walking to school - how old?

[willyumssmummy]

I sure this has been done before but when how old is old enough to walk to school.

My ds 10.5 (year 5) has just started to walk to school and i have had some strange comments about his age and abduction etc....

btw it is a 5 min walk, two residential roads to cross.

Opinions please?

It's fine.

My son has walked to school on his own since he was six - although we do live very near.
Most of the kids up here seem to walk (or get the bus on their own) from age 7 or 8 at the oldest.
I think letting your son walk is fine, provided you're happy with it and he is too.

thank goodness i feel less guilty

I agree it's fine. DS1 first walked home on his own when he was in Year 4. I used to walk considerably further to and from school from the age of 5. I don't think the abduction risk has increased in the last 30 years btw (though the traffic has).

dd2 walks with dd1 they are 8 and 10, I won't let dd2 go on her own yet, but that will probably change next year (once clocks change etc).

I think it is a reasonable age considering your location to the school. As has been said abduction etc is a very low risk in that they don't happen often and I would be more concerned about their ability to judge the speed of traffic etc.

My children go to school on their own. They are aged 9 (nearly 10, Yr 5) 8 (Yr3) and 6 (Yr 1) and they all go together although the 8 and 6 yos have gone on their own without the oldest if he has a hospital appt. Like you willyumssmummy, their school is 5 mns walk away but mine have absolutely no roads to cross. They walk down a streamside path and cross the road the school is on by an underpass. As long as they are not su[id and don't fall in the river (and they have done that plenty of times too!) or mess about by the underpass, there is absolutely no danger to them beyond the possibility of abduction. But there are loads of secondary school children going the same way so I think that helps me to feel they are safer.

Like you though, I too have recieved comments from other parents about the fact I let them walk alone. Not criticisms, just comments to show the parents have noticed, but I think the criticism is implied. But I think that is only because of the 6 yo. I think most of the Year 5s walk on their own from what I can see.

I think by Year 5, unless you have a particularly difficult route to school, you should be almost obliged to let your child go alone. They need to experience the independence and grow aware of the possible dangers. After all, in less than 18 months they will be at secondary school and surely then they will have and expect loads more independence.

My two oldest children walked to school in year 5 aged 10. The youngest one started to ocansionly do this in the summer term of yeasr 6 aged 11 ( her road sense wasn't as good as the older girls).
The primary school had a rule of no child under 8 walking to and from school without an adult. They also had to be collecterd by a known adult.

I'm quite suprised at people letting a 6yo walk to school alone. I've been worrying about whether to let my 6yo wait in the playground alone for the few minutes before the doors open. Maybe I'm overeacting and should get on with it!

in my ds's scoll it is common for reception children to walk along road, cross with lollipop lady and go to school alone....im not judging....

I think 10 is ok depending on distance, roads to cross etc.

A girl from this estate (age 7) has just got knocked over on the way home today and she was with her mum

Kelly,
I can understand what you're sying but I think it all depends on individual circumstances. We really do live very near to the school and in fact ds regularly plays out in the school field in the evenings with his friends.
As for leaving your 6 yo in the playground for a few minutes - if you're not happy with doing that, then don't. Leave it till he/she's a bit older, for your own peace of mind if nothing else.
I would not have let my older two walk on their own at that age, as we lived in a different area and were further away from school. I started letting them walk home, I think (memory's a bit rusty :)) when they were coming up for 8. Started off meeting them on at the school crossing, outside their school; then at the other side of the crossing; then at the corner, gradually getting further and further away until they were walking home on their own.
I still paniced like mad if they were more than 5 minutes later than expected, but the oldest one's 19 now and I still worry about her, so that never goes.

Given that travelling to secondary school at age 11 might involve a train journey or a couple of buses I would certainly expect a 10 year old to be able to do a 5 minute walk on their own.

Mine 9yrs and 6yrs go on their own, but I always pick up. I think most mums think I am a bit batty as they all seem to stop some time during P2.

We had a couple of letters last term saying that there had been a couple of incidents with chilren being asked to get into cars. I started taking them in the morning again, I am back to letting them walk but I watch them going along the road until they reach the lollipop woman in front of the school.

My ds1 (9 in May) has walked home from school since last October although he had a break of a month when he was being bullied. Since February he has also made his own way there too. At first i thought it was safer having him walk with an adult in the morning but walk home on his own at 3pm. Probably sounds strange but i always felt the mornings were quieter, most kids were being driven to school so not as many walking whereas hometime was busier IYKWIM. We only live 5minutes away and he only has two roads to cross, a quiet one and a main one with a crossing patrol so its not as if he has miles to go. i still nervously watch the clock and keep an eye out of the window when he is late though.