risk really is very low. Same as if you were in a park and were a bit away from them but could see them.

The school are clearly ok with it as other do it. Other countries seem better at this than us for some reason.

In a safe area and if you can see them, I think that's fine.

FWIW my father dropped me at the station aged 7, I had to walk over the footbridge and catch a slam door slow for 4 stops (15 minutes). Often I sat with 4/5 other girls from school. We were then picked up by the school bus from the station forecourt.