At what age would you let your child....

[SugarTits]

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?

Be left at home for short periods?

Make a cup of tea?

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?

Have a mobile phone?

Have a tv in their bedroom?

Have their own laptop?

My pfb is in year 6, so I'm trying to get my head around her growing up and as she's the eldest I haven't been through all this before.

Walk to school - Yr 7 (but we had a long walk and busy roads)

Be left at home for short periods? - Yr 6

Make a cup of tea? Can't remember. DD1 seems to have beenmaking them for years (but is now 15) whilst I don't think dd2 (aged 12) has ever bothered!

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? - Yr 8

Have a mobile phone? - Yr 7

Have a tv in their bedroom? over my dead body

Have their own laptop? - when they can afford it!

My eldest is 8 and is in Year 4 but these are my current thoughts on the matter.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? - I would say at some point during Year 5 depending on child either early Set or late July!

Be left at home for short periods? = about 10

Make a cup of tea? - about 10, give or take a year.

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? - probably in year 8

Have a mobile phone? i intend to allow this when she goes to secondary school

Have a tv in their bedroom? 18 yrs

Have their own laptop? probably when it is required for coursework maybe - no idea when this would be !

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Yr6

Be left at home for short periods? Yr6

Make a cup of tea? Yr4

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Summer before secondary

Have a mobile phone? Between Yr6 and Yr7

Have a tv in their bedroom? Yr6

Have their own laptop? Yr6

NOW then, really!

I think only you know what your DD is capable of, but the fact is, she will be going to secondary school in September and she needs to learn some independence. I did most things as soon as the evenings got lighter during Yr6, so after Easter I guess. I stopped using the car for a while and got the bus everywhere with her and I tested her on where the buses stopped and where to get on etc. Sounds daft, but I was then confident that she would not end up getting a bus in the wrong direction.

DD
Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Y6

Be left at home for short periods?
Y5, up to 30 mins

Make a cup of tea? Y4

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
DD Y6 round town, nearest city + train Y8

Have a mobile phone? Y7

Have a tv in their bedroom? Hasn't got one

Have their own laptop? Y11

Didn't include DS in this, assumed you meant NT children.

SugarTits Sat 13-Mar-10 18:32:07
Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?- about 8

Be left at home for short periods?- about 8

Make a cup of tea?- about 8

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?- about 11

Have a mobile phone?- see no need for this until secondary

Have a tv in their bedroom?- see no need for this ever tbh

Have their own laptop?- when they get close to GCSEs- though am making exceptions due to disability for my dcs

DS

Walk to school - we live 5 mins away and there is a lollipop lady - 8

Be left alone for short periods - 8

Make a cup of tea - 8

Go to local shopping centre including short bus ride - 12

Mobile phone - 12

Have Tv in own bedroom - never

Have their own laptop - no idea

Walk to school. Not until secondary school age, I don't think. Maybe with a friend in Year 5/6.

Be left at home for short periods? Not sure. Yet to see how responsible they both are!

Make a cup of tea? I was making tea at 7 yrs old, I think. Probably by 8 they should be able to make the odd cuppa safely.

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? 12-ish? Year 8 maybe.

Have a mobile phone? Jury's out, but not until secondary school age at earliest.

Have a tv in their bedroom? Never.

Have their own laptop? Depends what they want/need it for. Perhaps by secondary school age, but they wouldn't have unlimited access to it.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Y6 (or Y5 if she impresses me with her maturity and reliability)

Be left at home for short periods? If we're talking 5 minutes while I post a letter, about Y6

Make a cup of tea? Y4 or 5, with some supervision

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Y6/7

Have a mobile phone? Y7

Have a tv in their bedroom? Never.

Have their own laptop? When/if essential for school work. Otherwise, can use the family PC in the brief interludes between my MNing.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?
8, she walked home with her 5 year old brother.

Be left at home for short periods?
9

Make a cup of tea?
9 - but it took ages til they were drinkable

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
last week - 11

Have a mobile phone?
8 - she phoned as she left school and phoned 2 mins from the house so I could help cross the only road

Have a tv in their bedroom?
when she can afford it herself

Have their own laptop?
she is currently saving for one. She willbe 12 in April

Can i ask another question? how old would your dc have to be (were they) when they were allowed to play out on their own (with friends)?

My two are 14 and 16 now...

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? - they were about 8 but school is only about 400 yards away and no roads to cross.

Be left at home for short periods?
When 2 of them were together I would pop out for 10-15 mins from when they were about 8 & 10. If just one of them home alone then a little older.

Make a cup of tea?
Gosh... can't remember. Probably 10 or 11

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
They met friends in town once they started secondary school but it's about a 1.5 mile walk - they dom't need bus.

Have a mobile phone?
When they started secondary school

Have a tv in their bedroom?
They still haven't and neither have I - I hate TVs in bedrooms, though they can watch programmes on their laptops.

Have their own laptop?
At the start of yr 10 when they have GCSE coursework.

Ours never 'played out' as we have never lived in an area with lots of children. Our first house was on a street of mostly childless professionals or pensioners and then in the next house the road was too busy. DD2 sometimes goes to the park with friends now, after school. She is in yr 8.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? DS is in year 4 so not yet. Maybe year 6.

Be left at home for short periods? It depends - he is not the most responsible child and would panic if anything happened - Maybe Yr 7

Make a cup of tea? He does that now under supervision

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Yr 7

Have a mobile phone? When he starts secondary

Have a tv in their bedroom? He already does and has had since he was about 4. Its not got an ariel so he can only watch DVD's on it though.

Have their own laptop? He got one for Christmas.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?

In Germany it is normal for year 1 kids (aged 6) to walk by themselves to school. Mine didn't because we live too far away - dd1 started taking the bus occasionally at 9. dd1 (11) now regularly takes the bus and dd2 (7) goes with her.

Be left at home for short periods?

7 for up to 15 mins, 8 for an hour, 11 for an evening. Dd1 'babysits' her 7 yo sister.

Make a cup of tea?

8 or 9.

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?

11/12.

Have a mobile phone?

Generally I find that children in Britain are given independence far too late and Nintendos far too early. But the people who've responded here have been pretty sensible so far.

Dd1 takes our second, prepaid mobile when travelling on the bus or otherwise alone. But it's not hers! One of her own? 13 or so. She hasn't asked for one, TBH.

Have a tv in their bedroom?

Not in my house. I imagine when she's a teenager she'll work out that she can buy an aerial for her laptop, though.

Have their own laptop?

Dd1 bought herself a netbook last October with her savings. We took her to a seminar on internet safety for children, and have made it clear that we have a right to confiscate the thing if she doesn't stick to our rules.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? 9

Be left at home for short periods? 9

Make a cup of tea? 9

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? 11 or 12

Have a mobile phone? sec school

Have a tv in their bedroom? never

Have their own laptop? when homework requires it

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?

18

Be left at home for short periods?

Age 9

Make a cup of tea?

Age 9

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?

13/15 not sure yet

Have a mobile phone?

Age 9 although she never has any credit

Have a tv in their bedroom?

I will never buy one, if once she's working she does that's up to her

Have their own laptop?

Again never, there are 3 computers to chose from all in full view of me and dh

My pfb is in year 6, so I'm trying to get my head around her growing up and as she's the eldest I haven't been through all this before.

"Generally I find that children in Britain are given independence far too late and Nintendos far too early."

I suspect there's a lot of truth in that, Blauer.

Walk to school (age 9 assuming no roads to cross etc)

Be left alone short periods (age 9 - did this for the first time last week)

Make a cup of tea (age 9)

local shops etc (age 11)

Mobile phone (age 11 - BUT PAYS FOR IT HIMSELF)

tv in room - (never)

laptop - (age 11 if needed for school work - uses in family room only; pays himself or Christmas/birthday gift from parent & grandparents)

Not sure re: leaving alone in the evenings. Mine are 15 and 12 now and we have still only left them in the day time (happy to leave them for most of a day now but have always got back by 6.30pm. What do others do/think?

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?
Aged 10

Be left at home for short periods?
Don't know, haven't got to that. Maybe 11/12?

Make a cup of tea?
Aged 10/11

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
Aged 11/12

Have a mobile phone?
We bought dd one for Christmas, aged almost 10

Have a tv in their bedroom?
Dd's have had a TV in their room for years, probably since dd1 was about 7ish

Have their own laptop?
Dd got one for Christmas last year, aged almost 9. It's soon became the family laptop though as the desktop died a month later

Allowed to play out with friends
Aged 9
Although we do allow dd2 (almost 7) to play with dd1 but she isn't allowed to go out of sight of the house

All of the answers need to be tailored to the individual child though. There's no one-size-fits-all

This is really interesting. How old were you all when you were allowed to do these things? Because I remember walking fifteen minutes to school with my brother when he was 6 and I was 7 (more than thirty years ago). We went alone on a long (about an hour) bus and train journey to school from 11, went shopping with friends from 8 or 9, played out with friends (in our road) at 7 though started going to the park at about 8 or 9 etc etc. Much younger than most of you seem to think was acceptable, in other words.

Obviously there were no mobile phones or laptops in those days and I rather suspect my mother's answer to the technology questions would have been 'never' or 'when you can pay for it yourself' but she seems to have been pretty slack in today's terms about the personal responsibility things.

I only have a three year old so no idea what I will think is acceptable when you time comes, but has the world really changed so much or have our perceptions of danger changed?

When THE time comes, I mean. Of course. Gah.