Year 2 walking to school alone

[justlikebuses]

Just a quick one:
Would you let your year 2 walk to school alone?
For context: school policy states only year 5 and above to walk home alone.
Child would walk a distance of 3/4 mile, crossing main road that is 75% manned by lollipop.

Is P1 in Scotland equivalent to reception or year 1 in England? So 5 year olds walking to school and back alone is the norm?

Scotland? - where the education system teaches children they can be born in the wrong body and change sex - that Scotland?

I'll add that 200 years ago, kids from poor families where helping parents in the field. We all know that a lot of kids died because of it, a lot of them survived. Does it mean that now we are wrong by sending kids to school for education instead of work in the field? Because you know, history showed us some kids will survive?!

Only because someone did something wrong to their kids, doesn't mean we should carry on doing the same. It means we should learn what not to do and be better. I'm happy that now we have laws where is illegal to send kids to work instead of school.

Same with me being sent on my own to school from the age of 7, I survived, a lot of kids will survive too. But I wouldn't recommend any parent to do it because it is child neglect.

Virtually all children walk to school independently here from compulsory school age, so six. Our daughter will walk on her own, it’s fine.

Schools can’t hold a child hostage because their walking home, obviously some egomaniacs may attempt to. I wouldn’t be surprised if some parents barely let their children leave the front door alone before 18, then they’ll moan they’re incapable of getting a job and moving out.

I think the issue I have with the approach in England is that it is so inflexible. Children up to age 10 have to be collected by a parent - no exceptions. So you can't say that as a parent you are happy for Sophie who is 7 and who has a very sensible sister aged 11 can walk home together. Because the "rule" says Sophie has to be collected by an adult.

It's not the case that Scottish parents are all chucking their 5 year olds out the door to make their own way to school irrespective of the child, family dynamics and the route to school. But each parent/family makes their own decisions based on the journey, who else is walking the same way, personality/ability of the child and even things like the time of year - you might let a child walk in June because it's so light but pick them up in December because it's dark.

Scotland? - where the education system teaches children they can be born in the wrong body and change sex - that Scotland?

That's the one, but I don't see the connection between gender woo nonsense and walking to school by yourself aged 7. 🤔

Children starting P1 this August will be 4.5 to 5.5 years old. It's not "equivalent" to anything as there is a 6 month mismatch in intakes.

P1 children walking completely alone is not the "norm", but it is entirely normal for them to go with older siblings who are 8 or older. Lots of parents like to drop off and like to pick up, but they have the CHOICE to do so or not.

This.

Don't trust your child life with that kind of parent. What else that parent do which may be classed as child neglect?

The child just won't be allowed to do it. They won't be released. But I would question the judgement of any parent who allowed this

England is more built up than Scotland though. My six year old would have to cross two big roads to get home. Nothing about being hysterical. Moot point anyway as school only allows the 8 years onwards to walk home by themselves.

No. Our school it was not until Y6. 3/4 mile is a long way.

Lol, my parents found the same excuses for their own neglect towards me like you do now: "In those days, all kids were walking home on their own, it was safe!".

The reality: in those days, only my classmates who were living across the school, with no main road to cross were walking home alone. Everyone else had a parent who picked them up from school up until we were at least 10 years old! I don't remember any other kid from my class to walk home alone like I did.

I also had a friend who was studying at another school. She was walking on her own to and from school like me, from the age of 7. It was child neglect from her parents too. Obviously you can always find other parents who neglect their kids, but that's not normal and not what most parents do.

I don't think it is true that 'Children up to age 10 have to be collected by a parent - no exceptions.'

I'm in England. My children's school helpfully refrain from over-reaching their authority and have no policy in relation to children travelling independently to / from school. They do like to be informed if a child is expected to leave school independently, so that they're not looking for someone to hand the child over to. For the most part, children at the school start walking to school independently in late Yr 5 or from Yr 6, but my children have been early outliers and the school has been absolutely fine with this. I know of multiple families where their Y6 children walk their younger siblings to/from school without adults.

There must have been extremely high levels of unemployment where you lived. If it isn’t normal, or what most parents do, then why do virtually all parents do it in an entire country? You also clearly have a very limited understanding of what neglect actually is.

No I wouldn’t let my child walk to school at that age. My eldest didn’t start walking alone until they were 11.

I don’t think it’s appropriate at all.

Absolutely not and as a teacher and DSL I would raise this as a huge safeguarding issue.

We do have cities in Scotland you know, we don't all live in Balamory.

"There must have been extremely high levels of unemployment where you lived." - not at all, all my classmates had working parents, like me. I don't know how those parents were managing their time, but they had time for their own kids. I saw it every day.

My parents never had time for me because "They were busy, working hard!". Even in this thread, most parents say they find time for their own child, and won't let a 7 year old walk on their own. I'm sure they work too, not everyone is "unemployed"!

"If it isn’t normal, or what most parents do, then why do virtually all parents do it in an entire country?" - you can't talk about what whole country does, because you don’t know personally what every person from the whole country do! You know only what your friends and family do, that doesn't mean it's right, you should do the same! Even if you are right, and the whole country is doing the same, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

For example, in our time, in Somalia, parents still cut girls clitors because that's what is the right thing to do in their own heads and it's "their culture"! We all know that is a terrible thing to do to any child! They do it to small girls between the age of 3 and 12! Only because there's a whole country, in our time who do it to their kids, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do!

"You also clearly have a very limited understanding of what neglect actually is" -
I lived through child neglect and I know very well what it is and how it feels! As a child you think your parents are the best parents in the world and you love them dearly and listen to them and want to please them. As an adult, it hits hard when you realise what happened to you in childhood was actually child neglect.

Do you even know what child neglect is? Did you live through it? Or you think child neglect is only what parents in Somalia do with their small girls, everything else is not neglect? Because everything else, if you'll compare with parents from Somalia is only "mildly" neglect, without physical abuse involved?

Only on MN would someone compare Scottish kids walking to school being more common than in England to FGM in Somalia.

This place gets worse by the month.

@WiseKhakiGoose

For example, in our time, in Somalia, parents still cut girls clitors because that's what is the right thing to do in their own heads and it's "their culture"! We all know that is a terrible thing to do to any child! They do it to small girls between the age of 3 and 12! Only because there's a whole country, in our time who do it to their kids, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do!

Are you absolutely out of your fucking tree?

Obviously.

What are you talking about? It's the reality of what is happening in Somalia with small girls in our times!

But the result is the same - is child neglect and can result in a child death!

Children walking to school alone when their parents deem it safe to do is not neglect.

And the comparison to girls being mutilated is downright offensive