Monday, 5 July 2010
support these parents!
read here about a family whose two children, five and eight, cycle to school unaccompanied. A mile, and not on the road. The parents have been threatened by social services because,the story says, "other parents" disapprove. I had some of this crap when my children were young and walked and cycled unaccompanied. I believe firmly that driving children to school is irresponsible and should not be permitted. What do readers think?
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10 comments:
Your bang on Jane
My 9 year old son travels 0.3 of a mile to school. We have have had letters from the head saying that he is not permitted to travel on his own.
No way should children of that age be out alone.
Yes, they've got to learn about the big outside world, but the age for it is increasing all the time.
A Sarah, or Jessica and Holly incident occurs and children miraculously disappear off the streets, but only for a few days.
Personally I wouldn't have let my children go by themselves at that age, but I agree with you that it is up to the parents to make an informed choice.
my daughter went on her own at six and my son at nine, one major road to cross with a pelican crossing. they weren't just pushed out of the door, they were trained to cross the road safely and I let them go when I thought they could be trusted. The more street-wise children are the safer they are. And they were not allowed to ride their bikes on the road until they had been trained to do so properly and safely. By me.
The assumption from the school is that your stupid and dont care. We spent months training our son to go on his own. It has built his confidence up no end. But the school started sending back messages through him telling us we were wrong. This has distressed him as he doesnt want any trouble and has now led to a loss of confidence. It is very stupid. I have checked with the council who tell me it our call not the school. Despite us telling them this they continue to make life difficult for our son so we have given in.
What do I think? It is the Daily Wail. It has a no better than random chance of being right.
Not on the pavement, please.
I suppose it depends both where and when they're walking.
But is it possible that your child's "on their own" was in fact a neat way of delegating the care to the parent of the child's friend going to the same place ?
anon 0154: No.
My son used to travel on his own to and from primary school (1 to 2 miles dpending on the route) on a normal Reading bus.
I used to travel on the Bakerloo and BR to my primary school (alone and with my younger sisters) after we moved 4 stations down the line.
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