To think 8/9 year olds shouldn’t be doing this

[Pluggoo]

Walking up a big hill with a busy road next to it (known to speeders) to go and meet their friends alone. All in year 4. Then playing on a field to play football. Walking back home mainly alone. 10 minutes walk to get home

Which part of my reply is a sweeping statement exactly??

Also I don’t live in a particularly rough area, just an average town.

different countries have different cultures and social norms so not really transferable to UK

plenty of vaping youths down there and people drinking and muttering to themselves

Normally there’s a few dogs off lead and when we hear them barking that they’re probably them on the chase again

the police would take a dim view of any parent allowing a child out in the dark by themselves and would probably be prosecuted for negligence or more

All sweeping, incorrect statements about the UK based on where you happen to live.

Like I say, I'm sorry your kids can't go out by themselves because of where you live. That's a sin for them, but it's not representative of the UK as a whole.

It is neglectful. I agree.

Eight is too young to cope with the scenario laid out by the OP.
Obviously kids need freedom to live and learn, but it's the parents responsibility, not to mention duty, to gradually give them the freedom they can cope with.
In my opinion, eight year old are too young to negotiate walking alone along a busy road where speeders drive.

As has been pointed out many times by various posters, there are areas in the UK where the social norms and cultures are such that 8 year olds walking up the road and going out to play is fine and normal. Your own area and experiences do not apply everywhere. And many have claimed its neglectful because of their own standards, so I thought I'd point out that other standards would hold their parenting as neglectful so they might think again about what they are saying.

My own experiences don’t apply everywhere and I haven’t claimed this. We’re on here discussing and sharing our experiences and thoughts.

It is very average where I live now, a normal UK town and no particular high or low crime. It’s not obviously unsafe for older children to go out but it is not something I would be happy taking the risk with but of course at some point they will go out.

Traffic is traffic, road safety is tricky as not everyone plays by the rules ie not paying attention, running reds, taking lives. Some roads are worse than others.

It is not a sweeping statement to say different locations make certain norms more prevalent and I am not basing parenting decisions based on location alone, no one does. We all make our own assessment as parents as to what is safe or not in any given circumstance. We are shaped by experiences good and bad and make parental decisions all the time and a lot of factors feed into this.

The police knocking scenario is tongue in cheek, I honestly found the examples of children (and we are talking primary aged children on this thread, not teens) going out alone in the dark to parks by themselves in mid winter unrealistic. Hence the unrealistic police encounter. The whole thing is ridiculous soup so please don’t bust a gut over a comical crouton.

Anyway I shall wish you all adieu adieu. Don’t worry about tearing me another one again as am off now and it’s not worth the finger taps! Thank goodness is Friday, everyone round to beerthief for a cold one. Cheers guys has been an interesting discussion board and plenty of food for thought x

Right oh...

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