What age is considered appropriate before a child can do this...

[Poppymayday]

Get themselves home from a local school, let themselves in and stay home alone for an hour or so until adult gets back home?

One of the things I love about where I live is that it allows the kids to have some semblance of a "free range" children. My 9-year-old runs round in a pack of neighborhood kids and I'm often not sure where they are - they are either at one of the local parks or one of the kids' houses. Lots of "who has the kids?" texts which I love. We need to give kids some freedom - mastery of their environment, etc. Telling a 12-year-old that you don't trust them to take of themselves - which is what you're doing when you have a childminder for them, FGS) - is incredibly damaging.

Surely it depends on the area you live in, how many people live in the household, past debt etc. Those that judge...
A 60/70 grand wage for a household of 4 for example, isn't rich, it would also be taxed more than two 30 odd grand wages, which wouldn't be judged whatsoever.

Year 7

@SleeplikeababyTonight A 60/70 grand wage for a household of 4 for example, isn't rich, it would also be taxed more than two 30 odd grand wages, which wouldn't be judged whatsoever.

But obviously, if both parents earn £60/£70k, then that pays a lot more than two £30k salaries, and it would be considered rich for a 4 person household... ...

I was 8, walk/ bus/ walk , London.

Son was 7, walked, village.

As far as I recall, this was the norm for pupils at both schools at the time.

Start of high school, so Year 7 (11/12 year old).

@Georgyporky You seem to be a decent and normal person, unlike most of the people on this thread.

Why does the age she walked to school alone have any impact on her ‘decency’?

No, that's what you do with infants. Children have to be allowed to grow up.

Not true, there is no minimum legal age to leave a child home alone in the UK, as per the .gov website:

The law on leaving your child on their own
The law does not say an age when you can leave a child on their own, but it’s an offence to leave a child alone if it places them at risk.
Use your judgement on how mature your child is before you decide to leave them alone, for example at home or in a car.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) says:
children under 12 are rarely mature enough to be left alone for a long period of time
children under 16 should not be left alone overnight
babies, toddlers and very young children should never be left alone
Parents can be prosecuted if they leave a child unsupervised ‘in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health’.

Sexual abuse and bullying will be a problem regardless of whether the child is walking home, or being ferried around. It should be dealt with as its own issue regardless of how the child is getting home.

Again your failure to read my previous post has led to you spectacularly missing the point that I was sexually assaulted because I was making my way home alone aged nine.

And then had to let myself in.

And process that all alone. Because I didn't know what exactly had just happened to me.

And coming home every single day, after being bullied every single day, to no one at all does have an impact. For a start, by the time my parents had got home, school was shut so there was no teacher to speak to. There was no hug or shoulder to cry on. I did consider ending my own life, as the bullies suggested and would have had the means and time alone to do it.

It was completely negligent to leave a nine year old alone repeatedly after school to deal with that. It's not a separate issue and it's not an isolated issue. The child learns to shut down and that they aren't important enough to have an adult look out for them properly.

But...yeah...the only thing children have to worry about is fractions, eh?

Depends on the child?

Without knowing the child I would say year 7 secondary school.

My oldest I would have let stay home at a younger age then my middle child for example.

Definitely child dependent and if they have been prepared for it/left at home for short periods before.

Responsibility has to gradually be released so an 11 year old starting y7 who has never been left in the house before even for 5 minutes, will struggle more than a 10 year old starting y6 whose parents have gradually built up to this and prepared them on what to do in an emergency.

I wouldn't let my nearly 10yo (y5) do this but some y5s might be ok.

Depends on the child. My kid is soon to be 11 and has ASD and ADHD and I wouldn't feel comfortable with this for another 2-3 years at least

Should have said also depends on distance from home to school - we live a 20/25 minute walk awayIf we were on the next street it might be different

Both DS did it from year six. Walked for 30 mins, crossed a busy road, down a busy country lane and home alone for up to two hours. No neighbour, no other family in the county, parents 30 minutes away.
Bit nervy at the time but no other option.

Not everyone lives in the uk on here…my dd won’t start until she is 12 and a half and some in her class will be 13 starting.

DS2 walked 5 mins home on his own and was in the house for about 5 mins before I arrived back from DS1's secondary pick-up from y5. His comfort time being alone grew during that year and by y6 he would have been fine with an hour in the house after school, but he wouldn't have been at the start of y5.

Lots of children stop using the ASC at y6 as they've outgrown being in a crowded room full of younger children playing. It's preparation for y7 when they have a longer walk or bus journeys from the secondaries. An hour is not a long time for most older primary age children to be alone.

The "right age" will depend on the child, the journey and the options avaliable.

Of course, in a perfect world. An ipad can be hidden quite easily, but in our house we do have biscuits and chocolate and the likes because those things do occasionally cross our lips, and I don’t want to live in a home where I have to keep these things under lock and key.
And personally I do have an issue with my child having an hour of TV or PlayStation every weekday evening. And yes in the same perfect world we can hide every remote control etc every evening.

Anyway as I said, my 9 year old could do it and has done occasionally….. and I wouldn’t be summoning social services for a child who did it every day (though at primary school I don’t know any children around me who do). But luckily for me grandparents live nearby so they can take car of that pickup and after school times on the days my husband or I don’t wfh.

And expecting them to manage like an adult or teen to compensate for your inability or unwillingness to provide appropriate care for them when needed doesn’t improve their emotional well-being either.

11 or 12. It's not usual for children not in secondary school to go home alone to an empty house where I live.

I assumed you didn't from your post, is there something specific to your country that means that 13 year olds are so different to UK 13 year olds who SN or distance aside will all have been making their own way home for up to 2 years

@shuggles

A high paying job more than £60k, but often even higher than £100k.
Which apparently isn't enough for many people to live on, because they might have difficulty with their monthly payment for a massive ugly SUV after going on holiday for the 3rd time in one year.

What's that got to do with what age you allow your child to walk home from school at?

Ferrying your child around in an SUV is not providing care. Children have to be allowed to do things for themselves. I find it funny that there are people in their 20s now who say they have difficulty phoning the doctor or dentist.

You’re obsessed with SUVs 😁. I pick my kids up from school on foot.