child to walk to school on their own? Post Reply

[mummy-short-legs]

Hello

My child who is in year 5 is walking to school on their own every morning. It's about 10 minutes walk with a few roads to cross. Usually not a problem but after reading about all those muggings and moped-related crime in the area I am starting to wonder whether it's a good idea.

Any thoughts?

[Jonquil]

What are the chances of a 10 year old getting mugged in broad daylight with other people walking along the same route to school? The odds must be extremely low. Provided they don’t have a mobile phone visible, it’s my opinion they are perfectly safe and getting the benefits of exercise and independence.

In the early days at senior school, my daughter had to deal with approaches from men on trains, usually in the company of her friends. It was good experience that the girls who were driven to school until they were 15 or 16 didn’t get. Those girls were far more vulnerable when they finally went out on their own.

So good on you for letting them walk on their own.

[twingirlsmama]

If it’s between the commons, there are so many others walking along there it should be safe. I’ve just started letting my girls do that walk occasionally, particularly when one has an activity at 8 and the other one doesn’t need to be in until 9.

One goes to football on Saturday and sends a selfie upon arrival so I know she is safe and at the destination. She then messages upon leaving so I know her estimated home time.

It is however naive to expect that ‘children’ wouldn’t be ‘mugged’. I can think of 2 instances in the last year where this happened. Admittedly it was boys who were targeted by other boys for phones and if you want to receive a message to know a child has arrived somewhere safely you have to take the risk of letting them have their phone but just make them aware that if they use it in public, it’s a risk you wouldn’t want them to take.

[monaco]

Could you arrange to have a friend join him/her at least some of the way. My daughter started walking to school in Y5 but the school asked that they travelled with a friend.

That being said i have a feeling that the moped attackers are probably not early risers

[Kirstie’s Mom]

I think you are being highly irresponsible . 5 years old is far too young . Bloody hell im amazed you can even ask the question .

[carofg]

Year 5 so 10 years of age. Not 5 years old. Lol.

[parentpractice]

Such a great post this and of course you are a responsible parent who wants to do the right thing and you recognise that this is a grey area dependent on so many variables.Children develop very differently and you as the parent are best-placed to know what is right for your child. Our role is undoubtedly to keep kids safe but also to prepare for separation  and get them thinking for themselves and acting for themselves and independent travel training is one of those areas.We do our kids no favour if we wrap them in cotton wool and not allow them the freedom to learn new skills and develop their own resources and travelling alone to school is something we need to think about as they transition to secondary school and  we need to help them develop this independenceBy far a greater concern to me is the impact of not letting go and competence breeds confidence. Not doing too much for our children is a vital gift because we give them the message that they are capable.

I would add make sure you do the travel training first and setup the rules and boundaries of  how to cross roads and watch their confidence and self worth grow as you give him responsibility

[brihoney]

Actually my sister's son's primary school in Fulham prefers them to walk on their own as they ar more responsible and aware. It is when they are with a friend that they are more likely to get distracted and do silly things! Obviously depends on the children, but interesting that they have a different take on this to someone's post above.

I'm currently spending some time in France and they are allowed to walk to or from school with parental approval from the age of 6, which I thought was quite young even if you live a few doors down... Although I guess they are not encouraging it from that age, it is more that it is not allowed younger than 6. I'm enjoying letting my 11 and 7 year olds walk to/from school together here, which I wouldn't do in London, but the journey here is very short and safe.

[tomsmum2008]

If you are worried about them getting the phones out at the destination, we have found a great App called Life360 that allows you to set a home and school/other place, then the app uses GPS to send a notification when the child has arrived at the other end.  Hence child does not even need to get their phone out!
I allowed my child to go on his own in year 6 as we have a few busy roads to get across.

[headshrinker]

Speaking as a parent of a Y6 child who was mugged a couple of months ago, I totally support encouraging independence and would 100% let a Y5 kid walk to school if I felt they were mature enough (I have one in Y3 who is desperate to do it but he is going to have to wait a bit!). Sadly it is part of growing up in a city that they need to learn to be streetwise. They do need to keep phones out of sight and be aware of what is going on around them though. So many of my daughter's friends walk around glued to their phones and completely oblivious to their surroundings and I can't help but worry about them. 

Remember that the likelihood of them coming to any physical harm is very small even though it is incredibly distressing to be the victim of an attack. I am currently working on encouraging my daughter to reclaim her independence and rebuild her confidence. She will get there in the end and she will end up stronger and wiser for her experience. It would make me really sad if other children lost their independence because of the experience of others. 




 

[Kirstie’s Mom]

Sorry misread but I still think 10 is a little young in London .