Is it Safe to Let Your Kids Walk to School?

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The reason it's only 50 kids and not more? Because parents are so leery, protective. I do not think it is responsible to allow a young child to walk alone. I'd feel slightly secure if they had a cell phone and told to call authorities as soon as they felt threatened. While you should allow them to exercise independence so once they reach adulthood, they are fully prepared, but allowing a vulnerable and easily manipulated child to walk by themselves every day is not the way to do it. I'm a young attractive woman, teeny.... even I have trouble feeling safe walking by myself. I can't imagine if I were a child. The truth? You are taking a risk every time they step alone outside. They are very easy prey.

Lisa A Watson of CA 2:42AM April 23, 2012

This comment is ludicrous. The poster states s/he is a physician, and claims that being molested as a child makes a person be gay. It's alarming to think about what other inaccurate "knowledge" this doctor is distributing.
If any of the people who commented negatively about Lenore Skenazy actually read her book, they would see that she advocates a common-sense parenting approach. It is the parents who shelter their children that are doing them a disservice, because when the kids finally leave home, they have little clue about how to operate in the world. The new term for today's college freshmen is "teacups" ... pretty to look at, but very delicate.

Marie of VA 1:23PM October 19, 2009

I know that there are dangers in the world, but there has always been, and I don't believe that our world has changed THAT much since we were kids. The thing that has changed is the information we are provided. I believe there was just as many abductions and molestations 50 years ago, but we just never read about them in the paper or on the internet. You have more possibility to be struck by lightning than for stranger danger to occur and while it DOES happen, and I have extreme sypathy for the families that have been affected, I will not keep my children in a bubble out of fear. I don't believe my kids will be any more safe when they are 20 years old as to when they are 8 years old, and I don't plan on driving them daily to college. I just have to pray that they know what to do (as I have taught them) and know that they will be more responsible and more confident for knowing I trust in them to make good judgements and to know how to get from point A to point B by themselves. My kids love the freedom and I love that they love it. However, I do feel better about the fact my two girls ride their bikes together. But I would still allow them to do it individually, as I have when one is ill.

Marcie W. of WA 1:43PM October 13, 2009

I agree that parents cannot be too protective of their children because we live in a dangerous world vastly different from that of our own childhood. I would side with those who promote walking or riding bikes with the children as the means to get to school.
Twenty-two years ago my daughter's 11-year-old friend was murdered while staying home from school due to an illness. Her mother had gone off to work, telling the girl to keep the doors locked and not open a door to anyone. When the girl later called her mother at work, the phone went dead. Some time later, three men arrived at the home and told the child they were telephone company repairmen her mother had called. Thinking these men were the "exception to the rule," the child let them in and was brutally murdered. It was later determined the men had tampered with the outside phone lines before approaching the house. As everyone can imagine, the family and community will never get over this tragedy.
So, no matter how street-wise you try to make your children, they can fall for any line a predator gives them, and the results can be just as deadly and tragic. The most valuable gift we can give our children is ourselves, along with the irreplaceable time we can spend with them.

Sheila Beers of IN 6:48PM October 12, 2009

This woman is an idiot and when her children are older, perhaps they will tell her about the times they were molested...and why they are now gay. One in 3 children are. It typically happens when kids are alone or left with people other than their parents at a vulnerable age. As a physician I have to deal with all the emotional disorders that these abused children have as adults. Why put a child through that? Parents are supposed to protect their children. I am the product of two very overprotective parents, not obese, successful and walking around without any of the emotional baggage many other people struggle to deal with on a daily basis because they were abused.
What frightens me is that some parents may actually listen to this fool.

C.C. of FL 9:34AM October 12, 2009

Someone in the group should be placed in charge and the whole group should be made aware of the dangers.
It is unfortunate that people in cities get in there car and drive a block to the store, Get what they want and drive back. Children are taught “stranger danger” and are not taught how to deal with bad situations, Children should be taught that there is strength in numbers and responsibility for there siblings and friends.
Fear is not a good lesson responsibility is. Most so called predators are more like spiders or fly eating plants, They set up snares or attract there victims into there snares, A true predator will grab stragglers or those walking alone. The benefits of walking almost outweigh the risk since life itself is a risk and with the proper precautions when the children get to school they are ready to start the day.
Team work will get them to school and team work will get them home the rest is up to the parents and teachers. Whats wrong with that.
Don D. Brock

Don D. Brock of AZ 11:55AM October 11, 2009

If you as a parent have even a small amount of anxiety about letting your kids walk to/from school on their own, drive them! All it takes is one kidnapping incident in the news to make you change your mind. You will regret it if you don't!

Heather Czerniak of WI 3:23AM October 11, 2009

They don't walk to school because it isn't safe. I'm not sure it ever really was, but it is getting worse. In the information age, you can look up child predators addresses. The news picks up on an awful amount of peripheral violence that may or may not have been there before. Then there are drivers who are more self centered than ever and are completely oblivious to school zones. And lastly, the looser kid who has been held back too many times because he stays up until 11 watching R movies is the bully of a kind never before seen. If he were engineered to be a bully, he would not be a greater menace. The last bit I think is the most prevalent game changer. We are raising a crop of human jail fodder and they probably look just like your kid. It is sad. If I were to point a finger it would be the bottom 5% of parents and to a lesser degree society in general for accommodating them. It only takes a few to completely wreck a neighborhood.

bmrowe23 of TX 1:55PM October 10, 2009