Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:50     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
My 8yo 2nd grader would be fine with the walking to school part (we live a mile from school) but would definitely not remember to check the clock and leave on time lol.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:47     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.


I remember thinking I missed my bus as a kid and having to walk to school by myself. I was in elementary. I got lost. Then I had to take the way the bus goes which was a longer route down a one way divided street. People were offering me rides. Finally the bus came, it must’ve been a two hour delay or something and I got on the bus the rest of the way.


Op here. The family I am thinking of lives one block from the school. I want to say they live 6-7 houses on the SAME street of the school. I think a 9 year old should be able to walk to school.


Allowing (much less expecting) a third grader to walk themselves to school with no parental supervision is definitely well outside the norm for this area (and would probably prompt some to call cps.)


Insane. I was 5 years old in kindergarten and walked a mile to school with my 7 year old brother.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:46     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.


I remember thinking I missed my bus as a kid and having to walk to school by myself. I was in elementary. I got lost. Then I had to take the way the bus goes which was a longer route down a one way divided street. People were offering me rides. Finally the bus came, it must’ve been a two hour delay or something and I got on the bus the rest of the way.


Op here. The family I am thinking of lives one block from the school. I want to say they live 6-7 houses on the SAME street of the school. I think a 9 year old should be able to walk to school.


Allowing (much less expecting) a third grader to walk themselves to school with no parental supervision is definitely well outside the norm for this area (and would probably prompt some to call cps.)
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:46     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:All kids are different. My older child was fine with being left home alone for 30-60 minutes at 9 years old, while my younger now 10 year old gets panicky at the idea of being left home alone even for a few minutes.

There’s no way I would have left either to get themselves to school alone at that age.


You really need to rethink this whole parenting thing. Our job as parents is to produce kind SELF SUFFICIENT adults that contribute to society. We have to give them autonomy in bits along the way. Clearly if you cannot trust an 8 year old to walk half a block there is a problem. If the problem is you - air tag the kid to make sure they got there
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:43     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.


I remember thinking I missed my bus as a kid and having to walk to school by myself. I was in elementary. I got lost. Then I had to take the way the bus goes which was a longer route down a one way divided street. People were offering me rides. Finally the bus came, it must’ve been a two hour delay or something and I got on the bus the rest of the way.


Op here. The family I am thinking of lives one block from the school. I want to say they live 6-7 houses on the SAME street of the school. I think a 9 year old should be able to walk to school.


I’d say if the kid can tell time, be trusted to lock the house when they left, then they can have the autonomy to walk 7 houses to school with a 2 hour delay. My kids could probably have done that at 5 or 6. Unfortunately they go to a private school that we have to drive to.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:40     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
All kids are different. My older child was fine with being left home alone for 30-60 minutes at 9 years old, while my younger now 10 year old gets panicky at the idea of being left home alone even for a few minutes.

There’s no way I would have left either to get themselves to school alone at that age.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:39     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:Walking home from school a block away is completely different. 8-9 is way too young to be home alone for hours in the morning and getting themselves to school. They may lose track of time, they may miss the bus, the bus may be delayed, they don’t have phones and I’m not giving my 8 yr old a phone to take the place of adult supervision

I agree with not giving an 8 yr old a phone. This is why we held on to our land line. When our kids first became old enough to be alone in our house for short periods, we trained them to use the land line to call us on our cell phones, and vice versa.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:34     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

Suburbanite here. 3rd grade or age 8.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:33     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Walking home from school a block away is completely different. 8-9 is way too young to be home alone for hours in the morning and getting themselves to school. They may lose track of time, they may miss the bus, the bus may be delayed, they don’t have phones and I’m not giving my 8 yr old a phone to take the place of adult supervision
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:30     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.


I remember thinking I missed my bus as a kid and having to walk to school by myself. I was in elementary. I got lost. Then I had to take the way the bus goes which was a longer route down a one way divided street. People were offering me rides. Finally the bus came, it must’ve been a two hour delay or something and I got on the bus the rest of the way.


Op here. The family I am thinking of lives one block from the school. I want to say they live 6-7 houses on the SAME street of the school. I think a 9 year old should be able to walk to school.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:28     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
6th grade and up, I’d feel fine. Maybe 5th grade in an emergency.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:27     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
Anonymous wrote:My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.


I remember thinking I missed my bus as a kid and having to walk to school by myself. I was in elementary. I got lost. Then I had to take the way the bus goes which was a longer route down a one way divided street. People were offering me rides. Finally the bus came, it must’ve been a two hour delay or something and I got on the bus the rest of the way.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:24     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
middle school
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:23     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
14
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 20:17     Subject: At what age would you let kids be home alone and get to school two hours late ?
My child is in third grade. Parents are enraged about the two hour delay. These kids are 8-9 years old. Some of these people live 1-2 blocks away from school. There is no reason why a 9 year old can’t walk a block to school alone and parent can go to work.

Not talking about parents of younger kids.

At what age would you let your kid go to the bus stop or walk to school by themselves?

I remember walking home from school alone in kindergarten. I lived a block away. This was in the eighties.