To let 11 yo out after dark?

[AtSea1979]

DS is Y7. I guess it depends on the area you live etc. What time do you let yours out until? He's wondering around catching Pokemon.

Not after dark.

Dark means nothing, they come home from school in the dark during winter.

At 11 mine were home at 8pm

No way. Not without adult supervision. 7pm or sunset, whichever is earlier.

I think it's fine. It's dark at 4pm in the winter as PP said - if we had a no after dark rule they'd be sleeping at school!

I try my best to empower my girls to be as independent as possible.

Having the limit set at 'dark' is rather silly considering how early it gets dark in the winter - where I live there's only a few hours of daylight at all at the peak of winter so there's no option but to let children out 'after dark'!

The more relevant question is how sensible is he, what your local area is like, and is he alone or with a friend/friends?

Y1 DD is allowed out after dark, as others have said, darkness itself is pretty irrelevant, there are lots of other considerations!

Not hanging round the park or anything definitely not. On the way back/going somewhere is fine.

Wandering round alone looking at his phone and not being aware of surroundings isn't great at any time day or night.

When they were 11 I'd let them go to/from friend's houses and to the shops across the road up until about 7.30pm if I remember rightly. Although they have a few friends living in our street, so obviously later if they were just coming back from there.

His phone is now flat so not that sensible! He is/was with a sensible friend will just walk back the 5-10 mins alone.