Walking home from school alone - how old?

[MrsPeacock13]

Do you let your child walk home from school alone? How old are they.

My kids go to 3 different schools, all within walking distance of home.

My eldest is 15 and walks to and from upper school on her own.

My next 3 are 13, 11 and 9 and are in middle school and are quite capable of walking home alone but they very rarely do as I have 4 in first school (7, 6, 6 and 4) which is right next to the middle school. First school finishes at 3:05 so by time everyone is with me, the middle school have finished at 3:20 so they meet up with us and we all walk together (5 min walk home).

I would love to not have to do the school run as that half an hour could be used to prepare snacks/drinks/play clothes.

I don't do the school run in the morning, unless I have to see a teacher. The middle schoolers will walk the first schoolers in which is fantastic! I just wish I could find a solution for coming home - the middle schoolers finish at 3:20 and first school at 3:05 so there is no way of them bringing them home.

 

[Belle25]

Its such a difficult decision, knowing when to let kids walk home.
Factors for me would be
How responsible and street wise is the child?
How safe is the route?
How far to walk?
Do there friends walk home that are the same age alone? If they are walking together, I would be fine with the middle kids walking.

I think I would consider it from 12+ years if alone. But this is coming from me and I still treat dd1 as though shes 2!

I walked home from the age of 7 alone personally. Looking back, that was too young, I had no street sense, I'd walk up allyways and just wasn't aware of the world.

If they have friends walking the same route, that makes it easier for you to let them walk home too
xx

 

[MrsPeacock13]

The route for my kids is (going to school): Open front door, they cross over right in front of the house, walk along about 5 minutes and turn into the school gates! It's wonderful!

 

[alicecooper]

Well my kids school (primary school) is a good 10-15 minutes walk, over 1 main roads and 2 other relatively busy roads, so I wouldn't let them go on their own at all. Plus the school has a policy about not allowing kids to walk to/from school without an adult.
If it was closer though I'd say from about 9.

The high school though, when they get to that age, it's just crossing 1 road, and it's not that far down the street then to get to it. All the kids in our estate who attend there walk to it alone, regardless of age.
So I would say from age 11 because that's how old you have to be to attend high school lol.

 

[aimee-lou]

Our primary schools are a good 15 minutes walk, with a couple of busy roads to cross. I wouldn't be comfy sending my children to walk to/from school until they were 10/11, so year 6 and going to senior school the year after which is much further away involving a bus journey.

I seem to remember walking myself help from school at age 7 I think. I know it was 1990/91 and I was 7 in 1990 lol. It was a fair old way if I remember rightly through industrial units and over a busy main road as we lived over a launderette at the time which was on the high street. Couldn't imagine letting my children do that!

 

[julietz]

I stopped walking my kids at age 10, they wouldnt dare let me walk them now they are 11 in yr 6, they get embarrased and want to walk with their friends, i dontmind, was very worried at first so bought them a mobile phone so i could ring them after school or they can ring me, its 10-15min walk, sometimes they take their bikes, the school has a bike shed which is great.

 

[RachA]

It depends on the school policy to some extent. At my sons school they can get a walking pass in year 6 (age 10/11 I think). The school are thinking of extending this to year 5 also.
When my son is in years 5/6 my daughter will be further down the school so I will still be taking her anyway. When my daughter is in year 5/6 I doubt I will allow her to walk on her own as its a 15/20 min walk and she would need to cross over a minimum of 6 roads. The very major roads have cossings lights but the others don't and a few of those can be quite dangerous.
For me the obvious time for them to walk in their own is when they start senior school.

 

[kerrie24]

I wouldnt let a 4 or 6 year old come home alone,and our school doesnt allow anyone under 16 to pick up a child from school either.My 11 year old could walk now if he had friends who walked the same way,but he doesnt and I wouldnt let him do the 15 min walk alone.

 

[JASMAK]

I think it depends on lots of factors. My son started walking when he was 9. We only live five minutes from the school. My daughter is 8 but it wont be anytime soon for her as she has autism. I would say it probably depends on many factors

 

[matron]

I let only to my oldest 12 years's old son to go alone. But to my doughter of 8 NO way.

 

[seoj]

So many factors- depends on how far, how responsible the child is etc... I would say do what your comfy with. Our oldest used to walk home (on occasion) from middle school so she was 12 (maybe) when she started- but knew other kids in our neighborhood and usualy would walk with them-- so there was a small group. But, she could also take the bus too- and only walked if she stayed late and didn't want to wait for one of us to come get her after work-- but she was well responsible enough and always checked in etc...