what age would you/did you let your child

[Seren]

walk to school by their self?

Ds will be 9 this year and we are considering this, if we think he is road aware

B

[Shiraz]

This is a very difficult one! As where we live our dd canot walk anywhere! pmsl!

Step dd on the other hand, now she lives with her other in a relatively small village however it has two very busy main roads running through it. Dp's ex wifey let step dd walk with her friends from the age of around 8! Now i personally thought this far too young! She sends her to the shop for her aswell! ow she has to cross the railway line and walk aong the main road which isn't very well lit. I know if we lived there and we let her do it, it would be adifferent case scenario..iygwim!

I personally think it depends on the area you live, and the maturity of the child.

[Azzi]

I'm lucky , school is just over the road so the boys are allowed to go by themselves but I won't let the girls yet 6/4 , my boys started walking themselves when they where 8

[snowy1974]

I haven't let my dd (9) walk to school by herself yet as we have a busy road to cross and I have to take ds anyway.

When we move (thats a big when as we still don't have a date) we will be just up the road from school with only entrances to garages to cross, she will be able to walk to school by herself then.

[Daffs]

Ben has since September. He crosses one road and it's very very quiet and road aware. He walks with another boy. He's 8.

[trai]

As we are out of catchment it would be a 45 inute walk so no but i know that 2 girls in ds's class walk themselves to school. They ar in year 3 and it's about a 5 minute walk down the road. If we lived closer and ds wanted to i would probably let him walk with friends as he is very sensible and has good road sense.

[bikemad]

Think it depends were you live tbh-I wouldnt let ds til he leaves juniors cos there are 3 busy main roads to cross plus a dark n dingy stairway to go down.Id be more inclined to let hi walk to the infants-lol-but wont cos he too little.

[Tinkabell]

Our school encourages them to walk to school by themselves from the age of 9 to prepare them for senior school. But dd does not like walking by herself so she still walks with me as middle dd is going to school.

I have not pushed her to walk by herself, she will do it when she is ready, there is only one road to cross and we have a lollipop man there.

It all depends on the child and the area you live. I am dreading the day she does decide to walk by herself as I will worry that she got to school safetly.

I was walking to school by myself at that age and crossing main roads and walking a lot further, think we are more protective of our kids now.

[Macaroni]

It does depend on where you live, proximity to school and how sensible/trustworthy your kids are.

Ive let DD 10 and DS11 walk to school on their own now and then for about 2 years now, the main reason its not every day is for my exercise and I enjoy the time we have together. School is about 25 mins walk.

I have let DS walk home alone when DD has been ill or at an afterschool club. DD would quite happily do the same but you know what its like with the younger ones and girls !! lol

I am sure to be clear which route they take and that they cross the busy roads at the islands

[Sarah]

It depends on the child and on the route to school. My son was about 8 but was walking with his sister (10) but I wouldn't have let him walk alone. When he got to 9 I think he used to walk by himself but not long after that he started cycling and has been cycling ever since, he's 11 now.
I have only just started letting him go to the shop though as he has to cross the main road, it's the same road that he has to cross for school but there is a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights where he crosses.
Apparently the highest number of road accidents happens when they get to their teens as they are so busy chatting and messing about that they don't pay attention.
Sarah x

[Serenity]

I agree it very much depends on where you live. I would let ds1 (9) walk to school as we live in a village and there is a lollipop lady on the school road.......................however ds1 doesn't want to so he walks with me and his younger brother.
He will pop down to the village shop though, which is just down the bottom of our road

[Seren]

we live in a village but there is quite a busy road and we have a lollipop man on one of the roads. I'm not sure how road aware he is, don't think he is quite there yet. I used to walk to school from an early age but did get hit by a car when I ran across the road. The school is trying to encourage children to walk to school so we will have to wait and see.

[Jen]

I like to see my daugter walk into school in the mornings (she is 8)
She comes to work with me in the morning to help set out our playgroup, then we walk to school. its only 5 mins down the road but the traffic is real bad.
Now my 15 yr old son is a different story, he is well too lazy to walk to school.
keep telling him he should walk.

[lizzie]

my 15 , 14 and 12 year walk on there own the 9 and 5 year i take but both younger ones have disabities anyway so won't be able to

[Patti odoors]

Its a tricky situation really, as you can have a trustworthy child, little traffic and a short walk but the main thing to worry about is who is out there and how safe are tey from maniacs. So my answer will have to be 35.:unsure:

[Trinity]

My daughter is 7 (8 in April) and I still take her to school and pick her up. Sh eonly has 2 roads to cross and one of them is manned with lollipop lady but the one that isn't can be very busy and the cars do speed. This is my main concern for not letting her walk to school on her own. I am considering that when she goes into Primary 4 in August that I will just leave her at the school gates and pick her up there as well. Then 2 years later my youngest will start, so I will be starting from scratch!

I do agree it depends on how far you have to go and what the road situations are like - when I think about it I walked about a mile each day to get to school and pretty much walked there & back everyday. There usually was a crowd of us though as we lived on an estate where there were loads of children from the same school.

[kathyhinsh]

Well dd & ds were walking bythemselves all of last yr, she's now 11 1/2 & hes 8 1/2 & now shes gone up2 seniors he walks by himself, but its soo close I could hit it if I threw a ball!
Dd started going 2 skool with a m8, who unfortunately let her down so I walk 1/2 way with her til she meets another m8 as its a 20min walk & I worry!