To ask what age you would let Dc travel alone on train?

[AaandBreathe]

DC is used to travelling on trains. It would a be a 25 minute trip end station to end station. I would put on train, MIL at other end to meet.

I think as long as he has a phone it would be fine. In any emergency he can ring for help. Both mine have got off at wrong stops, missed connections, had cancelled trains and they know to just ring me. We have always managed to work something out for them - get the next train, wait on the platform, wait outside the station for a lift etc. With so much info available in line you can track their train, tell them which platform they need, link to a bus route etc.

I see loads of them on my train going to school ... they seem to cope fine .. I hope people would look out for them if they looked to be in trouble .. I certainly would .. totally off thread but my son flew to Boston via Dublin to see his step sister when he just turned 17 ... I felt so wobbly about him changing flights and going through immigration.. but he did fine

I'd let my Yr 6 10 year old do that

Lol at age of 8. That wouldn't look at all strange to train staff would it?

13 here. With a mobile

At 12 my exh allowed ds to travel wherever he wanted.
Made me nervous.
At 10 his sibling isn't yet allowed out alone never mind on a train!!

Mine went Euston to Preston alone aged 14 and 12. No problems at all

@AliceInStaines 8 is perfectly doable on a quiet country train. Tends to be the same conductors most days, so no issue. Wouldn’t do it on a busy train or when having to change.

Most 11 year olds where I grew up got the train to school.

Most train companies would not allow an 8 year old to travel alone. It's not about trusting the child or the line being quiet. They're not equipped to deal with anything out the ordinary that may happen.

You do you, of course. But I think it's a poor judgement call

Some children use trains from Y7 to get to school.

My only concern would be the unreliability of the trains with delays, cancellations and station skipping. My son ended up in London a few weeks ago when they decided, after his train had left his origin station, that it would not stop in our town. He's now 17 and just turned round and came back on another train, but I think there's a real issue when they do this to 11 and 12 year olds (and disabled people). If you do let a younger child use the trains, they need to have a very clear and understood contingency plan for when things go wrong.

Lots of my friends travelled on the train to secondary so parents started letting them do solo train travel in Y6 occasionally in order to get the practice in. I don't see any problems unless your DS is particularly dreamy or likely to find it too overwhelming.

2 of mine have taken the train to school from the age of 11. There were usually other kids as well and it was a Fairly busy commuter train.

You will need to have 'the talk' with him, as I had to with my DS, who thought only girls had to be on the lookout for dodgy men taking an unhealthy interest. DS was a beautiful boy with shoulder-length glossy chestnut ringlets and cheekbones to die for!

My DD is 11 and I let her travel with her friends on the train to the next couple of towns over but no further at the moment.

That is only because our train operator is notorious for cancelled/delayed trains and if that happened on the way home then there is also a bus (that has a stop at the train station) from those towns directly back home. Any further out and it would require multiple buses/trains, long waits between connections and I dont think she'd be confident enough to navigate that in unfamiliar places.

If however she was being put on a longer direct train from me to another person meeting her as a one off I'd let her go as shes pretty sensible and would have her phone so she could call if there was an issue and we could talk her through it.

for what you describe: getting to and fro accompanied, no change, short(ish) journey... about 10.

go through a few 'what if' situations with dc.
what if

• I miss my stop
• the train stops and everyone has to get off
• troublemakers on the train (football fans, gangs)

My DSS lived about 500km away from us.
Between the ages of 10 and 12 his father paid for him to fly from where he lived to where we lived. He travelled as a UM.
Aged 12 onwards he came on the train. He would take himself to the station and one or both of us would meet him at the other end. Worked fine for us as he was a sensible child and used the traveling time (no changes) to do homework or read. His father gave him a basic mobile 'phone from aged 11 so he could always get in touch if there was an issue.
Flights were an hour, train around 3.5 hours.

You will need to have 'the talk' with him, as I had to with my DS, who thought only girls had to be on the lookout for dodgy men taking an unhealthy interest. DS was a beautiful boy with shoulder-length glossy chestnut ringlets and cheekbones to die for!

'The talk'

Yeah, explain how being physically attractive will make them a target

Fuck sake, do people not simply teach their children to be safe and aware as they grow up?

My DD recently did her first solo train journey of a similar length, put on train by me and met on platform at other end by my mum. She was 11, nearly 12.

A confident 10-year-old who’s done the trip before, so knows what to expect/what stops, and is being accompanied at either end of a short journey - absolutely fine. I’d let my DC do it. Presume he has a phone to call if there’s a problem?

No, of course I didn't tell him he was making himself a target: what an unpleasant notion. I made him aware that there might be people taking an interest in him for the wrong reasons, just as was true for his sisters.

It needs to be handled delicately but should not be ignored. A child learning what to do about situations like a missed train or tipsy football fans needs also to know what to do if someone sits too close or touches them. Sexual harassment of girls starts as early as 10 or 11 and school uniform is a go-to image for pornographers. Most girls will have a brush with it and it's best they have a strategy or two up their sleeves. And boys too, of course.

No, of course I didn't tell him he was making himself a target: what an unpleasant notion.

Indeed it was. You are the one who mentioned his looks, not me.

11 around here, kids go to school from that age alone.

In Tokyo, it's perfectly normal to see children aged 5 upwards, travelling on the underground, across the city, unaccompanied. On their way to school.

I have to say, considering all the "you can't possible leave him at home alone" or " he shouldn't be walking to school alone" threads on here, I was expecting be told I was being neglectful to even think about it!
It's for an after school club. I'm going to seriously consider it now and see what MIL thinks.

Kids here start practising in year 6 and are expected to he able to use the train confidently by year 7 as is necessary for school (( minimum of 30 minute up to 1 hr journey )) it's a far safer option than walking or cycling tbh so don't see why you'd have any issues.