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 child should ever be responsible for a dog.

If for any reason the dog got loose and was hit by a car the psychological damage to the child would be horrific. Or if the child gave chase to the dog and got run over.

I am all for making children independent but in today’s world, six is too young.

I wouldn’t let any aged child out without friends with them, groups of slightly older children will always pray on the kids on their own.

Is this post a joke?

No - certainly not. Too many opportunities for child and /or dog to find themselves in a dangerous and/or frightening situation and be damaged by it.

FFS there's always one. 🙄 'I was put down t'coal mines when I were 3 year old, 65 hours a week int dark. Never did me any 'arm.' FFS!

My 2 DC were not allowed out of our cul de sac of 16 houses without adult supervision, til they were 9 or 10. (In the noughties...) Apart from when they were at school, which had adult supervison anyway in the form of teachers!

They went to Uni at 18, never came back, got their own home at 23-24, and are now successful, professional, career people, on £70K+ per year. Completely solvent, and independent - now in their late 20s/nearly 30. Live 18-20 miles from me and their dad. (My DH.)

To say looking after your children properly when they're little, and not allowing them to roam around like wild dogs at 5 or 6, and go to school and back on their own at that age, will result in emotionally stunted adults who can't wipe their own arse is a load of bollocks.

I get that this is normal where you are and that she has consistently been safe, but my little girl is 6, and reading this breaks my heart. She's so little

Seriously???!! Of course not!! Do you even have to ask???!

Obviously not. They are 6. And with a dog 🤯

No chance.

Also if the dog poos you'd have a 6 year old deal with that? Dogs aren't robots ans even if they dont usually pop at a certain tike, they might.

Ha no

So are all kids from most other places in the world emotionally stunted because they walked themselves to school. Or thinking of that anyone over 40 in the UK?

I'm always being told on here that I give my kids too much freedom and I'm very relaxed about stuff like this. But it's a no from me. I'd let a 6 year old play out the front of the house on their own but not go out of sight and not with a dog.

This was my thoughts too.

Our children were never out alone at 6, however that was more to do with where we live, there’s no pavements on the country road outside our house and the speed limit is 60 so it wasn’t safe. I did used to drop them in the village to play with friends at the park but there was always a parent keeping an eye on them. I used to walk to school when I was around 6 and met my pals on the way but the village literally consisted of a couple of streets. The only time we weren’t allowed out on our own was when Jimmy Saville was at his house and this was long before the news broke on him.

This is funny, I grew up in various places, mix of working and middle class areas (various … all the same!) and am GenX so bulletproof! I remember at 4 years old being told to eat all sorts of garden worms/slugs/mushrooms etc by kids in various gardens and the woods out front, I didn’t because I’m not inclined to comply, but these things can kill a child. We also used to go on long walks, a bit older, maybe 8-9, walk for miles, home for lunch and when the street lamps go on, we’d walk into the army training areas … very safe 😵‍💫 unless you happened upon the red flags to say don’t enter … but as kids we didn’t know where they were! Also spent time shimmying over waste pipes over swampy pits that my parents didn’t know existed, played in farmers fields when the combine was out, or when the farmer had his gun and was on a mission to get rid of the pesky kids. Unfortunately a few kids got molested by weirdo blokes in multiple places I lived . My DM was out with our dog one day and a dog mauled her to try to get at our tea cup yorkie, which she hauled up by its harness lead to safety under her coat, she said she was relieved it wasn’t me or the dog would be dead (boomer parents to GenX kids lol 😵🙄😱), we had more than one convicted paedophile, drug dealer, school age child with a baby …. The list goes on … these kids were brought up on walking 1-2 miles to / from school , told each other to look out for the flasher at the park, or XYZ dad who sells / gives away ‘free’ drugs at the gates … so no, a 6 year old isn’t safe

When I was a kid, being out in the neighbourhood alone at age 6 was not unusual (in Singapore). These days the attitude is very different, even secondary age children are not independent. However Japan has always emphasised that children starting primary school (age 6) make their own way to school. There are TV shows in Japan where preschoolers are sent on errands around the neighbourhood to build their character and independence. I rather like that society is so safe for these kids though sending toddlers out alone is far too scary for me.

No, I would never have let my son go out by himself with just a dog at aged 6

No

No!

Not with a dog as they have to be in charge of it, it could cause an accident. But yes with a friend or to the shop if it was near

@shuggles
I am talking about playing out in the street unsupervised which lots of people seem to allow there very young children to do. I don’t consider this a to be normal at all

I allowed my then 8 year old to walk to the end of our street with their 8 year old friend and their dog while I watched from the window but that was years ago and as a boomer I was by definition a neglectful and poor parent. They also walked to school by themselves from that age but the school was on the same street as our house and it is a cul de sac

Absolutely no chance. I don’t allow my 11 year old to take our small dog out by herself as she would be useless if something happened like another dog attacked.

We are the 4th house up from a park, on a road with a turning into "halfway house" my 8 yr old is smart AF and her road safety is top notch, I trust her completely. She has never been allowed out on her own or down to the park on her own. Other people are the problem.

Yes but I live in Denmark and kids get the metro to school at 8 🤷‍♀️

No! Are you mad???