Is 6 years old to young to walk home from the school bus stop?

[CatBoreal]

I didn't think so, but my mom went into a huge case of the wiggins when I told her my daughter, who is in grade 1 has started to walk home alone from the bus stop.

The stop is 6 houses up from our home. She doesn't need to cross the street and she's got a sidewalk the whole way. Another girl (older) walk about halfway with her and the last three houses belong to friends of ours who have said it's not a problem for her to knock on the door if she feels scared or threatened. We live in a small community where everyone knows each other.

She knows not to go into anyone's house without telling us first. She also knows that she's not to get into anyone's car even if they say they know us and that something's happened to us. She's a bright kid and we've been doing street proofing with her since she's 3.

What do you think? Is my mother being over protective (not surprising since I was raped at the age of 5) or am I being too trusting.

[LynneSin]

1. I had the same situation and I always walked home

but it was a different world back in the 1970s

I think if it's a nice day out she should be fine - but if the weather is bad I would go get her. It's not like she's coming home to an empty house or that you're not aware she's coming home at that time

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. if you feel comfortable with it, I'd say it's fine

I used to walk a mile and a half to school in second grade (would have walked in first if I lived in the same place when I was six, but I didn't).


and before anyone asks, yes it was uphill, both ways, in hip deep snow, and once I killed a grizzly bear with my three ring binder.

[LynneSin]

3. Did you wrap your feet with newspaper to keep them dry

I heard that one all the time from my dad

[BigMcLargehuge]

6. yes, of course... we all did

and we only ate hard boiled eggs for lunch in the winter because we could use them as pocket warmers as we set off across the tundra.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Given there's no street crossing, I have to say "OK".

[Left Is Write]

5. I'd let her walk...

but knowing myself well, I'd probably stand out in the yard watching her.

[China_cat]

7. Why not split the difference?

Stand out on the sidewalk in front of your own house and watch her walk home.

[LeftyMom]

8. I think it's too young

but I think six is too young for school and certanly too young for the schoolbus, so maybe that makes me much too overprotective. :shrug:

[nini]

9. Unfortunately the world is screwed up

so I'd say if you can't be there to watch her walk towards the house, see if a neighbor can. I wouldn't leave her unsupervised for a few years or so.

[southlandshari]

10. I have a six-year-old daughter, and I say it is fine.

We live a little over a mile from my daughter's school (she is in first grade, too). Too close for the bus to serve our neighborhood, but too far for her to walk alone, even though there are lots of other kids walking individually and in groups every morning and afternoon.

Six houses down, in a small community where everyone knows each other, in broad daylight, is fine, IMHO. And I'm pretty protective these days - we had an incident in which a neighbor said some very inappropriate things to my daughter a few weeks ago. I still say it is fine - but I would be outside watching for her at bus time.

:hi:

[Xithras]

11. It's fine.

If you were in a major urban area the story might be a little different, but we're only talking six houses in a rural area. Heck, at six years my kids were riding their bicycles completely around the block with their friends unsupervised. My eight year old walks three blocks to school by himself every day, and my 11 year old walks six blocks to her bus stop...and I DO live in a larger city.