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Parenting

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Original poster

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

52 replies

SugarTits · 13/03/2010 18:32

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.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

janeiteisFedUp · 13/03/2010 21:06

I did things as a child much earlier than my dds did. However, we lived in a small village, with lots of children walking to school together, playing out together etc. We did quite a long bus journey (over an hour) from age about 9 (sister 7) but were put on it at one end of the journey and met off it at the other end.

My dds have been brought up in a big city. There is much more traffic and we don't live near lots of other families with children, to give that 'safety in numbers' thing. And I am probably more neurotic than my mum too!

waitingforbedtime · 13/03/2010 21:06

Disclamier nly got a 3yr old

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

10?

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?

waitingforbedtime · 13/03/2010 21:07

only got a 3 yr old - dont know what happened there!

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Cadmum · 13/03/2010 21:13

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?

Never under my roof.

Have their own laptop?

When they can afford it themselves.

Horton · 13/03/2010 21:20

We were in London, janeite, and all the walking to school etc was done against a backdrop of v v busy roads etc. So it wasn't an idyllic village childhood or anything (and my mother is a world-class neurotic - I clearly remember her when I was 5 or 6 planning routes for escape on cross-channel ferries and wondering who she'd save first, as my dad can't swim so she had three to pick from at the time). I am also pretty neurotic and over-protective, I suspect, and would probably incline nearer to the estimates on this thread than when I actually did these things myself. But we weren't unusual as children - lots of kids who lived near us had far more freedom than we did.

janeiteisFedUp · 13/03/2010 21:24

Same here. We had a fixed (early) bedtime, even at weekends and in the holidays and we used to get really cross as we'd be going to bed and could still hear some of our friends playing outside!

Twinkster · 13/03/2010 21:28

Disclaimer: my oldest is nearly eight, so I could be talking out of my bottom!

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

Be left at home for short periods?
11

Make a cup of tea?
nearly 8! (DS does this for me at weekends )

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

Have a mobile phone?

11+ (preferably later)

Have a tv in their bedroom?
once they've left home

Have their own laptop?
Not keen at all. No need for it as we have family computers. Would have to be much older, and it would not be allowed in bedrooms.

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.

Horton · 13/03/2010 21:44

I remember that, too! The going to bed and hearing other children playing in the street, I mean. We always had to be back for dinner and stay at home after that whereas other children were allowed back out after they'd eaten.

roisin · 13/03/2010 21:56

Mine have both passed most of these 'milestones'. So these are ours from memory.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Age 8

Be left at home for short periods? From about age 8 or 9, just for 5-10 mins. By age 11 maybe 1.5 hrs, 2.5 hrs by age 13. (But only children on their own, not more than one together).

Make a cup of tea? Age 8 or 9.

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Age 11.

Have a mobile phone? Age 11

Have a tv in their bedroom? Age 12 - but just to watch DVDs use XBox. Not with TV reception.

Have their own laptop? We haven't got there yet. But maybe age 13.

Twinkster · 13/03/2010 22:02

'Walk to school' presumably means 'walk on their own'? If not, my answer would be very different.

Hulababy · 13/03/2010 22:06

DD is currently 7y and in y3.

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? - it is too far away to start with, so won't be til secondary

Be left at home for short periods? not yet, maybe 10/11 for 5-10 minutes; secondary before any longer and will see at the time

Make a cup of tea? she has done with supervision before now and often uses the Tassimo to make me coffee unsupervised

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

Have a mobile phone? secondary at earliest

Have a tv in their bedroom? never

Have their own laptop? she got a netbook on 7th birthday

choufleur · 13/03/2010 22:07

Maybe its me but the ages for walking to school often seem quite old (although we live in a village and can almost see the school from our house). I remember getting a bus home without parents, but with other kids, at age 7.

My DS is only 3 so haven't really thought about this particularly yet.

DottyDot · 13/03/2010 22:09

Ds1's 8 would love to do/have all these things, but at the moment this is what we've told him:

Walk to school - last term year 5/year 6
Left at home - probably year 6
cup of tea - year 5 (hopefully! )
shopping - not until secondary school
mobile phone - probably year 7
TV in own room - never (we'll see...)
own laptop - not sure - possibly in secondary school to share with ds2 for homework...

abride · 13/03/2010 22:10

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Year 4

Be left at home for short periods? Year 4

Make a cup of tea? Year 4

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Year 6

Have a mobile phone? Year 6 (depending on what it's used for: my daughter has a long bus journey but sometimes i collect her if plans change and I need to know I can get hold of her)

Have a tv in their bedroom? Never

Have their own laptop? When she can buy it herself.

janeiteisFedUp · 13/03/2010 22:58

How much IS a laptop nowadays, anyway? DD1 says that most of her friends are getting them. Dp has one that she can use, with a v basic word processing programme on. Can't see why she'd need her own tbh.

paisleyleaf · 13/03/2010 23:21

I was thinking of getting my 5 year old her own laptop if I'm a bit flush and see a 2nd hand bargain.
I'd thought it'd be nice for her to play on a couple of the websites she likes, store her photos, e-mail grandparents and watch DVDs etc.
Mostly so that she doesn't use this one though.

2shoes · 13/03/2010 23:31

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)?
yr 11(primary involved major roads)
Be left at home for short periods?
as soon as I could
Make a cup of tea?
pmsl he never has and he is now 18
Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
10
Have a mobile phone?
11
Have a tv in their bedroom?
7
Have their own laptop?
14(earliest I could afford it)

Greenshadow · 13/03/2010 23:33

Obviously so much depends on the child, but DS is 10, so will base it on him

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

Be left at home for short periods? 10

Make a cup of tea? 9

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? 10

Have a mobile phone? 11 (secondary school)

Have a tv in their bedroom? Dunno - 14?

Have their own laptop? Not a laptop but a PC - 15

notsoteenagemum · 13/03/2010 23:51

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

Would have allowed dd from age 6 because I can see school from my window and there is only road with a zebra crossing, school wouln't allow it though.
She has been walking to the shop opposite school from this age.
However ds is 5.5 and feel he is a million miles away from being able to do this.

Be left at home for short periods?

Have only just started doing this, dd is aged 9.
Wouldn't leave her in charge of ds for more than 10 mins though and wouldn't leave ds on his own.

Make a cup of tea?

Dd did this from about 7 but has had to stop as we got a new metal kettle that is too heavy for her to lift when full, and she forgets to warm the teapot!

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

We only live ten mins walk from town so the bus wouldn't feature but prob age 10 or 11, however I can't see many of her friends being allowed that young so I suppose whenever her friends are.

Have a mobile phone?

Of her own not sure, we are considering a getting a phone for her to use when out and about at various after-school stuff but it wouldn't be her phone.

Have a tv in their bedroom?

Don't really agree with tv's in rooms so am saying when she has earned enough money to buy her own. I would like to think I won't cave before she is 16.

Have their own laptop?

Same as the tv really, she has free access to the family computer so can't see that she needs one anytime soon.

SE13Mummy · 14/03/2010 00:14

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? Y5

Be left at home for short periods? Y4 or Y5 depending on where I was going

Make a cup of tea? Y3/Y4 depending on whether or not she's tall enough to safely pour the kettle

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride? Y5/6

Have a mobile phone? ideally aged 16 but realistically it'll be Y6/7

Have a tv in their bedroom? when she leaves home

Have their own laptop? when she leaves home - we are likely to have enough laptops for all of us to be working simultaneously so see no need for individually owned ones

Clary · 14/03/2010 00:21

walk to school - from 9 if they wanted. DS1 wasn't keen until this school year (yr 6) so he was 10. I know a couple of yr 4s (so 8-9yo) who do it but they have only one zebra crossing and a 5-min walk. DD may start walking with a pal this summer when she will turn 9.

Be left at home - 9 DS1 again. LOL @ roisin not leaving two boys together! I won't let DD (8) stay with DS1 either - not fair on him really.

Make tea - DS1 does this for me (he is 10 as you have gathered!).

Shopping etc - 2ndary school, 11-12?

mobile - DS1 had one for Christams as was virtually only child in class not to have one but I wasn't happy.

TV in bedroom - not while they live in my house

Laptop - I guess when at secondary if needed?

Surprised at the late age some are prepared to leave child at home - a lot of you say 11/12.

I would say they were safer in own home than walking to school (traffic not strangers) tbh. What are you afraid will happen to a 10yo if you are not in the house for 15 mins?

cat64 · 14/03/2010 00:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

galletti · 14/03/2010 00:37

Walk to school - 10/11

Left at home for short periods - 20 mins max - 9

Cup of tea - mmm, DD is 10 and I havent had courage to let her do that yet, but she does do hot choc in microwave. Maybe I should try tea/coffee

Local shopping - 11/12

Mobile - 11

TV in bedroom - 25

Laptop - 12/13? very closely policed

TheLadyEvenstar · 14/03/2010 00:50

Walk to school (assuming fairly close and no major roads)? yr7 walk,bus journey and walk again

Be left at home for short periods? 11

Make a cup of tea? age 7

Go to local shopping area with friends including short bus ride?
yr7
Have a mobile phone? age 8

Have a tv in their bedroom? since he was 2

Have their own laptop? since he was 10.

HappyMummyOfOne · 14/03/2010 10:35

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

School dont allow this until Y6 but most parents still seem to collect - may let him the second half of the last year.

Be left at home for short periods?

10/11?

Make a cup of tea?

high school age

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

12/13

Have a mobile phone?

high school age as they go by bus

Have a tv in their bedroom?

already does but only connected for dvds and used mainly when sick

Have their own laptop?

Age 10? Computer skills are always great to have and parental control re sites is better than ever.

May change my mind but DS is only 7 so not really thought about most of these things yet.

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