To report two infant age children walking to school alone

[ThePosieParker]

... to the head of the school.

This morning I saw two siblings (I assume) walking to school alone, the oldest looked about yr2 at the most and the youngest a reception child. I wanted to phone the school as there could be a number of reasons these children are walking alone, not all sinister but in my mind none good enough,. This is Bristol, a busy city, not the place to allow children to cross roads and negotiate traffic and people at the age of 6 or below, surely.

Seriously, I know this road it's very busy with cars consistently going 50 mph.

I am waiting for you to take back that last remark.

I agree.
I disagree that the OP should have rung SS. I think that to do so, indicates a degree of self importance and judgement beyond that which was required. It also tells me that the OP likes to star in her own self created drama.

The fact that I am NOT so inclined, certainly doesn't mean I don't give a damn about the welfare of the children who live in my community. I just have a more realistic (and modest) handle on when I might be expected to intervene.

Disapproving of someone else's parenting isn't sufficient reason for ringing Social Services. But I do give a damn, thank you.

Dear god shall we just rename social services "parenting patrol" and have done with it. They are so busy that they cant get round to children who are beaten, filthy with neglect, malnourished and abused because rather then show some bloody common sense and either stop the children to ask where their mum was or call the school to describe the kids and let them look into it, "overreaction britain" kicks into gear again.

Posy you are immensely judgemental and your opinions are frankly terrifying for those of us who may not be as utterly perfect as you appear to be. Did you see if they were well dressed - was there any chance someone was walking behind them? Why not just talk to the school. Honestly we jump over ss when children like baby p get missed but have endless discussions on here when a baby cries a bit more then you might like, a child walks to school alone or you see a mum shouting at her child in a supermarket.

We really should start to echo european countries, learn some common sense and start to remember that instead of reporting potentially minor incidents, take the time to find out what really may be going on and give ss the space to do their real jobs.

As for lazy posy, I would consider lazy not bothering to find out for definite what was going on with these children before reporting them to ss. Its like going to a heart surgeon with a frigging bunion otherwise.

Spidookly EXACTLY

However, you really can't expect any sense out of people who liken allowing a child to walk to school to putting your handbag at the side of the road.

McHobbes - good call earlier, pity that there aren't more people willing to say 'stop meddling' and mind your own business.

SS is overstretched with real cases - they don't need every nimby ringing them with imaginary problems.

I would report to the school IF I thought there was some other reason the kids were at risk (like messing around on the roads, not taking care crossing, some clear reason that they were not capable of walking on their own).

Making the decision that they look too young so therefore they must not be capable without any further evidence is ridiculous, simply because - as so many have said - judging ages of children is very hard unless you know them, they are in the same class as your kids etc.

This is not the same as saying that we should ignore everything we see, this is saying that you need more information to judge. As spidookly says, to judge intelligently.

As it is and without further information, calling SS seems a huge overreaction.

I cant believe the responses to this, yes tell the school if they are in fact to young then something should be done about if that's not the case then no harm done.

Children were failed because people failed to fucking think, not because they didn't make thousands of nuisance calls to busy professionals

Exactly! Spidookly, exactly.

Ringing the school..maybe. They can then voice their concerns (if there are any)through a letter to all parents.

Ringing SS? totally unreasonable.

but buzz what happened in the 70s/80s does not necessarily relate to what happens now.

In the 70s/80s there were no such things as carseats. Most cars didn't have seatbelts in the back. Many babies were weaned from eight weeks old. Most people never came to any harm/did not die in horrible accidents/did not suffer major illness as a result.

But just because it "didn't do me any harm" back then doesn't mean that it's ok now.

wannabe thats really beside the point for me now that NosyParker has called my mother neglectful or lazy.

I tried to report a grandmother literally punching her grandson on the way home from school.

SS told me in no uncertain terms that they could not/would not do anything to investigate without a name and address for the child.

So I had to point the child out to the Head Teacher the following day and make a statement (along with some other parents) to the Deputy Head who was the school's child protection officer.

So the chances are, the SS affiliated agency wont/cant do anything anyway.

buzz let it go. Posie HAS to go on the defensive or accept that she may have overreacted and potentially bought social services into two childrens lives for no reason at all - people like this always go for the former.

"PP, sorry, I know you said busy roads, but school roads cant do anymore than 20mph?" They sure as hell do more than that around here, on roads with busy roundabouts. How a child has never been seriously injured on the main road where I live is a miracle. Plenty of parents have complained/have asked for a crossing but the council refuse.

Buzz some people are incapable of apologising or even acknowledging another poster if it doesn't suit their purpose. Please don't upset yourself over people that just aren't worth it. We walked to school from about 7 as did all of the other kids. My parents were certainly not neglectful and I don't give a flying fuck what noseyparker thinks and neither should you.

The roads around the schools wouldn't be so bloody busy if people stopped wrapping their kids in cotton wool and let them walk to school as we did. I now live in the same area as I did when I was in the infants - there are more parents on the road making it safer, but kids are no more likely to be abducted than they were then - it's ridiculous.

I'm having a bad day. And my mother died suddenly 7 years ago, anniversary just gone.

Sorry ...

there are more parents on the road making it safer

there are more cars on the road making it less safe

As a side note, I find it interesting this "children can't judge speeds until they're 11" thing. The age I always heard quoted several years back was 7-9. Have there been proper studies on this?

And certainly, kids don't get to a certain age and wake up one morning suddenly understanding speeds. I wonder if the fact we're driving more than walking these days that this isn't giving kids enough practise to learn how to judge speed and distance, so the age of competency is higher.

Anyone know anything definitive from a child developmental point of view?

I was allowed to walk to school, with a friend, from age 9 onwards. In the very early 1970s. I think I was about average in that regard, and the walk was through a couple of quiet, relatively genteel housing estates, with one road to cross, attended by a lollipop lady

I do not see how that compares to a 6/7 year old and a younger sibling walking alongside fast moving traffic in a busy city today.

If you were concerned Posie, you were right to follow up. We've been through whether or not that call should have been to SS!

I hate to think of adults being discouraged from looking out for the welfare of the young children of strangers just because other people find that too "judgemental".

RubberDuck - I think that's what is called a 'convenient' statistic with FA to back it up.