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?

It depends on the distance and route.
At my local school, in a village, kids in Yr 5 walk home alone but the route is about 250 yards for some of them. Others, maybe half a mile.

I was walking a mile home from school aged 8 but always with a friend and the route was a road with plenty of houses along it - nowhere deserted. And a school crossing patrol to cross the road.

My Mum was a SAHM so she was always there.

My sons been doing it once a week since he was 10 and leaves 15 mins after me in the morning that day. The schools only one street away and my sister in law lives there incase of emergencies and doesn't work.

I couldn't have trusted my girls to do the same though as they were nowhere near as mature, sensible or organised.

He's never been late once to school, my 15 year old on the other hand 🙄

Edited to change from twice a week to once, as my 15 year old is actually home before him on the Thursday.

To get home DS has two main roads to cross, both of which service the local for station and ambulance hub so green / red isn't enough, plus a plethora of smaller roads. His friend had one small road. We live a mile away, she lives a few hundred yards. My niece has to hop on a bus but no major roads to cross. Entirely different ball games..
Our school also doesn't let them walk home alone until year 5 so that would be 9 for DS but nearly 10 for his friend

I think a number is arbitrary as it depends on the child. I would say when that child can safely walk home and navigate traffic and roads. But mostly, if there is an unexpected emergency can the child mentally cope with the situation. So what if there was a fire as an example.

But what you're stating is not fact, it is just a feeling you have and you've watched a TV programme that confirms your confirmation bias. In my circles, I literally don't know anybody who was left at 8 on their own, as adults, most of them have very successful jobs with accompanying responsibilities.

My own DC are teens and both really capable, my 18 year old is very independent, is here, there and everywhere but at 8 he was a child and I wanted him to be one and indulge in that, what is the rush?

I lived in the South of England from 0 - 27 and I walked two miles home from school from the age of 8. Both my parents worked full-time so there was little choice and I think it's parents' work demands that will dictate whether or not their children get themselves to and from school, rather than risk aversion. Of course, flexible working arrangements these days make the decision-making easier in many cases.

11

We would be left at home during the school holidays (three of us, all primary age) while my parents were at work and honestly it’s a wonder we didn’t burn the house down. We’d be cooking up all sorts of concoctions and I remember we’d make huge pans of chocolate custard, all on a gas stove. This was the late 60s/early 70s. I didn’t leave my own kids till they were senior as I was a sahm until then.

But the OP is describing something else, an 8 year old walking home, letting themselves in and being alone for an hour not 20 minutes why you have seen them and pop to local shop that's not the same scenario. I think it is a bit sad, all alone for at least 1.5 HR doing all that at 8!

Depends on how far to walk, safe route, their capacity to stay safe etc.

One child might be sensible at 9 and another 16.

We walked home from primary at about 9 but that was a different time

How often are we talking about? I think it's different for a one off rather than expecting them to do it five days a week on a permanent basis.

I think my son did this at about nine but his dad works five minutes away if there had been an emergency and I phoned him for some of it to check he was okay.

As a regular thing I'd want a bit older probably 11 plus.

Year 6. Possibly year 5 if mature and independent for their age.

Year 7 so 11-12. Personal opinion of course.

11 for me. But we’re very rural. Perhaps 10 if there were more neighbours around.

11

I walked myself home from school at 8 but I don't remember being alone in the house til I was about 10. I was a very sensible boring child though.

The reason I said being left after school as a nine year was too young and part of a wider picture of neglect for me, was nothing to do with not being trustworthy or responsible and everything to do with regularly having to deal with things all alone as a small child for an extended period of time.

I was badly bullied at school. I had a lot to hold in all day, and no safe person to talk to at home. Being told you should end your own life for a bulk of the day, then walking into an empty home and not having a soul to talk to or comfort you for an extended period of time was awful. Not having any way to emotionally regulate and not knowing how to cope with the feelings of exclusion and rejection was hard. And I felt pretty abandoned at home. Just me, crying again, sometimes physically hurt, and no one who saw or cared. A very clear message that I didn't matter.

Upsetting things can happen at school and it's good to have an adult to help you process it, or just to listen or ask how your day was, can help. All I learned was that I didn't matter and I needed to bottle everything up. I was also left to deal with bailiffs at the door because of an unpaid bill during my parents' divorce. And followed into a fast food restaurant 5 mins from home where I'd been given money to buy dinner, and sexually assaulted in a toilet there. I didn't know how to deal with that at 9. I didn't really understand what had actually happened, or that it was a crime. And of course, straight afterwards I went home to an empty house.

And we were a middle class family. I had a SAHP who liked to spend their afternoons and evenings mooching around in town...that's why I was going into an empty house, not because of work commitments or as last resort to make ends meet.

By 12, I was far better equipped emotionally to deal with things. And I could easily take myself off to play with friends, or into town on the bus, or to a park or hobbies. Much better than being stuck in a big old house alone with a lot of sadness and just my feelings.

Of course, my parents would have described me as a mature, resilient child with no issues.

Looking back, knowing that there was an ASC for a very small fee that I could have attended, I can't understand what the rationale was. Character building, I suspect. "Aren't we good parents? Our child can be left and is no bother whatsoever! Such independence!"

DS did this at 10.

Y7. Would not have done it in primary - too young I think.

DS Aldo did this at 10, but had her 13 year old DS home too.

11 saying that at my daughter school kids aren't alone to leave school without a adult being present

I would leave a sensible 9 year old for 15 minutes while I popped to the shop but I think that's different from walking home from school, letting themselves in with a key and waiting for an hour+

When my dad was 11 his family lived in Africa and he was at boarding school in Ireland. On the holidays He used to ferry to Scotland, train to London then fly to bloody Africa all by himself! I think that was neglect and I don’t know what my gran was thinking. I loved her to bits and can’t fathom her making a choice like that.

Anyway- to answer your question I’d say year 6.

DD was in Summer term of Y6 when we did this as preparation for Secondary.

She walked from and to school all of Y6 already and stayed at home for the odd hour when DH and I went shopping. So it was the last step.

Our youngest was 9 (primary 6 in Scotland).
Short walk home with friends, no roads to cross, very sensible child, had to txt once arrived at home and I was at school a 5min drive away if needed.
Mostly meandered out of school so was at home for about 30-40mins before in got home.