Do your teens walk home from school?

[Anonymous]

My 14 y.o. DD used to take the bus that stopped right in front of our driveway, but we moved this summer and now the bus stop is 0.3 miles away. My DD decided to walk home from school (all the way), which is 0.5 miles away. Basically just cross the street from school and she is on our street walking until our driveway. It's a neighborhood street, very quiet and it comes to a dead end a few houses down from our driveway.

Here is my dilemma.

My parents were visiting over the weekend and they suggested looking into a car service to transport my DD from school (I take her to school in the morning).
They said it's not safe these days, what if something happens, what if she gets kidnapped, etc.

Now I have mixed feelings.

Do you let your teens walk to school - and if so - what is the distance?
Do you have any rules in place - have them call you when they get home, etc.?

I'm having second thoughts about this.

[Anonymous]

Mine have been walking the 1.3 miles home from middle school since 6th grade and now my oldest walks just under a mile home from high school. I have no concerns. There are other kids around, they know not to talk to strangers, have cell phones if they have a problem.

It is not less safe "these days" than when we were kids and your DD needs to learn to navigate on her own. 14 is plenty old enough to walk a half mile.

[Anonymous]

Someone is worried about a teen walking a half a mile home by themselves? Do you live in a war zone?

This has to be a troll?

[Anonymous]

A car service to drive a teen .5 miles in the middle of the day? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

My teens walk to and from school (one boy, one girl, they do NOT walk together). BTW, anyone within 1.5 miles of a MCPS MS walks (unless across the beltway or seriously busy streer). For HS its 2 miles!

Your instincts, and your child's, were right. Tell your parents you'll take their suggestion under advisement, and then keep letting DD walk!,

[Anonymous]

A half mile or a 10 minutes walk at most. You have got to land the helicopter.

[Anonymous]

My son is 12 and walks a mile home, crossing a busy street. You have to let them grow up. Especially sincec when your kid is walking home, there are a lot of kids walking around, right? It is not like he is walking home alone at midnight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
They said it's not safe these days, what if something happens, what if she gets kidnapped, etc.

.

Absolutely not true. Crime statistics show these types of crime have not increased, they've actually fallen. Of course from 24/7 news, you wouldn't know it.

What if something happened with the person you hire for car service? It's far easier to abduct a kid once they're willingly in your car, where trying to get them into your car to abduct them is tougher.

My 11 yo DD walks a third of a mile from our bus stop to our house (we're semi-rural) by herself. She is to call me when she get into the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A half mile or a 10 minutes walk at most. You have got to land the helicopter.

+1

For a 14 year old?! Let your child free, OP.

[Anonymous]

Let me guess - your parents watch Fox news...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 14 y.o. DD used to take the bus that stopped right in front of our driveway, but we moved this summer and now the bus stop is 0.3 miles away. My DD decided to walk home from school (all the way), which is 0.5 miles away. Basically just cross the street from school and she is on our street walking until our driveway. It's a neighborhood street, very quiet and it comes to a dead end a few houses down from our driveway.

Here is my dilemma.

My parents were visiting over the weekend and they suggested looking into a car service to transport my DD from school (I take her to school in the morning).
They said it's not safe these days, what if something happens, what if she gets kidnapped, etc.

Now I have mixed feelings.

Do you let your teens walk to school - and if so - what is the distance?
Do you have any rules in place - have them call you when they get home, etc.?

I'm having second thoughts about this.

Good grief. Let your kid walk home. It is good for her ( both physically and mentally) As far as calling you what did you plan on doing? If teen is coming home alone you could have them call or text you. Point is your DD needs to learn how to navigate the world. The chance of kidnapping is very low. Give her self defense classes but, let her walk home!

[Anonymous]

1/2 mile???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess - your parents watch Fox news...

I would think msnbc.

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader walked to/from school. Lots of other kids were walking home, too.

I walked home from HS when I was a teenager (over a mile). The only time I ran into problems was when I was straggler (had to stay late for some reason) and I was walking home alone. The scariest thing that happened was when a guy in the nearby woods exposed himself and started to chase me - me on the walkway, him in the cover of the woods. Luckily there was a library fairly close by so I ran like hell towards the library and the guy eventually backed off into the woods. It was like he was in those woods just waiting for a girl to walk by.

So I would let her walk home but if she stays late she needs a ride or a group to walk home with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess - your parents watch Fox news...

I would think msnbc.

Or CNN