To think 11 is not too young to travel on a train alone?

[Tellmeifimwrong]

Please settle a debate! Happy to hear all opinions.

Is 11 years old, starting y7 in Sept, too young to take a one hour train journey, without parents but with a slightly younger child? Put on at one end by an adult and met at the other end by an adult, with a phone and data, and train staff informed? No behavioural problems or SEN.

Some 11 year olds yes, some 11 year olds no.

There is a thread like this everyday.

11 is plenty old enough to get the train themselves, unless you haven’t raised them to be independent.

An 11 year old should not be responsible for a younger child on a train

Depends on the child, but I think it’s perhaps too much for them to have an accompanying younger child with them too. And there aren’t many train staff these days - it’s not like “leave them in the care of the guard” from 1920s novels. There’s a good chance it’d all be fine, but potentially risky unless the children are both very used to train travel and have done some shorter independent journeys.

I agree ^

Have they been regular train travellers their whole lives and know how train travel 'works' ? Probably ok if they are fairly mature for 11.
If they've never or barely travelled by train in their life - then no.

Im not sure about the responsibility for a younger child.

Oh hold on.... responsible for younger child? Maybe not a good idea.

Most 11 year olds this would be fine, loads of children where I live do this at younger. Looking after another child, not sure about this at all.

11yo on their own - fine

11yo responsible for younger child - not fine

Do you think that an 11 year old is safer alone than with a younger child? Other child only one year younger.

I agree with this.

On their own - ok.
responsible for another child - not ok.

There are kids here taking the train to school from Year 7. It's for a grammar and nearly one hour train away. I think they can do it but not also being responsible for a younger child.

I don’t think 11 on its own it’s too young but depends on the other child’s age people can be weird I posted about my 11 year old traveling to school alone on the bus and was told it was too young and other mums were telling me they still take their 14 year olds to school 🤦🏻‍♀️

How old is the younger child - do you mean 2x 11 yo getting the train together?

11 & 10 I'd think they'd be OK
11 & 6 no I wouldn't

It's not necessarily that they'd be safer - the risks associated with this are low in either case. It's that if something does go wrong it's better if they only have to be responsible for themselves, not a younger child.

Are the 2 kids likely to argue? Having an 11 year old responsible for a 10 year old is not ok. My kids would have been fine travelling on the train as long as it wasn't rush hour. Not sure they would be confident enough to tell someone sitting in their reserved seat that the seat was theirs

11 & 10 I'd tell them to stick together and be responsible for each other. Not having all the responsibility on the 11 yos shoulders.

More context needed I think. Responsible for younger child - no. Ok to do journey on own - not used to train, few other passengers, few stops, unfamiliar journey - probably not quite yet - too vulnerable to deal with weirdos. Train to school full of other kids on the same journey with lots of stops - should be fine.

And what train staff? The guard, if there is one, isn't going to stay in the same carriage keeping an eye on them. They're on they're own.

What's the relationship between the kids?

If it had been me and one of my brothers, hell no.

Plenty of 11yos travel to and from school in public transport by themselves so that's not an issue for me; being responsible for another kid would be too much for me.

Depends on train and how many stops there are in between. 1 or 2 stops very different to busy commuter route. Intercity type train better. Eg would be fine with LNER fast train from Edinburgh to Newcastle but not necessarily the slow stopping service.

If 2 children very much dependent on age/relationship with younger one.

10 year old can be responsible for themselves, no? 10 isn't a hundred miles off 11.

I just don’t think it’s fair for the 11 year old to feel responsible for another child.

Children same age who are both able to manage independently is fine imo but not if either feels responsible for a younger child who couldn’t do it alone.

10 year old I wouldn’t let do it alone, so I’d not allow them to do it supervised by another child.

Depends entirely how responsible and mature the two kids are. You have to judge this on an individual basis.