Help Needed: Can Kids Walk to School Alone in First Grade?

When I was in 1st grade (1994) I skateboarded the 0.7 miles to school in my DC neighborhood. With two working parents I usually did it by myself or my next door neighbor who rode his bike. Despite all the odds I am still alive today.

Yes, some kids do have that good judgement. And if they haven’t been coddled their whole lives, I would say most kids do. I was one of them. I ended up walking in a group with others (we were 3 blocks away, but sometimes it would just be me. I live acros the street from a school and not once have I seen children walking. In fact, there are no crossing guards, just a lot of cars and traffic congestion, and tons of blind corners from parents parking too close to intersections.

I agree–just keep letting your daughter walk alone, and ignore the principal, who obviously doesn’t know your child nearly as well as you do.

I think in your situation, it’s more than fine!
The school should have no say, in my opinion. When my daughter was in 3rd grade, I let her walk less than a block to school, just straight up the road, no crossing.. Her teacher and principal were horrified and tried to ban it. I didn’t realize half a block was so dangerous!
They said something about a busy road and “what if a car jumps the sidewalk?” to which I said “I appreciate the credit, but I can’t stop a speeding car.”

I never did *walk* to school by myself, since it was just over half a mile. Starting in first grade (1979) I did, however, ride my bike, with another first grader, a third grader (the next-door neighbor), and the fourth-grader from across the street.

So far as I know (barring unexpected and tragic circumstances, anyway) we’re all still alive, and by this time next year we’ll all be at least 40 years old.

As for daughters walking home alone, *mine* decided to do that last year, with no notice or warning. We didn’t even realize she’d done it right away, since she got home right around the same time she’d have gotten home if she’d been on the bus. 🙂 We just asked her to make sure we knew she was walking home in the future…

Our kid’s school you have to be in the 3rd grade unless you have an older sibling to walk with but parents can go to the office and give permission for a 1st or 2nd grader to walk themselves. They don’t give parents a hard time. Kindergarten kids have to have a older sibling or a parent, they don’t make exceptions for them.

I think first grade is a fine age for most kids to walk too school, particularly such an amzingly short distance.

It’s certainly a parents choice. I think it was inaapropriate for the principle to give the kids any age they “could” walk too school at. Clearly it isn’t his choice and he shouldn’t presume to think all parents feel like he does.

My first grader walks two blocks to the park…… by himself. I feel very comfortable with it and he is far from terribly mature. He does know how to stay safe though. I practiced the route with him so often that he could do it blindfolded.

I’m pretty sure it’s more than 90 steps from my house to the nieghbors and all the kids from about four up go back and forth that distance without any supervision.

Clearly your daughter has the skills to walk to school safely, she’s been doing it for three weeks.

I am struggling with a similar issue, but it is my neighbor who is giving me a hard time. We both have third graders and I am attempting to let my son walk home from the bus stop alone (we waited until this year as there are no sidewalks and a good up hill walk between the bus stop and our house). My neighbor, however, insists on standing at the bus stop and watching my son until he sees me at the top of the hill waiting for my son. I have told him repeatedly not to do so, but he “worries about what could happen”. The first day I let my son do this, this same neighbor and his wife almost didn’t let my son get off the bus! Thankfully I had talked to another neighbor about my plan and she interceded for my son. I have also since talked with the bus driver and told her in no uncertain terms that I want my son to get off the bus without me there. While I appreciate neighbors watching out for each other, this is just overkill.

There are some higher order brain development things that happen in the brain at around 8 years… It’s a scientific truth that (most) 8 year olds have the cognitive ability for better judgement than they did at 6.

Which, you know, would be important information if you were trying to decide whether your child was capable of caring for a pet on her own, or staying home alone for an hour every day, or even ready for the responsibility of a cell phone. I’m not sure how it’s relivent to walking 350 steps. This doesn’t sound like it’s so much about whether you are accurately gauging your daughter’s ability. Most 6 year olds are mature enough to walk 350 steps by them self, I would hope. This sounds like a principal who is nwilling to understand that different situations are… Different! And yes, overstepping her bounds in terms of authority, or even implied authority.

I walked to school beginning the first day of first grade in 1950, about a half mile or so. Played outside on school playground unsupervised until the bell rang.

Walked home for lunch, then back to school; then walked home after school. We sometimes walked in small groups, sometimes alone. But we walked.

Not only was it no big deal, but if a principal had told families that their kids couldn’t walk to school unsupervised, they’d probably have packed the next PTA meeting demanding his head on a pike.

I agree. I also have a first grader who is fully capable of walking the 1 block to school on her own. I felt she was fully able to do so last year in kinder. But her school requires students be at least in 2nd before they can walk to school. My husband tells me it’s a liability issue (isn’t everything nowadays?) – the school is somehow responsible for the student from the moment they leave home, so if something happens to them on the way, the school can be liable. Not sure about this but I am sure people like to sue for ANYTHING and place blame anywhere but themselves, so everyone is overly cautious in everything. My daughter is very tall, so a few times I’ve just let her go and kind of pretended she’s older… And some of the comments are right on the money – it’s often neighbors and “helpful” parents who are more “worried” about our children than we are!!! Like the ones panicking when my 3-yr-old runs ahead – afraid he’s going to run in front of the cars. You really think I would let him run ahead if he would run in front of the cars? Do I want to put my 3-yr-old in danger??? Sheesh.

I was a bus rider in first grade, but I walked home to our apartment from the bus stop, which was about an equivalent distance. I’m not sure I was entirely mature enough, because one afternoon I decided to go play in the snake-infested woods with some other kids for a few hours instead of going home – I got one of the few spankings of my childhood for that little escapade. That said, I was still allowed to walk on my own afterward, just with dire warnings about coming straight home.

Yes my youngest started riding his bike alone at the beginning of 2nd grade. After the first day, he came home and said his teacher told him only 3rd graders and above could ride their bikes to school. He kept doing it and no one ever called me on it. If they had, I would have ignored it because the school can’t tell me how my child can get there and back.

Heck, when I was in first grade, I used to walk 10 miles to school! In the snow! Up hill! Both ways!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Seriously, though, tell the principal his opinion is noted and let your kid walk to school.

I don’t think that you need to ask whether your child is capable of the walk, seeing as how it’s been going on for three weeks!

Why is this tiny walk in your line of sight supposed to be dangerous? Is there a mad molester out there ready to jump out from the nearby manhole and grab unaccompanied kids right off the crosswalk and run away at super-speed, dodging cars and witnesses right and left? If so, why isn’t there a manhunt on right now? Are there a lot of dangerous drunks on the road on school mornings? If so, why aren’t there police roadblocks at both ends of the street?

“My question for other parents: Do *some* kids have the judgment?”

Is the judgement even needed in this case? It sounds like the kid does not have to make any decisions whole time and is watched whole time.

AlanaM: Indeed, there is the point that the school’s authority ends off their property. A child is a free person, whose right to travel by public roads for any reason or no reason is recognized in both U.S. constitutional law and international law.

The school could, if we’re being all legalistic here, insist on conditions for entering its property from the public road, but for a public school (government actor) to impose a condition on travel prior to crossing its bounds amounts to a restriction on a recognized fundamental right, and thus requires passing the strict scrutiny test: the rule must both serve a compelling state purpose, and be narrowly tailored to that purpose.

Let your daughter walk if that’s what you want. I encourage you to ignore the principle or any helicopter moms that disapprove.

This bubble wrapped society that we live in is undermining self-esteem in children. It portrays the message daily that children aren’t good enough to look after themselves.

And then people wonder why so many kids are immature and irresponsible.

And you wondered if you’re a wingnut?

In most of the world, kids acquire “judgment” by learning from their mistakes in a relatively safe environment. American kids, however, get their “judgment” magically at a predetermined age. Curious.

The best solution here might be to let her walk to school together with a friend. That way she’s not walking “alone” as the school rules say, and the number of kids that get to walk to school without an adult following them is doubled.

I wasn’t allowed to walk to school alone in first grade back in 1991, I had to go with the neighbour’s kid who was a couple of years older. On the other hand, I was allowed to walk to a friend’s house, which was further away with more street crossings, by myself though.

This leads me to believe that my mom was more worried about me meeting one of my firends on the way to school and missing the bell because we were chatting rather than about me getting lost or crossing the street

Story aside, it should definitely be the parents’ decision. Unfortunately, more and more schools consider that they are responsible for the students on the way to and from school as wall as on the grounds.

My family lived in the same type of neighborhood about the same distance from the school when I was a kid and I walked there from 2nd grade until middle school without a single issue.

And the only reason I didn’t walk to school by myself sooner was because the school wasn’t built before then.

Let her walk.

I hope that you will let the comments here have more weight than the words of one overly-cautious principal. Your daughter is already walking and I see no reason to take that independence away from her.

My son is in Kindergarten and walks 1/2 mile to school. I was confidant he could do it safely because we have made the walk together countless of times when he was in preschool. I did have to get permission from his teacher for him to walk home, since they traditionally only dismiss kindergartners to an adult or older child. Two neighbors were surprised when they first heard I was doing this but are now allowing their 1st graders to also walk. Other people still think I’m crazy but I don’t care; I see the confidance and joy my kid takes in being independent and I know what I am doing is right.

On another note. On the first day of school a beloved senior in our area crashed her car head on with a school bus (reason unknown at this time) and died. Should students be allowed to drive? Of course! Don’t let one tragedy mar lives any further than the tragedy already does.

@Carolyn–I read that story too, but Ramona was in kindergarten when she walked to school alone, and mistook “a quarter after eight” for 8:25, following the logic that there were 25 cents in a quarter. Her sister had an early dentist appointment, so not only did she walk to school alone, she was left alone in the morning to get herself dressed and fix her own breakfast.

I used to walk to Kindergarten!

@CG: “I have also since talked with the bus driver and told her in no uncertain terms that I want my son to get off the bus without me there”

Doesn’t your school have a policy on this? Our school states that a person must be waiting for a kindergartener but that from 1st grade on, a child will be dropped off by the bus without an adult present. Most of the elementary kids in our neighborhood get off the bus without an adult present.

My son is 1st grade, and my neighbor has a 3rd grader who she does meet (problems with the girl running off instead of going home), and I do have it arranged with her that if my son gets off and one of us is not present, she’ll knock at the door and check if someone’s home. My bigger concern is that traffic can prevent me from getting home exactly on time, and my son has not yet proven himself able to be trusted with and use a key. Hopefully soon, we’ve been trying to teach him.

Oh, and I would argue that with anti-lock brakes on cars, kids are safer than ever.

In Texas you have to be 7 years old to be home alone. Schools are supposed to allow 7 year olds walk home alone. Anyone younger is not to be allowed to walk home, as the school doesn’t know if someone is home to take care of them. That said, some schools decide that they are going to be “more vigilent” and you have to point out what the law actually says.

Walk on.
Print out a FRK card to show her principal when she proves him wrong with her good judgement.

My son has been walking by himself since he requested to during the second semester of Kindergarten. We live in a similar school neighborhood where it is less than 1/2 mile to school. My son can make it in under 5 minutes if he runs. If you can watch your kid walk all the way to school from your porch then technically she is supervised and not doing it alone ;). Your principal needs her priorities updated and introduced to the reality of the obesity epidemic in our elementary schools. The point of these neighborhood schools was originally so our kids wouldn’t have to be bused and could be within a safe walking distance to the school. I will be greatly saddened by the day when my school decides it is safer for the daily traffic jam in front of our school to occur than to have the kids walk. Sadly I think that day approaches. Right now they just instituted use of the Raptor checks for all parents picking up their kids from the after school BASE program. The intent is to do a Raptor check on all people entering the school.

Sorry…I meant to say, “we frighten those parents OUT OF trusting their own best judgment.”

In my town currently, kindergarteners must either take the bus or be picked up by a responsible adult. For students in grades 1-5, it’s the parent’s choice.

I lived in a very rural area in kindergarten and first grade, so I rode the bus. However, the bus stop was about 1/2 mile down the hill from our house. In first grade I was allowed to walk to and from the bus stop on my own. There were only 2 other houses near us, so my mom had pretty unimpeded sight lines if she wanted to watch me from the window, but I doubt she ever did.

When my son was in grade 1 or 2 (can’t remember now, it’s all becoming a blur), I had him walk alone to school. It was about a mile. I had walked the same distance / under similar conditions to school as a 5 or 6-year-old and wanted him to enjoy this rite of passage and development as well.

Dad freaked out, told him it was “totally inappropriate” (we had divorced). My son’s excitement and confidence was utterly deflated, and there was no way in hell he was going to cross Dad, so walking to school was off the table until God knew when, since Dad also threatened to call CPS.

At the end of grade 2, I think, my son started biking to school on his own, and he came home to tell me that the principal said it wasn’t allowed until grade 3.

I know, I know, there are those out there who shout, “Who cares what the school says? Who cares what your ex says? Keep doing what you are doing!”

What I saw in my own child, however, was a huge breach of trust… who was he to believe was advocating most effectively for his safety? His father, who was obsessed with the idea of stranger abduction? The school, who was obsessed with liability? Or his mom, who is obsessed with supporting growth, learning, and health?

Well, even at age 10, he was still confused about this, still wanting to show loyalty to his dad by sticking with the fear of kidnapping. I worked hard with him to overcome it.

It’s a simple enough thing to tell parents to ignore the principals, the silly rules, the other parent’s objections. But where does this leave the kid? And if the kid is looking for a way out of what might be a less comfortable option (walking a mile in cold weather v. being driven to school in a warm car), well, they pull out the “My principal said” or “The school rule is” card and it’s hard to argue that in this one case, the school is wrong, while expecting the kid to blindly adhere to all the other regulations.

I’m all for questioning authority, it’s my stock and trade. I just know how hard it is to be the kid in the middle of that (because I’m the child of rabble-rousers too!).

My first grader walks to school with her older brothers, ages 10 and 8. I start all of my kids walking back and forth without an adult at about this age.

One teacher described me as “brave” for allowing it. eye roll.

This story and the last one about the library are all about the lowest common denominator. Rules are made to protect the least able to look after themselves and the rest have to abide by them. Many kids are not able to walk themselves at this age, although I can’t remember any when I was in grade 1. Many parents are not able to think for themselves enough to consider whether or not their children are able to walk by themselves – at least in the minds of administrators.
As long as rules are made to protect the weakest, children will grow up without having to learn independance. It is a sad way to make rules. It’s frustrating for parents who strive to teach their children to think for themselves only to have some authoritarian despots take the decision power from them.

My kids’ schools will not allow any kid to walk themselves to or from school until grade 3. Now, traffic is a concern, but instead of paying for a crossing guard, they decided to pay 3 times as much for a bus – even for older students who live 1/2 km away.

When I was in 5th grade, responsible 5th graders were give a vest and allowed to help the little kids cross the streets. This was a special honor. No parent would have even considered driving a first grader to school, nor would any self respecting kid be seen with a parent.

What happened? We were capable then, but not now? Then again, from age five and up we were sent outside to play by ourselves and expected to cope.

I’m not even sure I understand the use of the word “alone” in this context. The child isn’t even out of the line of sight of home the entire time (and is in fact actively being watched by mom), and certainly not out of sight of both home and school. In what sense is she “alone” at all?

It’s none of the school’s business and we have GOT to put a stop to this idea that the school controls any aspect of the child’s life beyond the school property lines. IMO that’s a far more important battle than getting kids to play at the park “alone” or any of the other things we often discuss here (valid as those concerns are.)

I can’t help, but add, because I thought of it – Ruby Bridges was six years old when she dealt with talking to school under the watchful and hateful eyes of the neighborhood.

I took the bus to kinder. As did all my siblings. When I had my own, I put her on the bus. I was amazed that some people in my neighborhood refused to put their kids on the bus as they didn’t think it was safe. My daughter made some friends with kids older than her, and it was a great experience.

Had she gone to the school a year or two more, I would have let her ride her bike, as it was only a mile. But with parents cutting in and out of the parking lots at the school and no bike path, the last 100 feet before the school were the most dangerous. I rode a couple times with her in 1st grade, and I had to admit, it was scary. There were no houses for a mile around the school, only orchards, and parents were not looking for bikes or walkers as they just didn’t happen.

I walked to my grandmother’s house after school starting in first grade. It was .3 miles (just looked it up). All residential, but not within sight of the school. My kindergarten brother was with me. So I say definitely. I also had to walk the same distance to the bus stop in the mornings starting in third grade, with my younger brother and sister. Had to catch the right bus (bussing was insane in Little Rock in the late 80s/early 90s, and at least 3 or for different school buses came by), or go back home and call my dad or grandma to take us to school if we missed it ( you can imagine how that would go over).

In 1st grade we lived in a “burb” that had NO local school. I had to take a city bus downtown, then walk through town for 15 minutes to get to school, sometimes with a slightly older girl who lived next door, more often on my own. Going home I had to make sure I got on the correct bus and get off at the right stop, then walk down the street we lived on. I never gave it a second thought.

The principal, by discouraging parents from letting their children walk to school, is the one who is making walking less safe (altho given that kids in the upper grades can walk, I’m assuming that there are actually plenty of children on the streets leading to the school during the time when your child is walking). My kids all walked starting in first grade, and in fact very few children were driven to school or walked by their parents after Kindergarten.

My daughter is in 2nd grade and began walking to and from school, by herself, last year… as a first grader. So, in her case, yes. She’s capable of walking to school alone, and was, even as a first grader.

(If you’ve followed this blog for a while, she was also the little girl who was left to play in the children’s section of the library while I ran upstairs to get a book; Lenore published an article about it on AOL and it touched off a firestorm… So she’s always been a bit precocious. ;o) )

So, to answer your questions… Yes. Some kids absolutely have the judgement. And the decision should be in your hands, not the principal’s. Good luck!

I struggled with the same issue this summer. For the past four years, my work schedule of 50% has made it possible for me to walk my kids to and from school every day. This year I increased to work 80% which means I can take the kids to school but I couldn’t guarantee that I could drive to their school on time (considering weather, traffic, things coming up at work) every day before they got out. I figured that if my first and third grader walked home together, it would buy me 20 minutes and I could guarantee that I would be home for them. We live 1.7 km away from the school. Bus services starts at 1.6 km but because our street is at the end of the neighbourhood, we would be the only street in the school community that would require a bus so it was decided that my children on my street would walk, despite being `in the bus service radius’. I’m glad that we are not being bussed to school. There are no buses at my kids’ school because everyone (except us) live in that 1.6 km radius so a walking community is encouraged, plus more after school teams and clubs. I checked with CAS to see if legally my children could walk home together, a route they have done every day for the past four years, a route where many other parents and children will be joining them. I was told that I couldn’t because my children are of an age that requires responsible supervision at all times. I was pretty steamed about the responsible supervision at all times because technically that means my kids can’t play outside without me being outside with them. Instead, what we’ve done is found a nice boy in grade eight who is willing to walk the kids home. I pay him generously for his time and he’s willing to stay on to babysit for extra time if I have a meeting or an appointment. Some days (like when the weather is bad), I’ll pick up all three kids, which I think the teen appreciates. It’s a great experience for the teen and my kids to walk home together but I wish that my kids could have just walked home themselves. Next year the teen will be in high school so I’ll have to figure something out but I’m hoping that my new fourth and second graders will be okay walking home together after spending a year learning the route and gaining independence under the eye of a great teen.

Oops — and you’re not even talking about a Kindergartener, but a first-grader!

I’m also living in Germany and I can confirm that first-graders here in Munich are encouraged to walk by themselves after the first week or so, even when they live 1-1.5 km away. Kids that live farther away tend to walk in packs, and sometimes they get picked up — but most of the kids in my daughter’s first grade class did walk at least one way most days. I had no worries at all about my daughter walking the couple of blocks to school alone in the morning. I was slightly concerned about her walking to her after-school program about 800 meters away as some days of the week she needs to walk alone (she is the only first grader and the older kids sometimes stay later). But it was no problem and her teacher even commented positively to me about how responsible she was about getting to after-school by herself every day.

I did refuse to buy her a scooter, though, because i didn’t want her begging to take the scooter to school/after-school care. Our school recommends waiting until 3rd grade to let kids use bikes or scooters. Some kids in her class did already have scooter though, and I will consider it this year.

And once kids start going to high school (Gymnasium), which starts in 5th grade, not 9th grade, some of them take public transportation, on their own, depending on where they live. If my daughter wants to go to a creative arts high school, say, when she gets older, I would probably need her to take the U-bahn (subway) by herself. And noone here would think that made me a bad parent!

Interestingly, when I went to a “school-skills readiness” parent night at our preschool (kindergarten in Germany), the teacher actually mentioned that walking to kindergarden was helpful in getting kids ready for school. She notices a big difference when the kids walk with parents vs. getting driven to school. They are better able to handle themselves on outings, etc.

I am pretty sure the rate of childhood obesity here in Germany is a lot lower than in the US. I can’t cite you any statistics, but we just visited the US and my impressions was you see a lot more chubby kids. Out of 25 kids in my daughter’s class, not one was overweight.

My sons school will not let him walk home does not provide transportation ..not the point my point is they will refuse to release my soon unless i come get him.i work so now have to pay 260$ every 2wks for they ymca to pick hi up bring him across town were my eldest picks him up and he has to walk 2 miles home. If the school would just let him go i w ould be saving a lof money and time.mind you the boy is 8 and would meet at home with his brother

@Steve re. “Buy a copy of Lenore’s book: Free Range Kids”

That’s just what I’m doing this year! My child’s school is not yet crazy with parents driving their kids to school. Not yet. But it’s getting crazier.

For the first time in years, due to needing to be at the school first thing in the morning, I went with my daughter (via public transport) to school. Low and behold multiply cars dropping off children right up at the school. I do not recall any cars being so close to the school when I brought my child there when she first started school four years ago.

And here’s the thing, I don’t believe that über safety is a Top Down thing – some kind of devious plan that school administrations dream up to undermine parents’ authority. It is simply the schools giving the people what they want.

The story from CG above illustrates this beautifully (a PARENT demanded school bus driver only drop child off when adult is present). Unfortunately, the shrillest voice “You’re not keeping my child saaaffee!!!” will be the default mode for most schools. Unless we tell them we want it to be otherwise.

My daughter’s school principal doesn’t like the directly-up-to-the -school car drop offs, he even mentioned it at parents’ evening — “if you must drive your child to school please drop your child a safe distance away from the school. It won’t harm them to walk a bit”. My hope in giving him Lenore’s book is to keep things that way. Before bad forces make him nervous enough to do things their way. After all, they’ve obviously paid no heed to his plea.

Don’t let the scaredy-cats win. We sane ones have to be loud-ish voices in all this madness. Teach the principal, gently, the way things stand in the real world, not the one the media would have us believe exists. You and your daughter live in the real world. And the principal should come join you. It’s a pretty nice place to be.