My 10-year old

Debb - posted on 11/22/2011

We moved this year to a house on a quiet street about half a mile away from my son's school. He's 12 and I finally caved and let him walk to school. I work really early in the morning and we decided to forego before school care this year AND let him get himself up in the morning and to school on time (YIKES!). We are three months into the year and he hasn't been late once. In fact, he 'adopted' a 4th grader that was walking alone and he now walks him to and from school every day, so it's really turned out even better than I'd hoped.

I agree with the other moms, as long as there are no busy streets to cross and you're comfortable that your neighborhood is safe (do check the sex offender registry to ensure that the route he takes doesn't take him past anything or anyone dangerous).

Tamara - posted on 11/20/2011

I would not be comfortable if he didnt have a buddy, And there was no major roads he had to cross.

Small town yes, responsible yes, both on the pros side traffic driving through town daily (like we have here) major on the con side for me. We live in a town of about 800 the town is less then a square mile (per census) 95% of the people have lived here their whole life so I am pretty sure the town itself is safe its just those passing by may or not be. So with my younger two they have to walk anywhere with the buddy system, when they go to the bus stop (it is 3 houses away) there are at least 3 of them the little boy next door walks over knocks gets my two then they head over, sometimes there are more.

Brendalee - posted on 11/20/2011

Being it is a small town in my opinion it comes down to how responsible he is. Try it out and see how it goes. If it doesn't go well wait another year. Are there kids he knows near you so he can walk in a group? If so I think it would be a good idea for sure.

Laura - posted on 11/07/2011

My husband and I disagree on this. Lol. At first my husband was against our kids walking but I told them it is only a couple blocks and we should give it a try. We have 5 school aged children. We had just had a baby and I didn't want to have to wake her to take them to school or to pick them up if they could walk. It worked out fine. I knew what time to expect them back and if they were even a minute passed I would walk outside and see if I could hear them yet. I picked the safest path for them and told them they all had to walk together. We had a couple fights, but never anything big. It worked out fine. Just trust your instincts. It all depends on the area your in and how safe you feel about it. Good luck.

Michelle - posted on 11/06/2011

If he is responsible I would say go ahead and let him walk to school, my son is also 10 and has been riding city transit from our small town into the city which is about a 30 min ride with complete strangers less a few kids he knows from school as he goes to a charter school since he was 8 he does just fine we bought him a cell phone for just in case but we don't have any problems with it, maybe see if there is a friend from school he can walk with