Do your teens walk home from school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Your theory would be wrong. I just know that you have to be aware of your surroundings. Like it or not, a girl walking alone in a crowded airport is not going to be vulnerable in the same way as a girl walking down a quiet street, alone, on a rainy day.

How and when did you learn that you have to be aware of your surroundings?

[Anonymous]

My 10 yo walks 3/4 of a mile home. My HS kids have a 1.5 mile walk. Your DD can certainly walk .5 mile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have an iphone?

Use and set the Find Friends App so that you get an alert when she leaves the school prop. and then another when arriving home

(you could also watch along the walking progress if you so choose).

When the creeps targeted me I ran to PEOPLE - didn't matter who. Whoever happened to be around at that moment in time. It's amazing how fast those creeps disappear when they realize that there are going to be witnesses.

You have to react fast. By the time someone on the other side of the cellphone figures out what is happening and summons help the damage to you will already be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Your theory would be wrong. I just know that you have to be aware of your surroundings. Like it or not, a girl walking alone in a crowded airport is not going to be vulnerable in the same way as a girl walking down a quiet street, alone, on a rainy day.

How and when did you learn that you have to be aware of your surroundings?

It was a combination of things. I was a kid when the Lyon sisters disappeared so my parents had talked to me at length about stranger danger. It really made an impression on me. My parents told me that if someone tried to get me to go with them that I should run and scream, kick, bite, fight, whatever I had to do to not go with them. It was a scary talk and it stayed with me.

By the time I was a teenager, I had been walking and riding my bike all over the place. I was aware when guys were checking me out. My parents expected that I tell them where I was going and who I was with. If I was going from point A (ex: home) to point B (ex: a friend's house) they expected me to call them when I got there and they knew exactly how long it would take for me to get there.

I became aware that walking home from school on a sunny day there were lots of other kids walking, too. Rainy days, there were far fewer kids walking home. And if I was leaving school late, even by as little as 15 minutes late, I was likely to be walking the whole way home alone. The same exact walk home could vary depending on the weather and the time I left school.

I was used to get cat calls from motorists as I walked. But having a vehicle slow down and follow me or actually approach me was unusual and scary. I didn't talk to them, I focused on doing what I had to do to get to a point of safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Your theory would be wrong. I just know that you have to be aware of your surroundings. Like it or not, a girl walking alone in a crowded airport is not going to be vulnerable in the same way as a girl walking down a quiet street, alone, on a rainy day.

How and when did you learn that you have to be aware of your surroundings?

It was a combination of things. I was a kid when the Lyon sisters disappeared so my parents had talked to me at length about stranger danger. It really made an impression on me. My parents told me that if someone tried to get me to go with them that I should run and scream, kick, bite, fight, whatever I had to do to not go with them. It was a scary talk and it stayed with me.

By the time I was a teenager, I had been walking and riding my bike all over the place. I was aware when guys were checking me out. My parents expected that I tell them where I was going and who I was with. If I was going from point A (ex: home) to point B (ex: a friend's house) they expected me to call them when I got there and they knew exactly how long it would take for me to get there.

I became aware that walking home from school on a sunny day there were lots of other kids walking, too. Rainy days, there were far fewer kids walking home. And if I was leaving school late, even by as little as 15 minutes late, I was likely to be walking the whole way home alone. The same exact walk home could vary depending on the weather and the time I left school.

I was used to get cat calls from motorists as I walked. But having a vehicle slow down and follow me or actually approach me was unusual and scary. I didn't talk to them, I focused on doing what I had to do to get to a point of safety.

In other words, you learned by doing. Kids who aren't allowed to do, won't learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Your theory would be wrong. I just know that you have to be aware of your surroundings. Like it or not, a girl walking alone in a crowded airport is not going to be vulnerable in the same way as a girl walking down a quiet street, alone, on a rainy day.

How and when did you learn that you have to be aware of your surroundings?

It was a combination of things. I was a kid when the Lyon sisters disappeared so my parents had talked to me at length about stranger danger. It really made an impression on me. My parents told me that if someone tried to get me to go with them that I should run and scream, kick, bite, fight, whatever I had to do to not go with them. It was a scary talk and it stayed with me.

By the time I was a teenager, I had been walking and riding my bike all over the place. I was aware when guys were checking me out. My parents expected that I tell them where I was going and who I was with. If I was going from point A (ex: home) to point B (ex: a friend's house) they expected me to call them when I got there and they knew exactly how long it would take for me to get there.

I became aware that walking home from school on a sunny day there were lots of other kids walking, too. Rainy days, there were far fewer kids walking home. And if I was leaving school late, even by as little as 15 minutes late, I was likely to be walking the whole way home alone. The same exact walk home could vary depending on the weather and the time I left school.

I was used to get cat calls from motorists as I walked. But having a vehicle slow down and follow me or actually approach me was unusual and scary. I didn't talk to them, I focused on doing what I had to do to get to a point of safety.

In other words, you learned by doing. Kids who aren't allowed to do, won't learn.

Yes. My parents also did not shelter me from the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. They told me in no uncertain terms that there are scary people out there who do scary things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. My parents also did not shelter me from the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. They told me in no uncertain terms that there are scary people out there who do scary things.

So do you let your teenagers walk places on their own? For example, half a mile home from school, which was the OP's question?

Because if you do, then I don't understand what you're arguing with. You walk places, and so do your teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. My parents also did not shelter me from the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. They told me in no uncertain terms that there are scary people out there who do scary things.

So do you let your teenagers walk places on their own? For example, half a mile home from school, which was the OP's question?

Because if you do, then I don't understand what you're arguing with. You walk places, and so do your teenagers.

I would probably be o.k. with allowing my teenage daughter to walk .5 miles. BUT, not every .5 miles is equal.

If walking home would involve walking alone down an empty street and going into an isolated, empty house, I would probably be uncomfortable with that. If there were neighbors and other kids around then I would likely be fine with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. My parents also did not shelter me from the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. They told me in no uncertain terms that there are scary people out there who do scary things.

So do you let your teenagers walk places on their own? For example, half a mile home from school, which was the OP's question?

Because if you do, then I don't understand what you're arguing with. You walk places, and so do your teenagers.

I would probably be o.k. with allowing my teenage daughter to walk .5 miles. BUT, not every .5 miles is equal.

If walking home would involve walking alone down an empty street and going into an isolated, empty house, I would probably be uncomfortable with that. If there were neighbors and other kids around then I would likely be fine with it.

Probably OP doesn't live in, I don't know, Aden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. My parents also did not shelter me from the disappearance of the Lyon sisters. They told me in no uncertain terms that there are scary people out there who do scary things.

So do you let your teenagers walk places on their own? For example, half a mile home from school, which was the OP's question?

Because if you do, then I don't understand what you're arguing with. You walk places, and so do your teenagers.

I would probably be o.k. with allowing my teenage daughter to walk .5 miles. BUT, not every .5 miles is equal.

If walking home would involve walking alone down an empty street and going into an isolated, empty house, I would probably be uncomfortable with that. If there were neighbors and other kids around then I would likely be fine with it.

Probably OP doesn't live in, I don't know, Aden.

Probably not. But she could live on a street with lots of other dual working people, no retirees home during the day. That's why I said be aware of your surroundings. I'm really not trying to be cryptic, it's basic common sense.

Consider how you would handle it if a car followed you onto your street and you knew that several neighbors were home vs. if a car followed you onto your street and no one on your street was home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Probably not. But she could live on a street with lots of other dual working people, no retirees home during the day. That's why I said be aware of your surroundings. I'm really not trying to be cryptic, it's basic common sense.

Consider how you would handle it if a car followed you onto your street and you knew that several neighbors were home vs. if a car followed you onto your street and no one on your street was home.

How old are your children, and how much do they get around by themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Probably not. But she could live on a street with lots of other dual working people, no retirees home during the day. That's why I said be aware of your surroundings. I'm really not trying to be cryptic, it's basic common sense.

Consider how you would handle it if a car followed you onto your street and you knew that several neighbors were home vs. if a car followed you onto your street and no one on your street was home.

How old are your children, and how much do they get around by themselves?

Teenagers. They have been walking/biking around the neighborhood for a long time. Now one is driving and the other is learning to drive.

[Anonymous]

All of the HS students walk to our HS. It’s 0.75 miles from our house.

The MS is too far to walk, but all the kids wait at the bus stop and walk to and from by themselves at 11/12. Distance home is as much as your HS kid would walk.

Grandparents get over anxious which cracks me up considering how must of us were raised. Things have t gotten more samgerous except for shootings INSIDE of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the HS students walk to our HS. It’s 0.75 miles from our house.

The MS is too far to walk, but all the kids wait at the bus stop and walk to and from by themselves at 11/12. Distance home is as much as your HS kid would walk.

Grandparents get over anxious which cracks me up considering how must of us were raised. Things have t gotten more samgerous except for shootings INSIDE of school.

Dangerous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of the HS students walk to our HS. It’s 0.75 miles from our house.

The MS is too far to walk, but all the kids wait at the bus stop and walk to and from by themselves at 11/12. Distance home is as much as your HS kid would walk.

Grandparents get over anxious which cracks me up considering how must of us were raised. Things have t gotten more samgerous except for shootings INSIDE of school.

Dangerous

Mollie Tibbetts attacker stalked her as she jogged through her community and waited for her to turn onto a more isolated stretch of country road before he got out, chased her down and attacked her.

Not all half mile stretches are the same.