Would you let a ten year old walk to school by themselves?

[Inaminuteplease]

Hi all, my daughter is ten years old and has just started year five, we live half a mile walk from the school which takes us ten minutes to walk. She would have to cross two roads, one with a crossing with traffic lights and one without.

My DH thinks she will be fine and my DD is desperate for me to let her walk by herself. She has a phone so could text me when she gets to school to let me know she's arrived safely.

She is very sensible and mature for her age, but I just feel like ten is too young, especially when I work from home and am able to walk with her. If anything happened I'd never forgive myself... am I being over protective? Interested to know how others would feel?

Yes, by Yr 5/6 lots of children walk by themselves

Don't see a problem with that as long as you know she's sensible and that she knows the route and hazards.

I think it's very normal for ten year olds to walk to school on their own, I see loads of them doing it, and when my DD was that age she often walked with a friend. For me it would depend on the traffic on the road that she needs to cross.

A ten-year old should be more than capable of walking to school alone. You need to start giving her some independence.

Yes, I think that’s fine. She doesn’t have to do it everyday.

I would do. Even if you have to do a phased system where over the course of a week or 2 you gradually let her walk further by herself

My 10 year old ds has been walking to school alone for over a year. It's not very far but we went over the route and safe crossing points with him. It's helped to give him confidence and i think it's really important to build independence gradually.

Yes, no problem at that age. Are others from her school going to be going the same way?

When our DD left Primary she was still 10. I think she would have been very unimpressed if we’d made her walk with us.

Yes, your daughter is old enough and will no doubt on the way encounter a few others going to school. If you feel anxious you could let her do it with you following her at a distance (with her agreement of course), a couple of times to see how she goes.

Yes, of course. My ds has walked to school by himself since the start of yr 5

Yes i would, my ds did from 6. No phone.

Yes

do it

If they are sensible, road aware and understand personal safety I would.

Yes, I would as long as the road she has to cross isn't too dangerous.

God yes, ten isn't too young.What could happen to her at 10 could happen to her at 25. YOu cannot lock her up forever. If she knows how to deal with being approaches and is safe to cross a road, she's as safe as she's ever going to be.

If you are worried, You could start with letting her go the last bit on day one, next day go half way with her and then let her do it on her own and see how it goes.

If I weren’t taking his younger sibling to school anyway I’d happily let DS1 take himself to school (7 minute walk, 2 quiet village roads to cross). As it is, he brings himself home from afterschool clubs if he stays late without his brother. I wouldn’t have him letting himself into the house without me here though at 10.

Blimey. What a different thread this is, to 'would you leave your 8 year old alone', which was the opposite!!

8 yo are usually much less independent than 10yo. still would leave sensible 8yo at home for a bit

leave my 8 yo home alone?www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amibeing_unreasonable/3374251-To-leave-my-8-yo-home-alone thread

Apparently it’s ok to leave a 6 year old alone on that thread.

Yes. it's not far, it's not hard, and she has a mobile. I was walking 20 minutes from 8, and by 11 was travelling an hour on public transport to get to/from secondary.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I feel a lot better about letting her start walking by herself. I think I will do it in stages as a couple of you have suggested, or maybe following from a distance for a couple of days just for my own peace of mind! X