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.

Someone I work with let their 12 year old son travel by train and he decided it would be fun to put his head out the window. He was decapitated. It really does depend upon the child in question and how sensible they are.

I think from secondary age fine. Nearly secondary age depends on child they vary so much. If you are confident they can speak to adult if need be and behave appropriately in an emergency I’d do it. I’m a Guide leader for girls 10-13, lots I’d say no way up to it but a few I’d think yes.

Far too young IMO

Far too young, this is incredibly irresponsible. People look out for children alone, the sort of people you don't want anywhere near your children!

I agree with this. I don't see what the huge difference is between an 11 YO on their own and an 11 and 10 YO together.

It's not like the younger one is a toddler and if you think the 11 YO can travel alone, then the 10 YO should also be capable or will be in a year's time.

As long as they both know what to do if something goes wrong with the train or they get separated and they're not the types to rowdily mess about and disturb other passengers, and they're generally responsible and used to train travel, then I don't see the problem. They have a phone, know how long the journey is and know where to get off. They just have to sit there for an hour until they reach their destination.

My child age 11 chose his secondary school and a condition was that they'd get the train.

We did the there and back journey on a Saturday. My husband accompanied him for mornings in the first week, then crossed over platforms went to work himself, after that he was on his own.

Lots of kids at his school commute by train and they get a little gang going.

Advice! Drum in the need to check they've got all their bags before they get off and keep items like phones and headphones in pockets. We did lose a swimming bag in the early days.

I think giving it another year so one end yr7 and one almost yr7 would be more within normal range of ok.

DS would've lost a younger child, like the PE bag.

My friend’s child gets 2 trains to school, total journey time about an hour and has done since 11. It’s been fine. She has a phone. I think there was one instance when a train was cancelled and she wasn’t sure what to do but she rang her mum and asked. There will always be ‘what ifs’ about anything, it doesn’t mean something is ok or not ok, you just have to decide for yourself if the child is mature enough to do it and if they are happy to do it.

Kids do it so it’s seen as acceptable I would say.

When I used trains from about 13 onwards with friends, we suffered quite a bit of sexual harassment from men. Pervy comments, lots of unnecessary brushing up against us if the train was vaguely busy and more obvious stuff. My nieces have had the same in the last few years so not much has changed.

I guess it depends on the route, time of day etc but I wouldn’t have wanted my daughter to do this at 10/11.

I'd be fine with this (assuming it's not the last train out of Leeds on a Friday night).

I wouldn't, it's a long time, I'd be very surprised if I saw 2 children that age alone on a train. Is it even allowed?

@AlwaysGinPlease while this is completely true, other people (like me and, I'm sure, you) also look out for children who are alone, in order to make sure they are OK.

I would be very concerned about who was on that train and who might get on / off at each stop! A whole hour surrounded by strangers with no help from a responsible adult.
I have a 10 year old and NO I would not put them on a train / bus or any form of transport on their own

When was this?
I don't think I've ever seen a train you could put a head out the window off - other than some heritage steam trains.

Is your child responsible for another child?

Is your child wearing school uniform?

I know children who were 11 who were reported to the police for being on their own whilst not wearing school unform simply because they looked too young.

You may not have to worry about your child but there are weirdos out there, Jesus Christ absolutely not I thought this would be obvious for safety!

This, with bells on!

Not for an hours journey, no.

I used to get the train all the time at 11 and it was no big deal. I see loads of children that age on the train by themselves or with friends. I suppose it depends of what the norm is for your area.

The question is whether it is appropriate for the 10 year old to be travelling alone, surely? The 11 year old should not be taking responsibility for them.

I also don't think the train staff would be willing to take responsibility either, and nor should they.

Otherwise, I think 10/11 is borderline. A very short local hop maybe. An hour is a bit long. My kids both took a 15 minute journey to school by train. My daughter was only just 11. But it was a short journey that they were familiar with and there were older kids from the same school on the train too. Also, usually, a number of familiar adults, though they were not responsible for them in any way. I was however appreciative of their help when the train unexpected finished its journey at an intermediate station and told them all to get out and take a local bus. Quite challenging for a just 11 year old.

A lot depends on the child. My daughter is 12 and has a lot of independence now. She walks 40 minutes to school each day, she gets the bus in to the city with friends, goes to cafes, out for lunch, picks her little brother up from primary school etc. However, the other day I asked her to get the bus to the city and meet me there and she was appalled, saying "I can't do that ALONE!".
Is your 11 year old comfortable doing this plus being responsible for a younger child?

I think it's fine. My friends and I caught the tube alone at 11.

Although our school wouldn't release a year 5 to the care of a year 6 child.

I think a 10 and 11 year old would be fine in the scenario you describe - but you do have to think about how they would cope if something unexpected happened.

I’ve been on a train plenty of times when they’ve just decided to cancel it half way and make everyone get off.

What would they do if that happened? Or something along those lines? I don’t know that I could necessarily trust my (normally v sensible 11 yo) in that scenario - it might depend if they knew the route well, or if I would be able to quickly drive and rescue them.

Tbh I used to travel from Cardiff to Southampton a lot as a teenager on my own. The number of weirdos that used to try to come and sit next to me , one guy even put his hand on my leg. In my experience I wouldn't let an 11 yr old travel alone no.