How do your kids get to school every day? If you drive your children to school, would you rather that they walk by themselves?
What age do you think you would let them start walking to school alone?
According to a survey by YouGov, the average age that Britons say a child is fine to walk to school without an adult is 10 years old.
However a recent study showed that children aren’t safe to cross the road by themselves until they are 14 years old. This is because their motor skills and visual judgement aren’t fully developed until then.
All children are different, and the age that you allow yours to walk to school alone will probably depend on a few different things…
- How mature they are – some kids are much more grown up than others. As a parent you will know if your child is ready to walk to school by themselves or not.
- How far you live from the school – if you live too far away from school it may not be practical for your child to walk. It might take too long or you may worry about your child getting lost.
- How safe the route to school is – even if you live close to school it may not be a good idea to allow your child to walk if they would have to cross busy roads to get there.
- If they have friends to walk to school with – you may feel more comfortable about your child walking to school if they can walk with school friends
Before you decide whether your child can walk to school alone, you will want to assess the risks associated with the route your child would walk. You may want to walk to school together a few times to begin with before making a decision.
In winter months it’s also worth considering reflective clothing to make sure your child can be seen by passing traffic. This doesn’t have to mean hi-viz vests, we have a wide range of accessories including reflective laces, zip pulls and textile stickers.