To let 7 year old walk to and from school alone?

[RLE2]

DS is in year 3, we live about a 10 minute walk away from the school. We live in a quiet area, he won't be near any busy roads, the only roads he has to cross is our road and the school road. The school road isn't too busy as it's only people going to the school using it and our road is empty apart from neighbours. Is 7 too young? It's not unheard of for year 3's to walk by themselves at his school but most still walk with a parent, a few don't

would ease him into it, first let him take the lead when you walk to school, deciding when it is safe to cross the road (also get him to do that when you are walking elsewhere, on busier roads) to get an idea of his road sense

I did this with my kids as soon as they started walking - questioning them on when they thought it was safe to cross, etc. Is that not standard?

Will your school let you? At our school they've tightened up on safeguarding and you can only walk to and from school alone in years 5 and 6. For other years you can't even walk them to the playground and then leave, you have to remain with them until the school goes in.

Do you agree that's necessary?

Nope. I live closer to dd’s school than you do to yours and she is 7.
Not a chance .
The school wouldn’t allow it either and quite rightly

We have a very simple, safe school run. Walk to next-door-but-one (no drives), cross a minor road (may need to wait for 2-3 cars at busy times), walk along the pavement past 3 driveways and past the school field, enter the school site. About 3 minutes to the school gate, a couple more through the site.

DS is 8 (y3). I have to be there for DS2 anyway. I would not let him cross the road unsupervised. On the opposite pavement I am happy to let him walk at his own pace and drift from me if he's chatting with friends. Generally he choses to walk with me and chat. He likes a hug and kiss from me at the classroom door and waits for me if he had gone ahead and I'm held back at a slower child's pace.

At this stage, I wouldn't want him to do it solo, but the need for proximity is decreasing and it is becoming more of a shadowing of him. School would text within about 30 minutes if he hadn't arrived, but that's not a reassurence that I'm prepared to rely on for some time.

I wouldn’t but obviously your call. I don’t think my DC’s school would allow it.

In our school it’s y3/p4 that they stop checking parents are there before releasing the child.
My 9 year old started walking to and from school at 7. I find it strange as a child of the 70s that we don’t allow kids basic independent freedoms like walking to school - I did it from p1, we all walked together aged 5 and nobody thought twice.

Oh my goodness. That's too young! I wouldn't. My school does not allow it until year 6.

I definitely walked to school on my own at that age!! We all did. But things are different now and kids aren't allowed to do anything on their own anymore :(

You also say their are other parents walking at the same time but your child is not their responsibility, he’s yours.
Let him walk ahead of you but not completely on his own ,doesn’t matter what he keeps asking for , dd keeps asking for a Mobil phone but that doesn’t mean I’ll let her get one!

My setup is almost identical to what you describe. school is a 7 minute walk from my house, one straight road. No major crossings (just residential streets). At least 40 school parents walk past my house at 9am/3pm when school ends, so VERY safe and people we know everything.

Still wouldnt do it. 7 is too little. Maybe Y5/Y6 depending on maturity of child.

I honestly wouldn't let a 7 year old walk alone to school and I'm not even sure that I'd be happy for my 10 year nephew to either!

schlerp there are more cars now so more chance of being involved in an accident , there was always stranger danger but without it being in the news everyday like now ,parents didn’t think this was an issue even though it was .
You can’t compare the “good old days” to now

Too young
Our school doesn’t allow Y3 to do this.
IMO even if it did, it just puts the responsibility for the child into random passers by and other school run parents.

Some people have an odd idea of independence. There aren’t any NT able bodied adults who can’t walk up the road and round the corner without their mums. Plus, learning to be independent involves learning the modelled behaviours from an adult in usual and unexpected situations. Not just being alone and potentially making poor choices.

NO, NO, NO

My ds was aged 10 before he walked home on his own

@Pk37 there are more cars now so more chance of being involved in an accident

You do know that your child is far less likely to be involved in a road traffic accident today than 40 years ago though? In 1979, over 10,000 children were killed or seriously injured in a collision with a vehicle; in 2014 it was 1,782.

No way

Definitely not! Way too young.

He’s been asking, so he feels ready, you’re not asking him to do it for your convenience before he’s ready.

Plenty of others do it at your school & plenty of people walk, so it’s not like he’s an isolated child.

Only your road to cross.

I’d let him, but I’d start with walking home alone first and I’d tell him if he changes his mind you’ll start walking with him again.

I loved walking home with my friends and ‘walking friends’.

People really baby children now and it does them no good.

yes @formerbabe but SS are only interested in genuine risk not school rules or what suits headteacher
if you leave 6 doors away from school SS are not going to agree it's a risk nor if they can walk home without crossing a road

@pk37 actually despite the increase in car numbers since 40 years ago the risk is actually lower from cars, and statistically stranger danger is less too

my DD is 9 (P5)since aged 8 ( P4/Y3) she has walked to where school bus picks her up and she walks home alone from the bottom of the track leading to our house about 300metres, at school only P1-2 are released directly to parents after that the instruction is if you were expecting someone and they are not there come back to school
Most children in the village walk home with friends or alone from P5

@Pk37 As for stranger danger, the number of children abducted is very low but as with abuse of children generally, 90% of it will not be carried out by a stranger but someone the child knows. They are more likely to be snatched or abused by a member of your family than a stranger.

Yeh. I wouldn’t. The world is full of horrible people and nobody’s having the chance to hurt my child.
The fact you are asking means you know really that you shouldn’t let him.
Not everybody is kind. My dad used to pick me up and drive me all over the place as a teen to keep me safe. A seven year old is a baby!

Ds school only allows them to walk home alone from primary 5 (age 8). He will be 9 on Friday and I've just started to allow him to walk. His school is less than ten minute walk and we live in a village. I wouldn't have let him at 7.
I think things like this should be based on individual cases to do with the area eg roads and safety and maturity of the child.

Not a chance for me, it only takes one weirdo to notice he's a little child on his own, watch him for a bit and potentially harm him - IMO it's not worth the risk.

I agree with this. The risk is small, I imagine about the same as being killed by lightning. We had a storm here at the weekend and I did not let the DC in the garden because of the small risk of being hit by lightning. I imagine this would be regarded as ‘sensible’ yet not allowing my DC to walk to school alone suggests I have ‘issues.’

I'm trying to find the stats for the UK but in the US, children taken by strangers or slight acquaintances represent only one-hundredth of 1 per cent of all missing children.

I have friends in Berlin whose children all walked to school (a smiliar distance to that described in op) from age 6. Apparently perfectly normal there and no issues.