8 is a No from me… and yeah i have an 8 year old.

Do/would you let him walk to school on his own ? Our school is only 500m or so, no major roads, but it’s still a no.

When I was 9 I rode 15 miles to my Grans house with a mate. When I got home my Mum didn’t believe me when I told her where I’d been, until she saw Gran next time.
But this was 1965 when roads were quieter.

When I was a kid in Liverpool in the 70’s I used to ride my bike about 10 miles every day. They found me in Glasgow.

Times have changed. No reason why this should be sadly.

its fear IMHO when my kids went out alone i was terrified [ often still am] counting the minutes till they returned and hoping nothing went wrong
I can avoid this fear by simply not giving them the freedom to do things that are not really all that dangerous that we all used to do

Quite a few people have said similar. What difference does that make (other than less traffic)?

It’s paedogeddon these days though innit!

Sadly, most people live in fear due to the media, although I imagine the world is a much safer place for a lone child now, compared to what it was in the years gone by.

Sadly due to media coverage and parents fear of things that may happen, eg paedophiles, they existed many years ago and still do, but usually in controlled situations, schools,sports clubs,the catholic church, etc.

Traffic increases ad poor road designs,illegal parking and speeding all cause traffic injuries and deaths, the more vehicles people choose to use the more the above become more prevelent.

Then we have parents and their childrens inability to both understand and impart the dangers of crossing the roads or keeping safe on he highways, being aware of whats around them and dealing with it effectively. If the kids are ferried everywhere they soon learn road rage, from their parents and others around them and expect to be ferried everywhere and loose their independance, then just sometimes they are allowed some independance and in a very few cases something may happen.

Its up to each parent to decide whats a slight risk and whats not a risk.

WHY?

@ project

http://makingthelink.net/child-deaths-road-traffic-accidents

Cannot show graph for some reason but wirht a look

dropping every year this millennia and much lower than when we were kids

Its a perception not matched by the facts – though i do agree most folk think as you have said – no offence meant there.

When we where kids we used to chop trees down, climb trees, build dens, walk around a lot, fight with the other kids, build go carts, get sweets and biscuits and pop off the old people down the road, get told off for playing ball on the grass,pick blackberries and sell them door to door, deliver papers, scrumpy apples and pears and get chased off,hang onto the back of buses,ride bikes and scooters everywhere,walk 3 miles to school every day and home in the rain and snow sometimes,go shopping for elderley neighbours.

all with few problems, do children nowadays do any of the above, think not, if they do social services get involved as theyre disfunctional , naughty kids etc

That and Tufty club but we also had Rolf telling us to get into our swimwear. 😯

And to answer the question ours where 8 or 9 local shops and park.

Had been there many times. We talked them the first couple of times then left them to it.

That said I know multiple folks whose kids hadn’t been out alone until school Y8!

I wonder whether things like:

… might have something to do with it?

I understand that parents want to be protective of their kids, there would be something wrong if they didn’t. But I think there’s a gulf of difference between perceived and actual danger, and this “it was so much safer when I was their age” guff needs to be challenged.

When I was little we played in abandoned buildings, on construction sites, on spare land littered with broken glass and worse, all places you wouldn’t get within ten feet of these days. We rode bikes with no brakes (or helmets); we climbed trees and fell out of them; we had a park with spider-web roundabouts that could be spun up to incredible speeds by kids in the middle, set into solid concrete. And of course, we walked to school.

And now little Hermione is a fat knacker because she’s not allowed to walk 100 yards on her own, because thanks to the media people are scared to let their kids be kids.

2 nd year at big school – 12-13 yrs old basically

Oh – I’ve emailed you, incidentally.

My kids have walked 1km to school and back since they were 4. Quiet residential roads, no pavements.

Not sure about skate park though. Risk of injury would worry me, but would depend on how sensible and experienced he was on a board, plus if there were friends or older kids around.

We currently have a massive obesity problem with our generation which given the commments above it’s only gonna get worse by the sounds of it.
I was hardly ever inside growing up, even then it would be because the weather would be classed as biblical!
Would always walk to primary school (2 miles or so) and when I went to high school I was then allowed ‘up the town on my own’ which was into our town about 4 miles away usually by bus or bike to meet up with friends.
I dont have kids yet, however i’m forever telling my neice and nephew to go out and play and fortunately their mother doesnt mind so much either, as long as she or I am aware of roughly there wherabouts.
Christ, not letting a 10-12 year old out your sight seems insane to me given in a few years they can legally be parents themselves!

Both my kids have always got plenty of exercise but it is more controlled than when we were kids of the same age. It has meant visiting play centres when they were younger and getting season passes at the local farm play centre where they are safe to run around independently and learn the importance of making friends and sharing the play equipment. As most parents understand, this is not a cheap pastime and when you consider that in my youth, most parents let their kids out to play, they didn’t know exactly what they were up to. As I said in my earlier post, I’ve argued with the wife over many issues with giving the kids opportunity to assess risks and be independent but she really is concerned what the other Mum’s would say if I sent youngest to dancing on her own! She cycles to and from school every day on the road with me and I have taught her all about signalling,road position and awareness. Nevertheless, none of this qualifies her to cycle the hundred metres to the village hall. I despair for the next generation!