Would you allow a 6 year old to go out alone?

[tonari]

Almost 7.

To walk around the block with (very) small placid dog. Takes less than 5 mins.

Small, quiet village.

No

No

which is really sad as when I was 6 me and my friends would play in the woods near our houses all day !

They generally don’t.

Round here we have a 3 tier school system meaning they start middle school in year 5 (age 9 turning 10) and they all walk to school from middle school without parents. The last term of year 4 (last year of first school) they’re encouraged to practice walking to school with friends (with parents walking at a distance behind them watching).

No, not in charge of a dog.

My 8 (nearly 9) year old, with no dog, for a walk to corner shop to grab me some milk? I've recently realised he could manage this.

I do think there's a noticeable leap between ks1 and ks2, or more so what used to be the "middle school" age bracket - from year 4 onwards. They do grow up so much more at 9 or so.

I don’t even think that’s legal?

With the dog no. If a bigger off lead dog was to be aggressive your child wouldn't be able to do anything. On their own in a small village then yes I would let them play put with friends at that age wouldn't let them go out alone out of sight though

No, surely this is a reverse?

No not in sole charge of a dog.

As I said, in my area it's considered completely safe and the kids are a lot more switched on than in places where they are babied.

Im really quite lax with things like this, but 6? NO!!

6 year olds can walk home by themselves from school. I know it’s different in England, but where I am, they are only supervised leaving with a parent in primary 1 and after that, the kids are just allowed to run out the gate at hometime and head home. It’s up to the parent if you go to collecting them or they walk home alone.
My kid was 5 when he started primary 2, and turned 6 a couple weeks later. And he was allowed to walk by himself along with a load of others in his class.

English people just do things differently from a lot of other countries. And mumsnet is full of middle class English people so…

I read that thread title and thought "no, absolutely not" and saw the first comment had it exactly.

No way. Our very placid dog still can pull on the lead and get excited around other dogs when passing which a 6 year old would not be able to sort out. Also picking up poo, not for a 6 year old. I also wouldnt allow them to walk without a dog around the block.

Ridiculous, no wonder kids are growing up so incompetent and anxious.

Oh, please. What do you think is going to happen?

It's perfectly legal unless there's some concrete evidence that the child was at real risk of harm. Which is obviously a debatable thing there. But in this instance there wouldn't really be any solid evidence of that.. at absolute most, if someone rang social services up concerned about it then SS might give the parents a call. Might.
And probably all they would say is 'have you thought about the risks thoroughly?'
There is no concrete law about the age of a child being unaccompanied at home or outside.. there are laws regarding neglect and putting kids at risk of harm. So to be illegal there would need to be evidence of continued neglect or some kind of harm befalling the child.. the child being scared can also be classed as harm.
But basically it's complicated and would be assessed on a case by case basis.
And in reality nothing would come of a well looked after child walking the family dog down the lane on his own in a little village from time to time, being investigated

No. I also wouldn’t let my 10 year old walk our dog alone.

I don't think so. I let my 6 year old cycle around the block (no roads to cross, just a small square of quiet roads), but I wouldn't leave her in charge of a dog like that. There's too many things that can go wrong like the dog running off after something or encountering an aggressive dog.

Outside of England, they do.

Where we live the majority of children do.

No

What?
I had to walk home from Jessop primary school in Brixton when I was 6 years old, 55 years ago. It was terrifying then. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that it’s worse now.
Because you can doesn’t mean you should. No 6 year old should be left to cope with that.

Not a chance! My DD has just turned 8, and it sounds like something I'd possibly consider when she's closer to 9 (following at a safe, secret distance!)

No, please don’t