So freaking mad

Aidan has been begging me to let him walk home alone adult free for the last week because 1 other boy does in his year( this boy usually walks with us as it does worry me him being aloud to walk on his own at least I can make sure he's safe) they are both 8. I've explained repetitively to Aidan that this boy being able to walk alone is the exception not the rule and that no one else in his year does so and that till he gets to big school I will be making sure an adult takes him to school and picks him up if for any reason I can't personally do it.

Well at 3.20 today minutes after my sister left our house to pop to the shops she rang me to tell me she'd spoken to Aidan on the field up the road on route home and asked why he wasn't at after school club ( every Thursday till 4) and told him to go straight home (2 minutes max walk). I went straight out the front to wait for him but he didn't show up so I walked up the road to the field and he was no where to be seen. Cue frantic phone calls to dh (at home) and my sister. I walked straight to the school to chew their ears off thinking that maybe the club had been cancelled and I had not been informed, they were on, we went round each and every activity looking for him, definately not there. The head teacher ended up ringing the other boys mum to find out if he had gone there, he had so this boy could get changed and play at ours, she'd already let them set off on their own expecting her son to make his own way to our house and back again whenever he wanted when she doesn't even know us or where we live. Dh sent him straight home and Aidan straight to his room, I was still making my way back from school. Aidan won't be having any computer games this weekend, we've had a talk and the panics over but just need to vent.

Does anyone else think 8 is too young to be walking home alone? It's a 15 minute walk, including a high street which is mini roundabout central. I think it is, he doesn't even understand the rules of roundabouts let alone being able to predict which way traffic is going.

I fully agree with you 8 is to young

that must have been so scary. Yes 8 is definitely too young IMO. I would think twice about my 13yo making that kind of journey alone. My 7yo goes round the corner to his friends house but it is literally 200yds away with no roads.

Totally agree with you. I'd feel exactly the same

That must have been very frightening
I'm all for letting kids take *some* risks and give them freedom but yes, 8 seems a bit young to me. Also at the very least I'd like to know where they're going and how to contact them - if they were going to a friend's house that we know round the corner then ok, but to somebody we don't know and can't contact? Doubt it.
Granted DD is only 11 months so all this is hypothetical!!

Oh god, I'd be wild. You're absolutely right. Big school, and not before. 8 is far too young, the other parent is off their head. What did the school say? Is there any way you could get them to encourage the other parent to collect their child?

I'd be doing Big Consequences if my lo did this! Hugs.

I have an 8 yr old boy and there is no way i would let him do that journey without an adult,especially not twice a day
I cant imagine an 8 yr old would have much road safety awareness , I think it is completely irresponsible of that other mother to let her son walk the streets like that without really knowing where he is or where he is going.

Goodness yes!! 8 is FAR too young

The head teacher agreed with me that 8 is too young, but I also said that it was his mums choice what she did even though I don't agree with it and the head just nodded. I know the same school contacted a friend of mine when she allowed her son to bike home alone at the age of 10, over a busy dual carriageway as they thought it to be inappropriate ( think main motorway link that runs through a large town) . I think they may do the same, she had a pretty stern voice when she rang the mum to find out if Aidan was there, and her voice went up several octaves in disbelief when the mum said that she'd let them walk alone to our house.