Hey there ladies,
The children my son walked to school with last year moved and he has asked to ride his bike when the school year starts back up. My son is very responsible and I got him a little tracphone he could use in emergencies but I'm still worried. He's my oldest so I really can't tell if my mommy instincts are kicking in because he's my baby or because it really isn't appropriate for his age.
The school is about 8 blocks away straight up the street.
The neighborhood is safe and there will be other kids biking and walking to school, just not kids he knows.
Our street is fairly busy and he would have to cross 2 stop lights to get to school.
He could also cut through neighborhood side streets to stay off the main road, but then he wouldn't be on a highly visible route.
At what age did your kids start riding their bike to school?
Thank you for all your advice! There are crossing guards at both stoplights and on the other side of the street is a city park that stretches 4 of the 8 blocks and there is usually a police car stationed there watching kiddo pedestrians on school days.
I checked with a few mom's on other streets in our neighborhood and found 2 other boys a little older who wanted to bike to school. So he will be allowed to bike with them as a group.
I personally would never let my child walk or ride a bike to school at that age. My brother is a police officer and reminds me all the time about things that happen to children. It's not just adults you have to worry about. Other kids can be just as dangerous.
I think 8 is too young. He may be very smart and responsible but that won't protect him much from a kidnapper (God forbid).
I see a lot of kids walking to my DD"s school who live close enough, only to have their parents walking right next to them.
I know it would make it so much easier if he could do it on his own but I'd wait a few more years. No neighborhood is EVER "safe" enough from predators, sorry but their everywhere these days.
Take care and best wishes.
I think 8 is too young... I didnt let my son ride until he was 11. I know I might have been over protective.. but so many kidnappings.. and I still worry. sometimes I even follow him!
My initial gut instinct says he is too young. It is just not worth the convenience if something bad happens. I would not leave an 8 year old in the house alone and my house is far safer than the world so I would definitely not let him get to school alone.
I think 8, is too young. He might be responsible, but it's others I worry about!
Things are different from when we were growing up....they're SAFER! Crime in ALL categories is down on average 40%: crime against adults and children. Over 288 kids drown each year, 115 are "typical stranger snatchings". Over 4000 die each year in a fatal car wreck. So IMHO, your child is infinitely safer riding his bike to school than he is driving in a car (or swimming to school).
In nearly every other country kindergartners on up are expected to get to school on their own. Only in the US is it odd for kids to get to school under their own power, and I for one think it's sad. Children who ride/walk in packs are perfectly safe, safety in numbers.
Personally, I applaud your son for wanting to ride his bike. And I would encourage him to no end. Maybe the first couple times you ride with him. Then see how many of his friends can ride together. It's called a 'walking schoolbus'. See http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk/ for more info.
I remember when my son (now twenty five) had a friend behind us who rode his bike about six blocks away. I was aghast wondering why his mother would permit that.We lived in a safe area - but well, that seemed so young to me as I would not allow my child to do that. Maybe things are different, but my thoughts are that you should wait even if you feel like some other mother will make fun of you -they are not paying your bills or taking care of your children. He can ride his bike the rest of his life and then a car and then in my son's case he was on an aircraft carrier all over the world. Why speed up their childhood unless that is the only way he can get to school.
Most states have guidelines mandating when children can go to and from school alone.
In New Jersey the age is 12.
Personally I think age 8 is too young to have to go so far. My son was 6 when I would let him walk to the corner store. I would watch him from the window.
I am an overprotective mother but this seems to work for us.
I hope this helps.
Hmmmm...my son is 7 and I wouldn't let him and we live in a small, safe community, too.
I would ride with him! That's what all the parents do at our school. Predators look for these type of opportunities and it doesn't have to be for kidnapping! Not worth the trouble to find out!
Half of the responders are concerned with the child being snatched. That is an extremely rare event. Yet almost no one brought up traffic safety. Getting hit by a car is a much more likely event. It's interesting how people assume that what is most likely is actually least likely. And in the years since this question was first posted, crime has dropped even further.
I think that you should let him. Are there crossing guards at the lights?
If you let him walk, and he's a confident bike rider, then I think he'll be safe. Obviously you'll want to lay down the law about going straight to school and straight home and if he doesn't wear a helmet he loses biking rights for the rest of the year.
Honestly, I totally get the fear that a lot of moms have expressed, but I think that it's mostly unfounded - the vast majority of kidnappings are a friend or relative. There's millions of kids, and more than 99.9% of them don't get snatched on the way to school. We just hear about the ones that don't make it, of course. After all, do you think he's going to be ready to fend off an attacker at 10? 12? Realistically, he probably wouldn't be big enough to give someone a fight until he's 13 or 14 years old, and are you really going to walk him to school until then?
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. If there are other cars and people around, let him go. Practice a few times before school starts with you. Good luck.
This will have to be a question you will have to answer on your own. Im sure you will get every opinion from here to the moon. But it will all come down with how comfortable you are with it. This day and age it isn't safe for any age child to walk/ride bikes by themselves anymore. I see it in the news EVERYDAY some child somewhere was snatched right off the street in broad daylight even w/other children around. So you won't catch me EVER letting my child go off by themsleves! But I see several in my nieghborhood who let thier kids go off by themselves all the time, but could u live w/youself if something happened to him??
Since you mentioned there are other kids in the area why don't you go introduce yourselves and ask if your son could tag along with some of the others that are walking or riding bikes. Kind of like a buddy system! This is a scary topic for me. My daughter is 8 and I barely let her out of my sight when she is outside playing let alone walk 8 blocks out of sight! Way to many sickos out there! Not to mention bad, illegal and/or drunk drivers!!
I think it would be good if you could watch HeadLine News ( HLN )
Nancy Grace every night for a week and see that there are lots of crazy people out there hurting and kidnapping children left and right.
I don't even let my kids play outside in our yard alone because it only takes a minute or two for someone to hurt a child or kidnap them and then it would be to late.
We don't get a second chance to bring them back.
Times really have changed haven't they.
When we were kids we could go outside and play for hours with the neighborhood kids and come home at dark. But those days seem to be gone.
If it was me, I would drive my son to school.
Take care
