The kids walking to school on their own thread

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Cars are a huge danger to kids who are walking though.

For sure.

And that's the primary reason why I'm hesitant to let my son walk to kindergarten by himself this coming fall. My daughter is in kindergarten now and she could easily do it, but she's only going to in-person learning at school two days a week right now, and it's only a 2 minute walk, so we've just been walking her over there so far.

I think when my son is in first grade, and my daughter is in second grade, they'll be old enough to walk together by themselves, especially if my daughter keeps an eye on my impulse-control compromised son.

School is literally a 500' walk from our front door, and they only have two streets to cross: the street we live on (a quiet narrow little one-way residential side street) and then the two-way side street by school that is always controlled by a crossing guard at school hours. And both intersections have all-way stop signs.

So all things considered, the car danger is pretty damn low. It's not zero, but if you want zero risk for your kids, you'd never let 'em leave the house.

[Steely Dan]

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

today, monday, august 30th, 2021, @ 8:00am CDT, my wife and i walked BOTH of our children one block south to their school for their first day of kindergarten/first grade.

having a short little 2 minute walk to school every morning was one of the primary reasons why we bought the home that we did nearly 4 years ago, and now we're finally there!

every school day morning for the next 8 years, just a short little one-block, 2 minute walk down to school.

i've been dreaming of today for so long.

[the urban politician]

^ That's neat.

It'll get old. Especially when you have a hangover

(j/k)

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It'll get old.

I've been walking for 44 years; driving for 27.

Driving got old for me after my first traffic jam.

I have yet to become disenchanted with walking.

[the urban politician]

^ Walking is only fun when you're buzzed. Same with driving

[Steely Dan]

Walking is always fun.

And driving always sucks.

When you live in the city.

[Segun]

I work for two schools, one in a somewhat rough area with an extremely diverse student body, and another in a mostly Black, super high crime rate area. The staff is more lenient in the former, but in the latter, we don't allow students younger than 5th grade to walk by themselves.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Walking is always fun.

And driving always sucks.

When you live in the city.

This is true in all cases except one (at least in Chicago) - driving down LSD to downtown. Even traffic doesn't bother me on that drive.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Walking is always fun.

And driving always sucks.

When you live in the city.

It usually sucks in the suburbs too these days.

[isaidso]

Growing up in south London (UK) my (elementary) school was about a 20 minute walk; half of it on a busy high street. We started walking there and back by ourselves when we were about 8 years old. At around the same age I started biking to Greenwich Park by myself (3 km).

[emathias]

My entire childhood, I walked to school. Was nice. Very much informed my choice to be carless since 1999.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

today, monday, august 30th, 2021, @ 8:00am CDT, my wife and i walked BOTH of our children one block south to their school for their first day of kindergarten/first grade.

having a short little 2 minute walk to school every morning was one of the primary reasons why we bought the home that we did nearly 4 years ago, and now we're finally there!

every school day morning for the next 8 years, just a short little one-block, 2 minute walk down to school.

i've been dreaming of today for so long.

Congrats!

Are you going to walk with them to school every day, or are you going to (at least eventually) let them walk there by themselves?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Congrats!

Are you going to walk with them to school every day, or are you going to (at least eventually) let them walk there by themselves?

For now, we'll be walking them for drop-off and pick up.

The culture of the school seems to be that K-2nd grade kids get escorted to school, whereas 3rd and up is more at the discretion of the parents.

My kids are kindergarten and 1st grade, so it looks like we'll be walking them for a couple years, but considering that the school is so freaking close to us (one block), it's not a very big deal at all, especially now that both me and my wife are working 100% remote for the foreseeable future.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

For now, we'll be walking them for drop-off and pick up.

The culture of the school seems to be that K-2nd grade kids get escorted to school, whereas 3rd and up is more at the discretion of the parents.

My kids are kindergarten and 1st grade, so it looks like we'll be walking them for a couple years, but considering that the school is so freaking close to us (one block), it's not a very big deal at all, especially now that both me and my wife are working 100% remote for the foreseeable future.

I think we discussed this before on here, but I gather there are no crossing guards or other "eyes on the street" between your place and the school?

Because in my neighbourhood tons (though not all) of kids younger than Grade 3 (8 years old?) walk to school without adults here.

And we are low-density suburban with pretty wide streets. Not my street but similar to this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5022...7i13312!8i6656
And this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5036...7i13312!8i6656

I suppose cultural norms may differ as well.

[MolsonExport]

good times. Saw my kids off this morning, and they walked themselves to school/schoolbus (daughter in elementary: grade 8, son in high school: grade 10)

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I gather there are no crossing guards or other "eyes on the street" between your place and the school?

No, there is a crossing guard at the one mildly busy 4-way stop sign intersection right at the school. The other street they have to cross is the quiet side street we live on (also with 4-way stop signs). And with other people out walking to the train/bus, and the always present dog walkers strolling around, there are plenty of other eyes on the street for the 500' walk from our front door to their school.

I think it's just a culture thing. The K - 2nd graders go in through their own entrance, the 3rd - 5th graders through another, and the 6th - 8th graders through a third. At the K - 2 entrance, every child is escorted by a parent/guardian, at the other two entrances for the older grades, WAY less parents/guardians.

[Acajack]

Sadly, we've had abductions (and murders) of children by strangers here too, but it doesn't seem to have entered the public consciousness as it has in the US.

[aaron38]

My son was virtual for school all last year. Now he's 3rd grade and in person. School is an easy 15 minute walk with no busy streets. I think he's ready to walk by himself but my wife isn't ready yet. So she's walking with him for now.

I walked him home on Friday and there were 3 other boys who walked 80% of the way back to his house. I'm hoping he can make friends with them and then they can all walk together. That's how it's supposed to be. Kids walking by themselves, talking, playing, being kids.

The one thing that drives me nuts is when I hear people say "It's not like it was in the 80s". Like the 80s were some crime free utopia and nothing bad ever happened.

[muppet]

When I first moved to the UK from Malaysia I thought nothing of walking home from primary school. The teachers used to freak out if they caught me coz I was 5 or 6 and I'd make up an excuse I'd lost my older sisters (in reality I nver waited for them and vice versa, they were a year or two older). I remembered we learned to sneak out and avoid teachers noticing.

Our house was only about 300m away but it did require crossing a busy road. In Asia kids literally play in the traffic, or wander about latch key style. One of the coming-of-age things you do is the first 'errand' where you go shopping/ public transport / get something across town on your own:

• Video Link • Video Link

In Japan independence is encouraged - even mandated from the age of 6 to go to school alone:

• Video Link

I had a Japanese-American friend, he was famous at school because aged 5, his parents managed to get him to FLY TO FUCKING SCOTLAND on his own.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by aaron38

The one thing that drives me nuts is when I hear people say "It's not like it was in the 80s". Like the 80s were some crime free utopia and nothing bad ever happened.

The 80s is when "stranger danger" became big business. I read an article that found only 1-2 dozen examples of kids being kidnapped by a stranger throughout the entire decade. The rest of the time it was a relative or family friend who took the kid across state lines, or whatever the crime was.

According to my grandfather, hitch-hiking with strangers was an everyday thing for many kids and teenagers in the 1920s and 1930s. The streetcar line was never extended to his neighborhood so they hitch-hiked all of the time from its last stop. He worked at a garage starting at age 15 and soon thereafter became one of only 4 kids at his high school who had a car, so he gave people rides all of the time.

When I was a kid, a lot of the guys his age still stopped and offered to give walkers rides. This collided with all of the stranger danger propaganda. The old guys were really upset that kids and teenagers stopped accepting their rides since it was something they always liked doing.