Walking to school

[kymmy]

When did you let your child walk to school by themself?

My girl wants to walk to school by herself but I think she is still too young.

[FourAngelKisses]

Mine don't walk to school as it is 13km away, but they have wanted to start walking to the park (5 blocks away) lately. I let them as I figure they are 7.5 and 8.5 and I can't keep them home forever. Jacob is very streetwise and we live in a town with no crime so I figure it's okay. But I always tell them to come home at a certain time, usually about half an hour.

As your daughter is only 6, I'd probably say no if she were mine. How far is the school from home?? Maybe tell her she can walk, as long as you are allowed to walk about 20m behind her.

[Elfin]

We live virtually 50 metres from the school and I don't let my 7yo son walk to school alone as there are just too many freaks out there. Although it is sad what the world has come to, I just don't think you can be too vigilant.

[kymmy]

As your daughter is only 6, I'd probably say no if she were mine. How far is the school from home?? Maybe tell her she can walk, as long as you are allowed to walk about 20m behind her.

The school is about a slow 15 mins away.
Atm I let her walk the last block by herself.
This way I can watch her until she 'disappears' into the school gate.

[CJJHRA]

we're too far to walk to the kids school. When we did live close, it was about a 5-10 minute walk (depending on how slow they went) my kids were 6 and 10 (so a year 1 and 5) even then I worried all day till they got home, and at 5mins past 3 I was eagerly waiting for them to come home, and if they werent home by 3.15, I would start to walk to see them coming down the path.

[tommylu]

Hi,My son is now 10 he has been walking home from school for about 2 years now.
At first i would meet him just around the corner from the school because its on a main road with lots of traffic and 2 sets of lights that dont change to green at the same time to get across so i was a bit concerned about this. after a few months of doing that i would meet him about 2 blocks away where i could still see him cross this busy road after a few months of that i started to let him walk all the way home (about 8 blocks away).During this time he was also getting the bus to school,i would walk him to the bus stop at first just to make sure he got on the right bus and didnt end up in woop woop.LOL. although this DID happen to him once,he got on the wrong bus but luckily he realised it was going the wrong way and got off and walked back to school :(
Now i have my 5yo going to the same school so i drop them both off in the morning and pick up my 5yo only in the afternoon. 10yo still walks home only now with a couple of friends which is good.

Hope my story was of some help :D
Cheers.

[jackieb76]

I let my 7 year old walk home from the bus stop in the afternoons, which is practically down a lane way that runs down beside our house. I still feel a bit nervous about this and as Allanah's Mum says by 3.15 I start to get a bit nervous and walk around to the lane way to make sure I can see her. She is often looking at a bug in the grass or something as she is a bit of a dawdler. I figure that you need to give them a small amount of freedom at a time, even though I would like her to stay little forever, I try to understand that she needs to learn to do things for herself. Having said this though, we always talk to her about stranger danger etc and there is always a little boy from two doors up that walks with her. In the mornings though, her bus stop is at the top of the street and I always walk with her and wait for the bus to come.

I suppose you might just need to ease into it and do it a step at a time until you are both comfortable with it. I would also say that you need to go with your gut instinct, if it doesn't feel right just yet then wait a little longer until it does.

Take care

Jackie :)

[Ky]

At my dd's school, kids aren't allowed to leave the school grounds unless they are on a bus or a parent/guardian/approved person has picked them up from the assembly area by the flagpole.

We live across the road from her school and for that very fact, I will be walking her over every morning as it is an exercise in precision dodging the busses and cars going in the driveway! It is chaos!

I think that you are doing the best thing at the moment allowing your dd to walk the last block by herself ... at 6yo old you feel like you are all big and grown up, but you still don't have the perception of how fast cars are going or the ability to think your way out of an awkward situation just yet!

Aparently, it isn't until you are somewhere between the ages of 8 and 12 that you develope a true ability to judge a car's speed ... makes me wonder how we survived riding our bikes to school as little kids!

[Mum&bubs]

When i was younger & i wanted to walk to school by myself my mum used to walk me until she could see the school gate then let me walk the rest of the way so i felt like a "big girl" but i dont think ill be letting my dd walk to school by herself until shes...lets see...17 :laughing: too many freaks out there these days!

[FourAngelKisses]

I actually heard on a talkback show that there are actually less "freaks" out there these days, it's just that we are hearing about it more often. Which is probably true, but I still protect my kids like an overbearing mother, lol.

[3boys1girl]

My sons are 11 and almost 8 and I still walk them to their classrooms. Its about a 15 min walk, but they have to go through a park. There was a boy of 13 taken from this area called Daniel Morcombe. You may or may not have heard from him, but it made national news. Well that was about 2 years agao now and they still havent caught the freaks that took him!:mad:
You would think at 13 they would be old enough to go places by themselves! Its to risky espcially if they are so young! I just think of Daniels parents and their heartache and think its not worth it, I would rather my kid be cranky and embrassed by me then go what they went through :( :crying: So sad

[SnoozesWithCats]

My "independent travel" schedule as a kid, IIRC was...

7 - allowed to go to the milkbar by myself (1 block, over a main road) or the park (right next door!)
8 - walk to school bus stop (10-15 mins, over a sorta-mainish-road)
9 - take the tram from school to Dad's work every Friday.
11 - go pretty much anywhere walking or by P.T. as long as I said where I was going and was back before dark (eg on weekends or whatever)

I was a very responsible and independent little kid - I don't think I'd advance that schedule at all for my girls, when the time comes. I'm not worried about bad people out there particularly, but little kids can zone out the traffic so easily - I was reading the other month about a little 7-year-old living near my inlaws who almost walked straight under a train on his way to school (walking with his big brother) because he just didn't notice it coming :eek: