...to look a bit like an "idiot American" by asking

[Proginoskes]

...at what age do your DC go by themselves to school (assuming school is in walking distance)? I see so many 'school run' threads and it seems like up to a certain age they're escorted to the gate and...handed off to a teacher/minder? Or just let to go in the gate, but escorted by Mum/Dad/minder the whole way? I know that in a lot of cases they have to be taken by car because of overcrowded schools, but if the school is walking distance, what then?

Where I live (which is a smallish rural town with a hospital and a university being its biggest employers), only the kindergarteners (Reception?) and first graders really are walked right up to the school. Mostly the kids walk in groups - for some of the littles there is a "walking school bus" which is one adult with five or six littles on a particular route. But my DC and all their friends, except in freezing/snowy/icy/very hot weather, have been leaving the house and getting on to school since third grade, which is 7-8 years old. Granted, the way the K-5 schools are set up, no one lives more than a mile from one if that.

I am a five minute walk away from DS' primary. There is one road to cross, which is directly in front of my front door - from then it's a straight walk.

I think he'll be walking on his own from around 7, with me watching/waving him off once I've crossed him over (the cars around here think our estate is a racetrack).

My daughter is 9, will be 10 in July and has just started to walk by herself. School is 5 minutes walk with no roads to cross.

I started my children walking a bit by themselves pretty early, just a few 100 yards with me watching from the car from about age 6 and 8. They were allowed to walk together from about 8 upwards, it's a very short walk with one crossing person to help them cross the only proper road.

I agree you need to build up, once they are at secondary, it's a huge leap to walking 30 min independently across several roads (and navigating some of the more unpleasant children in my case when I was at school). One of mine has to get the bus from the town centre and walk back most days if I'm working, I think if I hadn't been building up from age 8 (in her case) then it would have been extremely stressful for her- this way she was ready for the leap, and aged 12 is now allowed to take the bus into town and go around by herself with a friend (with phone/limits on what they can do).

Round here it's about age 9 they are let off the leash. From age 5 they play out the front in a gang.

BTW my kids' German cousins walk to school from age 7, in small groups. Nobody drives their kids to school at all AFAIK. People would think you are mad.

My dd went at age 9. 5minute walk. A busy road but with crossing and plenty of other children same age walking together.

My dc have always got the bus - first of all in a rural area where a minibus picked up from the house, and then in a city travelling to a school a few miles away (specialist language provision). In lower primary I would let them walk to the bus stop as I could see it from the house, after the eldest was about 9 I stopped watching out so much. We moved house (same school, different bus route) when the dc were in primary 4,5 and 7 and we let them walk to the bus stop 10 minutes away alone from then.

Now they're all at secondary (S1,2 and 4) and they all independently use the normal buses to cross Glasgow on a daily basis with no bother at all.

Ds2 made the transition from walking with me every day, to doing a half hour walk, crossing two main roads, alone or with friends every day without a hitch.

We walked the route with him a few times over the summer and made sure he'd got his phone for back-up if he did get lost, but he was absolutely fine from day 1. The only problem we've had was some bullying from Y11 pupils, just before Christmas. As a result he and his friends have chosen and planned a new route home.

After one term he's much more independent and confident, eg he's now happy to walk to the next village for milkshakes with a couple of friends on days they finish early.

It does seem a bit of a leap to have been picked up at primary every day then suddenly, at the age of 11, be expected to go it alone, but most parents plan ahead and work on building up independence and problem solving skills for what to do if things don't go to plan etc, in good time, so it isn't really such a shock. Most of them are more than ready for it by then.

Secondary school here (year 7) age 11. It's a small town with one busy road to cross and a few minor roads. I think if we sign a form they can go alone in year 5 but I have a younger child to take to the same place so i have to be there anyway which suits me.

DS has walked from age 9 but we only live 5mins from the village school. The school I work in has a policy that only Y6 can walk on their own, all others, excluding reception have to be dropped off and collected by an adult.

Where I live, Reception-Year 2 are released to an adult (4-7 year olds), Year 3-6 (7-11 year olds) are just released at the end of the day. Some meet a parent but many walk to and from school alone.

DD1 often walks on ahead of us, sometimes she leaves the house a few minutes earlier than us as well. She is 9yo in y5.

She has also walked DD2 & DD3 (y3 & 8 and y1 & 6) up to school when I couldn't take DD4 out of the house (wheezy & been sick all night and had only just fallen back to sleep). I wasn't able to get hold of any of my school mum friends so no one else was about to walk them.

If I stand on my door step I can see the girls cross the road with the lollipop lady, then cross the small road to get to the school side of the road and then walk part way up the hill to the school (about 2 mins walk & no more roads from where I can last see them).

DD1 was instructed to wait with her sisters at the y1 classroom door then walk round to DD2s classroom.

I was worried it was too much responsibility for DD1 but she loved it. They all held hands the whole way up to school & waited together.

DD1 & DD2 go to the local shop together (or DD1 goes by herself) and had just started to play at the local playpark which is next to their school. Unfortunately it came to light there was a lot of bullying going on in the playpark so I had to stop them going up.

My kids all walked too and from school together from last year. They were y3,5 and 6 then. Now the eldest is in secondary school and I bussed in as its 8 miles away.

I would say towards the end of year 6.

When my DC were at this stage we lived in a village. Once they were 5, we went through crossing the road drill every time we crossed a road. DS went to school on his own from the age of 8, went to Cornwall on the train on his own at 14, and to Scotland at 15. He absolutely loved the independence.

DD started going to school on her own at 9 (was much wussier with her) and started going into the nearest town on the bus with her friends in year 6. She was tackling cross country train journeys by 15.

They'd both been on trains before, and the tube, and knew how to cope with it because I'd taught them. They knew what to do if things went wrong, they knew who to contact and how if they needed help.

Neither of them has ever said gosh, Ma, you were a bit neglectful. We wish you'd been a bit more caring.

They loved the fact that they were trusted to get themselves from A to B.

Ironically, the mother who gave me the biggest flack for my dangerous and neglectful ways asked my DD to teach hers how to use the bus. DD was very gracious about it.

Leafy area of provincial city. DS started walking to and from school in year 3. Unusual but school, thank goodness, left it up to parents. Personal circumstances meant he started a bit earlier than I would have liked, year 4 seemed more appropriate. Most going by themselves in year 6.

Our school policy states... If your child is in year 5/6 they may walk to/from school in their own. At the parents discretion. All other years need to be brought to school.

However, as I work at the school the above will never happen! They can't tie their own shoe laces. Let alone cross the road!

Small rural villages school in Scotland DD is in P2 (Y1) we drive and leave l watch her cross road with lollipop man into school then I drive off. P1-3 are taken to gate by teacher no parents allowed in playground before or after school and released when child spots parent child minder etc. P4-7 are just released if they were expecting to be met and they are not there they should return to office.
Loads walk by themselves from 7-8 years old, it's a small school less than 100 l am quite happy, when I was 6 back in 1970's most children walked from aged 6 the second year of infants I walked by sister home when she was 5 and l was 7, the dangers to children are not greater. The number of children injured by traffic has fallen despite greatly increased traffic and the numbers of abductions by strangers hasn't changed in decades, l think most of it is not truly about safety but protection from prosecution. I think children lack independence and skills due to overprotection and over reliance on mobile phones. An 11 year old should be able to go 3 miles to school walking catching bus etc easily

I have so many happy memories of walking home from junior school with friends. Of friends who were solely 'walking home' companions. Of games and conversations that only took place on those journeys. It was an element of freedom and independence (responsibility I suppose but it seemed natural) that shines bright in my childhood. Mine was a half mile or less walk in a town.

I feel really quite sad to think that dd might be denied that experience.

Also, practically, this need to collect must have a huge impact on childcare costs. What a pain.

Wow, there's a huge variety! One of the things I like about our town is that it was possible for kids to walk to school. Here in the US, lots of cities are building the newer schools out away from housing so it's just about impossible for any kid to walk and they're almost all bussed - most school districts run busses anyway but I know there are some that don't...I'm not sure how that's supposed to work if a parent doesn't drive but needs to get their dc to school. Also, schools here almost all enroll students strictly by catchment - if there are too many students then they either just have huge classes or bring in what we used to call "cubes" and park them in the playground. My high school had a main building, then the "old colonies" which were old, nearly falling-down porta-classrooms, the "new colonies" (self-explanatory) and then "the Annex" which was, miracle of miracles, an Actual Building.

Back to the actual subject of getting to school, that high school didn't run yellow busses - our school board had some sort of deal set up with the Metro (city busses) to run certain routes to the schools. Not so bad, except that the number of city bus route numbers was far less than the number of places they needed to take students to so you'd have, for example, four #24 busses in the line waiting at the end of the school day and if you didn't check the route sign displayed in the front window you'd wind up like me on my first day there. I didn't know to check the route sign, hopped on the first #24 bus I saw, and instead of an eastern suburb of Cincinnati I wound up in a western...exurb, almost. WAY across town from where I needed to be. It was a huge faff getting home; after every other single person had got off the bus I got up the courage to ask the driver when the bus would arrive at X street and he was just like, oh NOOOO. He actually got permission to go out of his way on the way back to the garage to drop me at a 'hub' stop where I could get the right bus home. Safely home, I cried and grumped for a bit (hey, I was only 12, lol!) and was fairly when my mom just said, "I bet you'll check for the route sign tomorrow!"

Thrown to the wolves, I tell you. Thrown to the wolves!

Oh and also - that school was about 3.5 miles from where we lived, in a neighborhood that was, hmm...not BAD, exactly, but kind of sketchy and really you did not want to be there on, say, a Friday or Saturday night. When I was in 8th grade (13yo) there was a bus strike and the school board tried to make provisions for bussing but it just was NOT working, so I said the heck with this and walked there and back. boy, I was fit back then I tell you. My grandmother nearly lost her mind when she found out I walked because of the neighborhood - it had been the center of some fairly violent protesting during the 60s and she was sure it was still exactly that dangerous, bless her.

My kids are picked up from the end of our track by the small school bus (we are rural) and dropped there at the end of each day. On Fridays I actually collect from school, just to make sure that the kids have remembered to bring everything home - and to actually have a chat with some of the other parents!

When they go to secondary they will also be collected by a (larger) school bus but a bit further down the road. I will probably still collect and drop off there though because although it's a rural road (no road markings sort of road), people drive along it really (dangerously) fast and there are several blind corners they'd have to walk around to get to the bus.

All children had to be released to a responsible adult at the end of the school day at my childrens primary.

It drove me bonkers because on ballet class day I had to leave work early to go & collect year 6 dd & her 3 friends from school & escort them literally round the corner to the dance school on the next street

I'm American too. DS walked last year with a group of students. He was seven and in first grade. This year (8 and in second, obviously) he and my six year old mindee walk there and back together 3x a week and he walks himself the other 2.

And yes there's no "the school is too full" in our area, they just shuffle teachers.