to think that 11 is too young to be left to go bowling and to Pizza Hut without adult supervision.

[nelliesmum]

Dropped my 11 year-old niece off at an 11th Birthday Party Bash on Saturday and was surprised to find that there were four girls, the eldest was 12, doing bowling and then Pizza Hut with no supervision at all. Does this strike anyone else as odd? It turns out that the waiting staff in Pizza Hut were fairly horrible to them.

If it was an 11yr old party in August then the birthday girl was the youngest of her school year-I would bet that the rest had been 11 for some months and could easily be turning 12 in a few weeks. My DS has an August birthday and we always treated him as if he was the age of his friends in the same school year. He was just as mature as they were.

I don't see a problem with this at all and think you are being way too protective. I think it's really important that kids are given independence and don't have parents hovering over them, and a group of 4 girls aged 11-12 in relatively family friendly places like bowling and Pizza Hut, with adult staff around to speak with if there is a genuine problem, seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I used to do this at the smae age.

I'd say OK as long as they were sensible and they had someone to pic them up and drop them off safely. I presume the 2 places are fairly close together and don;t involve much travelling?

I would however, speak to the girls in question and ask them why the staff in PH were horrible.

I would then complain. Thier money is as good as anyone's IMHO.

You've got to be kidding. 15!!!
I got myself to school and back from 11 involving two buses each journey.
My neices who are both 12 go out every Saturday to their clubs and then hang out with their friends in a little cafe. Then they might go to Boots and lovingly finger all the lipgloss they can't afford.

11 sounds about right for this sort of thing - I'm assuming it was afternoon/early evening, not late at night!

I started going out on my own at about 11 I think. By 13/14 I used to get the train into Charing Cross and wander round the shops in Covent Garden on my own! (was a bit of a loner at that age) I was a sensible child and never had any problems. I suppose it depends on the child - but how is a child to learn to be streetwise if they are never let out of their parents' sight?

I travelled to London by myself (included 2 strains from Birmingham and then scaling the tube at 9pm, which was also 2 trains) at 17 for a shag

Therefore, I suggest that 15 might be pushing it a bit. 17 Is certainly way too old.

I'd like my kids to have a bit of street savvy well before that age.

At 11 and 12 years of age I am guessing they have to take them self to and from school?

I see nothing wrong with them going bowling and for pizza alone, parents obviously knew where they were and they were not just hanging around.
I have a 12 year old son who is allowed to go to the games workshop alone, one 7 min bus ride away.

Pizza hut staff are rude and horrible to everyone by the way, due to having a shit job and not wanting to do it

Yes Sheik I used to travel to London on my own at 11 (Dad dropped me off, my dg would pick me up at the other end). I can't see anything wrong with it and anyway where I live the kids walk themselves to school at the age of 9 in big groups.

Why do people keep talking about this mythical law on here, there is no law about when you can leave children, simply I should think because children are responsible at different ages.

11 is fine I was going to town for my parents at the age of 8. But my Dad was not very responsible.

But I think as long as someone is dropping them off and then picking them up its fine.

Most kids that age have a mobile so its not like when we were young and you were late home no one could contact you.

When i was 12yrs old went on a PGL pony treking holiday by myself for 1 week and had to go on a valleys train by myself.
My mum went up and down the carriages until she found some nice ladies i could sit with who were staying on the train and could tell me when to get off.
I was a bit petrified on the way back from hols and walked all the way up the platform to make sure the driver was going back to Cardiff! .
But it was a great experience and made me feel much more confident about going into town alone.
Since the age of 7yrs old i was quite happy to be in the woods alone but hated busy places.

I would happily let my 11 year old do this. She already does go on swimming/cinema/shopping trips with her friends which involve a 20-min walk into town and back again. They are very sensible girls and use their independence wisely. Anyone who is planning on keeping their daughters locked up until they are 15 is in for a bit of a shock imo.

I always wonder why people come up with the statement that it is illegal to leave them on their own under 12-it isn't.
I think that the DH who said 17 was joking! He will be in for some stormy arguments if he wasn't!

at this stage in he school year, no way would i let my 11 year old be doing this.
in three or four months time, yes, not problem, even though he will still only be 11.

If the birthday girl was 11, stitch she was the youngest in the year, the odds are that the others had been 11 for months. The eldest of the 4 could be 12 next week.

duh... hadnt thought that this was still year sixes we are talking about. [dufus]
ds started school this week, so i am already mentally into the next school year.

I found that because my DS has an August birthday I always had to give him more freedom as the youngest of the year than I would if he had a September birthday. The boy across the road from us is 3 weeks younger but in the school year below-it makes a big difference. My DSs friends have always been older, some almost a year older.

I was allowed to go shopping in town at this age (seem to recall wasting pocket money on sweets and 'scratch and sniff' stickers ) And friends and I used to buy bags if chips and sit on the railings and eat them....if we had more money then we would probably have gone to Pizza Hut! My parents were always quite protective as I was an only child, so surely this isn't outrageous.

Basically I think it is probably appropriate if they are dropped off/picked up. It would depend on the kids as well.

I went camping with my friends unsupervised for 3 days in the rain when I was 11.

When I was 10 I went to school a bus and a train ride away. We went shopping after school etc and went to the cinema on weekends. I don't remember being dropped off. I think it would be odd not to allow 11 year olds to go for a pizza without an adult.

I think this sounds fine to me and in fact a good thing if that's what the birthday girl wanted. For ds1's birthday he wanted to have family and friends at his meal then cinema, but if he'd wanted just friends I'd have been fine with that.

My dss are 9 and 11 and have been going to the cinema on their own for several years. They also go out for up to 2 hrs at a time to the library, or to a specific shop in town, and to buy an ice-cream.

When they start secondary students have to negotiate canteen-style refectories, usually with HUGE queues and very little time to choose/pay etc. They also have to manage their time, find their way around, and look after all their gear. Many students also have to cope with complicated journeys, often using public transport.

If they can't handle Pizza Hut they're going to find secondary transition more difficult.

It was embarassing being walked to the school bus stop (at the top of my road!) in my first year of secondary school.

I was a really mummys girl though

To be honest, I did go a bit mental about 16/17 so its probably not a good thing.