Child walking to/from school

[CallYourselfAChef]

At what age do you think a child should be able to walk 1 mile to and from school? Crossing 2 small roads, 1 very busy main road. One of my grandchildren does that walk, every day. She was 10 a month ago and is small for her age

Most children would be expected to do that sort of walk at secondary barring special needs, so age 11 for nearly all children.

A lot of parents like to start them off practising from year 5 or year 6 and most kids are sensible enough at that age.

Of course if you were in Switzerland the answer would age 4!

10 seems fine and I'm not sure how being small changes anything? Does the busy road have a crossing/island etc?

It's only 20 mins - a 10 year old should manage that easily! Two small roads - fine at that age. The busy road - assuming she crosses at traffic lights or zebra crossing again seems ok.

Year 5 seems way too young but when they all do it, it does seem to work well. At these times there are so many kids and other parents around that it really does reduce the risk. I remember the panic at the time but not even a near miss.

She just looks young for her age because of being small.

The road doesn't have a zebra crossing but a really busy island.going off it

Mine does similar at just over 9- there are traffic lights over the major road and deal is that she mist use them to cross. She loves the responsibility of getting herself to school and it's been really good for her confidence and independence.

By themsleves? In our area it’s normal to walk to school from the last few weeks of year 4 by which time most of them are 9 years old but a few will still a few weeks off their 9th birthday.

My DD did this in year 5 so she was aged 9 and 10. She’s tall for her age but I’m not sure that makes any difference. What was important to me was that she was sensible and would go straight to and from school and was able to cross the road safely. She loved doing it.