in thinking 7 years old is not too young to walk 65 ft to the school bus

[DuelingFanjo]

story

how ridiculous of the council.

oh come on Fio - if there were real concerns it would have been SS and not the council, and not wearing a jumper and walking 20m - do you know how far that is? at 7 years old over a very quiet country road???

And yes - 7 may seem "little" still - but that soon changes - they get older quickly and before you know it wanting MUCH more independence - but you can't give it to them because you've not given them an opportunity to build up some confidence and independence when younger on things like this.

if there were genuine concerns about neglect etc it would have gone to SS not the council........

yes but if there were REAL concerns it would have come FROM the SS's department. The letters from which clearly say Social Services - not the council.

TheCrackFox Its the same with kids playing out nowadays my girls 14&19 where never in from the age of 5, I've noticed on here mums asking if its ok to let their 7,8 and 9 year olds go out alone.Things haven't changed that much its just that we hear about it more now.

oh fuck it - ignore me - in an odd mood today - off to start thread - sorry

Yes I have had letters from social services - it's very clear where they were from.

Perhaps it varies by area as to how they have the paper printed? Ours have the council stuff in very small writing at the bottom, and a fecking great SS logo at the top >

I let my DCs out to play because where we live is in a very quiet cul de sac and all the DCs play out too, it is lovely. I think that we need to reclaim public areas for children. I also think that the obesity crisis with children has everything to do with the fact children aren't running around for 2 hours after school (like we all used to do) and not that much to do with food. This state of affairs cannot be good for childrens future health.

I have had and still get letters from SS and they have the council logo on.

I heard the mother interviewed and she sounded quite sensible. She also said she has two younger children. Overall, it's probably riskier to have to wait by the side of a road with two small children than it is for a sensible 7-year-old to walk to and from the bus stop. As with so many things, the parents make a judgment call.

CrackFox, there is a large part of MN that is the very over anxious cotton-wooling helicopter parenting, that you are refering to.
Don't waste your breath. It is pointless.
I went out in the summer holidays, on my bike and only came home for dinner at 6pm.

FioFio, the reason I don't put my child on the bus is because I believe it is in my child's best interests to be able to use public transport and her local environment in a competent manner.

I would not put her on a bus every day just because some council told me to, because I believe encouraging incompetence in children is itself a form of negligence.

Some people may feel differently, and if they get a letter from the council accusing them of neglect for not allowing their children any independence, I would still support the parent even though I do not agree with their stance. Within reason, it is up to parents to make choices about the best way to bring up children, not some person at the local council. But what is being considered to be 'within reason' by the government is getting narrower and narrower.

As for all this talk about the girl not having a jumper. Do you all have children who never leave their jumper at school and come out of school without it?

like an earlier poster said - children in other countries are encouraged to walk home alone from school.

we lived in the UK until dd was in y3 - there were very few parents who werent still walking their children in y3 right up to the school door! the headmistress had to write to all the parents to ask them to stop coming into the classroom to drop off their kids!

we then moved to germany where dd (who was then 7) walked alone to the bus stop, crossed a 30mph road and then walked to the bus stop - probably 400m in total but all out of my sight. the children who started the 1st class yesterday are all 5 and 6 and are expected to get the bus today (the 2nd day) and get home! even the ones who live in the same town as the school will walk home - really the opposite here - dc are encouraged to walk home!

Loads of children around here play in the park just opposite our house from the age of around 5/6 and above.

They all look after each other and nothing major has ever happened to them, other than the amount of fresh air, exercise and confidence they gain.

I remember riding my bike up the duel carriage way and then across the farmers fields heading to a neighbouring village (we were aiming for the next town, but decided that it would take too long) when I was just 11 .

That's only 3 years older than this girl, who is not allowed to walk a few feet down a quiet country road

I have told the story on here before about how age 7 I was walking to the station in the afternoon, catching the train into Glasgow, and walking 10 minutes (including up a narrow lane) to my ballet lesson - and then doing the reverse journey to get home. In winter this would all be done in the dark.

Nowaydays, despite my desire to encourage ds' independence, I really couldn't cope with the disapproval if I were to get him to do something similar (for example, to go to his football session at Hampden on a Saturday morning).

Unfortunately it is exactly this sort of fear that increases the number of cars on the road as children are taken to school/activities - which in turn "justifies" children being taken everywhere becasue there are too many cars ... and so the cycle perpetuates.

Quiet country road with 30mph speed limit does not equal cars travelling at 30mph!

Likely to be much faster, as people think, oh no traffic, no pedestrians, no more speed cameras, will put my foot down a bit.

Sounds to me at best the parents are lazy because they dont want to walk with their daughter to the bus stop, and at best neglectful.
And of course, we all know that cars never speed on country roads and children never get killed dont we {hmm}

well we also know that adult pedestrians never killed either don't we

Meant to say at worst neglectful.

I have to wonder what the world is coming to if we class a 7yr old walking 20m to a bus stop, and not putting a jumper as neglect