Do you let your kids run errands alone? Walk or ride bikes to school? Why or why not?

[DFW]

14. From the age of about four

Our daughters would go visit playmates in the neighborhood if it didn't involve crossing streets. When they started school at age 7, they could walk to school if they didn't go alone, since it was very close, and only involved crossing one street. At age 12, they graduated to another school, and took the bus there and back by themselves. We watched out for them as long as we thought it necessary, but had a very intact group of families who all had (still have) the keys to each other's houses/apartments, and gave our children--as soon as we thought we could--a sense of security that they could handle themselves (within reason). Most of them, now approaching 40, never lost that sense of self-confidence, and have built solid lives for themselves.

I should add that by the time we had our children, we had sought out, and settled in (to the extent that anyone with my job can be considered to be "settled" ), a small German town outside Düsseldorf with a very intact infrastructure. We attended a class for pre-natal couples, and most of the friendships we made then are couples who constitute our best friends here in the same town yet today. Obviously, this is not an option for everyone by a long shot.