Why don't kids walk to school anymore

[Failingatthemoment]

I'm obviously old. BUT, when I went to school the majority of kids walked to school on their own from around the ages of 7/8. Now it only seems that ( some) secondary school kids do this.

English schools seem to have weird policies about policing how children get to/from school. Endless threads about how children are "not allowed" to walk, even with siblings. So the parent has to walk with a 9 or 10 year old too, or if the parent can't be arsed or has places to be, has to drive them. If the parent breaks the "rules" then - well I don't know what happens, report to social services? Put on the naughty step?

In Scotland there are none of these "rules" about when children can or cannot walk alone to school, parents are trusted to make their own decisions about what is or is not appropriate. I can see the school door from my front door - my kids walked alone to school from a very young age. It is very very common to see even the youngest 5 year olds walking home with a 8 or 9 year old sibling.

Even with the more relaxed approach to walking, lots of parents still drive, park inconsiderately and block driveways.

Well we live six miles away but that’s not the norm!

As PP have said, I think a large part is more working parents. Logistics often dictate what happens. Then, for primary kids, safety and safeguarding. Most aren’t allowed to walk and also need to be released to a named adult.

I walk with my 9 year old (Year 4) and she will start walking on her own from summer of Year 5 when she is 10.5.

I don't think anyone has yet said that parental expectations for children are simply lower, particularly where the parents themselves drive everywhere and have seemingly lost track of what might constitute walkable distance.

There was a thread recently about a parent asking if it was reasonable to expect their child to walk a mile or so to school. I'd say around 50% of responders thought it wasn't.

It's up to the poster if she wants a fight with her school including a threat of being reported to SS.

One of my friends' argued with her kids school that her kids who were aged 9/10 could walk to school on their own as they were accompanying one another.

As soon as she did it other parents argued who lived on the roads nearby. So it ended up with a gang of them walking to and from school together.

When I was a kid there were loads of us all walking together because we lived on the same street and you’d also have your siblings with you. There are a lot more one child families now so they have no siblings to walk with.

Busy roads and selfish drivers.
My dc's friend this week was hit and killed by a car going home from school.
Last year the lollypop lady was hit by a car going through a red light.
Cars park everywhere even on pavements.
And this is all after police/ road people made a no car zone at pick up and drop off time. Nothing is enforced so it's just not safe.
I wish I could give my children more freedom but it's just not possible at present.

My DS(9) wants to walk to school but school won't let him unsupervised. He also wants to cycle to school, and passed a cycling proficiency course but school won't let him do that either. So I have to drive him there and back.

It's a mixture of things. Most schools don't allow children younger than 9 to walk to school and back on their own. More people live further away from their school. More children with disabilities are in mainstream who would have been in special needs school 20/30 years ago. The criteria for getting school transport has changed so primary school children don't get transport unless they live over 2 miles away and they have to meet other criteria too.

Do you mean walking, or walking alone? Big difference

My children pretty much walked with me til the last went to senior school, mainly because they wanted to and partly because I was walking the youngest

there were days when they went on ahead with their friends and there were also days when they walked one way with me but not the other

in regard to our local senior schools masses of children walk or cycle….some miles and miles

Our catchment school was our fourth nearest and not walkable unless I had 90 minutes each drop off/pick up. Lots of parents now go straight on to work from school run

We walk (or scoot). A huge amount of the parents near us do.

They wouldn’t walk alone though at 7-8. School wouldn’t allow it and I wouldn’t be happy because of the roads to cross.

I’ll still be walking with the youngest when the oldest is in year 6 but I will probably have them leave a few minutes before me sometimes so I can try and safely get them used to travelling independently.

My DC take themselves now they are in secondary, but I always walked with them in primary (when not at work). Good exercise for me and a chance to bump into other mums. Also, in the age of continuous entertainment being available within the home, it was a chance for DC to chat to me without distraction. Usually I would have to make them take turns as both would want to talk at once. It was quality family time!

My kids had a 6 mile round trip to primary and an almost 40 mile to secondary. No way were they walking that. They got the school bus, and if they had after school activities I picked them up.

I see loads walking to/from school in my area (house is near a very sought-after school).

The socially acceptable age for children to be out alone has risen. It’s area dependent but in my area they don’t walk alone until yr 6 and that’s to a very close village school.
Traffic is much heavier, especially near schools the parking is an often a nightmare, massive 4x4 cars blocking pavements and sight lines. Lack of crossing patrols. Children can’t reliably judge traffic speed until 10/11.
If an 8 or 9 yr old was knocked down people would judge - where was the mother.
Then at secondary age they are expected to without much practice.
Also many are enroute to work so drop on way.
Lots wfh near me and walk with child and dog. If they didn’t walk child they’d still need to walk dog, it’s a nice way to spend a few mins with child chatting.

Lots of schools, including my children’s old primary school, don’t allow unaccompanied children in the playground til year 6 and don’t let them walk home alone til then either.

My son used to get a lift to secondary school some days and walk others. My daughter gets dropped off and picked up every day as she prefers that.

Why are you bothered?

They don't walk because their parents are too lazy to walk with them in this area.

Because the car is king and we priorities drivers over pedestrians - lots of people in this thread saying they would like to let them walk but there is a busy dangerous road cross.

Imagine if we just invested in safe crossings which priorities pedestrian safety rather than prioritising cutting 60seconds off a driver's journey.

It's not as if the technology does not exist to solve this problem - safe crossings can be built. But traffic is often treated as some sort of natural phenomenon that can't be interfered with

There is a busy junction near me with no pedestrian crossing on it at all - on one side is the station and the other side is a college so naturally a lot of people need to cross it. But the only safe way requires pedestrians to walk in the opposite direction for a few minutes, then a staggered crossing where the lights are out of sync so you have to wait on the island for the next set to go green as well as having waited on the pavement, then walk back in the direction you want. It can easily take ten minutes when if there was a direct crossing it would take about one.
Of course many students take the risk and leg it across the road at the junction - you don't encourage pedestrians by making their safe journeys so much longer.

Reasons:

1. Schools dont allow it
2. Loads more traffic on roads, increased risk due to more cars
3. More parents having to work now so easier to drop them on the way
4. Greater awareness of safety/risk and reduction in the general laissez faire attitude towards parenting years ago (eg years ago noone really worried about seat belts etc)

I dont even think it has changed that much, I was born in the 70s and my mum didnt allow me to walk to school until secondary.

I guess some parents need to get to work so quicker to drive but I also think kids are a lot more inactive these days. My neighbour wanted help getting her kids to and from school. 20 minute walk there and back. She then changed her mind saying it was too long for the kids to walk. They are 7 and 9 with no disabilities. Sad really as kids getting too used to be driven everywhere.

You mean walking at all or just walking unaccompanied?
In our school (from 3-18 years old), children in junior school had to be accompanied and handed off at the gate, and collected from the teacher in the playground. This was a safeguarding issue stipulated by inspectors (there was always a gate, but it wasn't always manned, after an inspection it was one thing they highlighted needed to improve). Occasionally an older sibling could do this or known to the staff. This meant a number of parents drove and dropped on their way to work.
Where I live now there are three primaries within walking distance. You are not allowed to drive down the blocks the schools are on (snd parallel street if there is an entrance there). So everyone walks (and this is SW London, all the schools are oversubscribed so catchment area is small so no need to drive). In the morning in particular they are with a parent (many who will walk on to the train/tube station). A number of children seem to walk home without an adult (but they are not walking that far).

Mine walked to school from y6 , due to a busy road.
Agree that back in the late 70s most kids walked to school from a younger age. I moved house as I turned 9 and was walking to school about 1/2 a mile from the word go.
Literally I was shown the route and told to make my way in.
I had walked to my previous school from probably about aged 7 , that was a shorter route.

I would think it depends on the family’s circumstances, how far the school is away, what the area is like etc.

My eldest who is in high school walks by himself to catch a bus every morning.
My younger two (9 and 5) get taken to school by me because the walk is too far & we live in an area that is very built up with lots of busy roads to cross.