To let 7yo ds walk home by himself?

[LiegeAndLief]

Ds will be 8 in August and is in Y3.

We have about a 20min walk home from school. I already let him walk a little way by himself, less than 5min with two tiny cul de sacs to cross (I go another way round and meet him) to start giving him some practice at walking alone. He has asked to walk a longer way by himself. Would be about 10mins, with a further 3 roads to cross. These are busier than the ones he currently does but still pretty quiet.

He has been walking to and from school since reception on this route and I think has quite a lot of road sense. I often ask him to tell me when it is safe to cross and I can't ever remember him saying yes when it wasn't. We have talked about finding a safe spot to cross and what to do if eg a van is parked at his usual crossing point.

I was going to say yes. Dh thinks I am mad and he wouldn't be safe. I know there are children in his year walking to and from school by themselves so I can't be the only person who thinks this is ok! What is the MN consensus?

I'm not in Scandinavia but in small town US, and here there are fewer cars on the road at school run time, they go slower (police patrol around a lot too) and no one parks on the road. It all makes a difference. Loads of kids walk or bike to school from a young age.

Depends on a couple things:

Does he have a friend he can walk with?
Does he have a cell phone?
How is the traffic?
How is the crime rate?

When we were little my mom walked me and DB to school. She got her morning/afternoon exercise and so did me, DB, and the dog. I don't think I was allowed to walk anywhere without a friend or DB though in case something went down, even as a teen.

At 7, I walked home every day from school BUT with my older sister and her older friends. Later from about 9 onwards, once my sister had moved up from primary school I walked home with friends who lived close by.

Practicing his walk home with an older child / sibling / neighbor would be a good way to build up his confidence. Can you organize for him to walk with an older child or children initially e.g. a neighbor's children if he doesn't have older siblings?

I'm all for encouraging independence but 7 is a bit young to have 100% road sense. Sure, 9 times out of 10 he might make the right decision on crossing the road but it will be that 1/10 time that could be disastrous. Not worth the risk.

I've only this year allowed my 11 yr old ds walk the 5 mins home from school. He crosses with lollipop lady then pretty much pedestrianised the rest of the way.
At his school they only allow year 5/6 to leave alone and also require a letter from parents to confirm the arrangement.
I'm doing it so my ds has some independence ahead of secondary school.
I think 7/8 is way too young.

The population of switzerland and the scandinavian countries all added together are still less than half that of the UK - that makes an enormous difference to the number of cars and traffic about.

The majority of people live in cities in Sweden, the population is much smaller than the UK but where people live ( mostly in cities and suburbs) the concentration of people is much greater than most British cities because apartment living is so popular.

I think the roads are safer, I live in a suburb with a population of about 30,000 people, there are many nurseries and schools in the community I live in and you could get to any one of them without crossing a road that doesn't have a crossing. All kids jackets/bags have reflective strips on them and you buy extra reflectors and hand them from your child's hood/bag.

I read a Swedish parenting magazine, there was recently an article about when your child should be able to use public transport, the reconstruction was that by the 2nd year of school ( aged 8) children should be able to use public transport ( including underground trains or even boats) to travel alone to and from school.

I would say no.

It is the road traffic. How many idiots are there, how many fools speeding because the rules don't apply to them? Plus children that young don't have the spatial awareness to judge speeds ffs.

People talk about the UK being more cautious - er prove it.

Great that your child walks to school, and that he is learning road sense. I do think eight is young to walk on his own; are there any other children he could walk with? Does he want to walk on his own or are you encouraging him to do it? Personally I would continue with meeting him halfway for another year at least; I was told by Road Safety professionals that children don't have the necessary skills for dealing with traffic until they are at least ten, and that was twenty years ago when there were fewer cars about.

Wait till he is ten! Through choice I never left my garden, but I wasn't allowed to the shop up the street 'til I was ten. I was still taken to school until the end of year 6.