Daughter walking home from school

[MrsL86]

My 11 year old daughter has recently started walking home from school alone. It is less than a mile & she was desperate to do it. She starts high school in September where she will have to get a bus to & from so we thought we’d start giving her a bit of independence now rather than throw her in at the deep end in sept. This morning I received a call from who school saying a concerned parent had been into school because they saw her walking home alone. School we’re asking me questions & making me feel like a bad parent for letting her walk home. I can’t stop thinking about the phone call & im now panicking if I have done the right thing. A lot of people I know have said they let their kids walk home in year 5 (she’s in yr 6) so I didn’t think she was too young... thoughts?

My 9 year old year 4 walks home alone. It's 0.6 miles.

So in 7 years time she’s 18 and can hop on a flight to wherever in the world. No wonder young people these days struggle to adapt and cope, there’s no gradual build up in independence and responsibility.
I’m late 30’s so primary late 80’s early 90’s. I walked to and from school independently from early in my school life, by late primary was getting the bus to next town to go swimming with a friend.
Has life really got so much more dangerous? We need to build independent, resourceful, resilient young adults, how can this happen when we don’t allow them gradual independence?

The schools here require us to sign consent for year 5 and year 6 children walking to and from school. Assuming that is the same for your area I think the school could have dealt with the overly concerned parent better (in a ‘thanks for your concern’ type of way).
My year 5 and year 6 walk to and from school - they are at two different schools and are more than happy to walk

You say that dd was desperate to walk home alone which to me indicates that it is usual within the school - otherwise why would she be begging to do it?

Not necessary Private. My kids were desperate to walk because it made them feel grown up. None of their friends walk with them.

Anyone else remember walking to and from school alone whilst still in infant school

So long as any roads to be crossed can be safely the more independence at a young age the better!

Rezie round here working parents do the following:

Have flexible working so they can drop child off and then go to work
Use breakfast club and after school club at the school (external provider, fee is charged)
Use a child minder, so drop them at their house
Work park time
Do a swap with a neighbour and work part time/from home/flexible hours on the days they’re doing the school run

OP don’t worry. At my school Y5&6 children are allowed to walk by themselves if they have a signed permission from the parent. DS 10 has been walking home by himself since the start of Y6, it’s not far with no major roads to cross. You are completely correct, it’s a great idea to get them used to doing this before they start secondary school. In fact when I told DS’s teachers he’d be leaving school by himself they were very encouraging and said it was great for them to start learning independence in Y6. He has his own door key now too!

I used to walk home alone from infants and in fact my own son wanted to do the same at age 6. He was a sensible child, and had no roads to cross to get there and it was only a couple of hundred yards he was allowed to. I normally ended up passing him his forgotten lunch over the hedge between our garden and the playground!

I'm in Scotland so dark after school and before school. Children in our area can walk to and from school when they are in Primary 4. So age 7 and 8 (some 9 year olds).
Many parents let their children do this. I'm not quite ready so 12 year old DS will pick his 8 year old DD up from school.
By age 11 I'll be more than ready. I'm trying to get myself ready for DD doing this when she's 9 and has the summer months to practice. It gets dark here at 3:30 sometimes and sun rise can also be after school starts.