Just wondering what age people started letting their kids out of the house by themselves. Simple things like riding their bikes down to the park about 800m away from home, or over to a friend's that lives about 2 streets away, or walking to school by themselves. My daughter has just started year 3, we live in a pretty good neighborhood and there is only one major road and is manned by a lollipop man during school hours. She is pretty good with road rules but terrible with stranger danger.
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Way too young in my opinion
I didn’t walk to school by myself till I went to high school and my kids will be the same,
If she isn’t good with stranger danger then there’s your clue she isn’t ready
There's is no way I would let my daughter in year 3 out the front door without me, but that's just me. Children actually have no road safety perception till 10 years old and she may know stranger danger but would that mean anything if a stranger was to approach and over power her. I would rather be safe then sorry... My 16 year old is just allowed out on her own lol
In this day and age, not until she is 110% understanding of stranger danger. It just takes that ONE incident and you’ll regret it for your life.
My oldest 2 are 10 and 11 this year.
My 11 year old is a very cautious child and uncharacteristicly sensible for a boy this age 😂
I am happy for him to ride to his mates house (Just round the corner) and I will allow him to ride to school with in a group with the other neighbourhood kids. Not really keen on him hanging around the park on his own though.
My 10 year old is pretty road smart and understands stranger danger relatively well, but she's incredibly friendly and easily persuaded so I am happy for her to ride to school with a group of kids but that's about as much independence as she has at the moment.
You'll know when your daughter is ready, there's no need to rush!
I have an eleven year old, playing in the court is as faraway as I have allowed.
Check the laws in your state. For some states, it's illegal for a child under 12 to be unsupervised. In other states, it's much more of a grey area. But regardless, I would say a grade 3 child, particularly 1 you think has terrible stranger danger awareness, is waaaaay too young.
I'm going to disagree with the other posters. Year 3 is old enough to walk to school and back 800m or even 2km. Not bike riding - need to be about 10 to have enough spacial awareness. But walking to school is a great way to learn independence in a safe environment. At those times of the day there are plenty of other kids and parents around. Start walking with her and then swap you for a friend of at least the same age. They can pick each other up on the way. Then when she, and you, are more confident, let her walk TO school alone. Then add AFTER. TO school is best first as there is a deadline on arriving and people expecting her. Coming home they can be tired and just wanting to chill and distractions are more distracting :) Give it a go, and see how you both feel :)
It's also the most common timing and location for child abduction
It takes me, a fairly fit adult, half an hour to walk 2 kilometers!?
A 3rd grader is usually 8 or 9 years old, letting them walk that far on their own seems really irresponsible to me! We, actually live about 700 metres from our school and that is a 15 minute walk. That's a huge window of opportunity for something to happen, it takes 30 seconds to snatch a child. By the time someone realizes the child didn't make it to school, imagine how far they could have gotten?
The child could also fall and hurt themself, they could be hit by a car at no fault of their own (my 11 year old was nearly run over by a soccer mum speeding out of the school entrance yesterday - cars are supposed to give way there to allow students to use the zebra crossing).
Big groups of kids don't walk to school anymore either, we are the only family that walk to school in our area! The whole safety in numbers doesnt apply anymore because most kids are driven to school!
I think around 11 or 12 is a better age to start introducing some independence, they're generally more mature and it gets them ready for high school!
I live in a teeny little country town where nearly everybody knows everybody. The school put in the newsletter last year that children under the age of 10 must be accompanied by an adult to walk to school. Maybe if you want to encourage her independence walk to school with her and let her walk well ahead of you 🤷♀️
My eldest is 10 & I wouldn’t let him ride 800 metres away. My rules are they don’t ride anywhere where they aren’t in my sight. My rules only and every one is different but that one time is all it takes. I don’t think I will ever be ready for them to be out of my sight but it it means me dropping them off and picking them up then I’m fine with that. If they ride their bike then I’ll walk beside them if need be but I won’t let them go.year 3 is way too young in my opinion. mine are year 4 & 5 and def no for both.
Since you mentioned stranger danger, I wouldn't allow it.
That is a huge issue and needs to be dealt with before she's allowed out on her own.
My nearly 11 year old caught the bus home from school by himself yesterday and locked himself in the house until i got home. He rang me as soon as he got home and knows what he is allowed to do at home. I was nervous about it, but he did well.
I’m only just letting my youngest, 11 (almost 12) year old boy, stay home by himself for short periods of time. Neither of my boys were ready in grade 3 for that level of independence. My eldest was nearly 12 before I started letting him walk home from school by himself. With both of my boys, when they were in middle primary, I would take them to school, walking them in to the undercover area then let them walk to the classroom by themselves. By grade 6 I would drop them off, usually parking opposite the school oval, watch them cross at the manned crossing enter school grounds and get partway across the oval before driving away. The youngest is only allowed to walk to or from school if he stays with his big brother. Next term I will let him walk home occasionally by himself (when older boy has after school activities) with me waiting at home for him to arrive.