Do you let your child walk home from school or the bus - Are they home alone?

My son gets driven to the bus stop every morning and someone picks him up. But we will be moving soon and once that happens he will walk to and from school on his own. He is 10 years old and we are moving onto a military base. He will also be at home alone for about 10 minutes everyone day. His sister goes a different school and they get out at different times.

I don't agree if a child is left to walk alone to go home. I have experienced walking home alone from school and the memory was terrifying. I got lost in the heavy rain and I was soaked wet. All my books in the bag were soaked wet. I cried all the way and thank god somebody in the neighbourhood noticed me crying and helped me into her house. She asked who I was, my name and school and she called the principle and asked for my home phone number. My mother came later with tears and guilt in her face. Until now I didn't know what was the reason of my parents not collecting me after school, and they didn't tell me about it. But I heard from one of my relatives that my father actually forgot to pick me up and my mother didn't know about it. Thank god nothing worse happened to me like accident or being kidnapped or something.

i also do worry about my children but now i have let go.as it is said YOU CANT ADD A CUBIT TO YOUR STATURE BY WORRY.and i do send my children by bus as there is no other option.

My children get walked or driven to school by my husband or me. I am to afraid to let my children walk home by themselves. The two that are in school are under 9 and I don't allow it.I am not sure when I will allow it either. It is to scary to think of them walking by themselves.I see children that are in first grade walking by themselves and it just frieghtens me to think of them doing this alone. As far as the child abductor that was caught, good. I am glad, one less bad person off the streets for now.

It is very scary. At this time I have two boys 10 and 13. One takes the bus home and the other walks. Unfortunately I don't have someone to be home with them or take them and drop them off so I worry everyday.

we live too far and we are out in a rural area too, so I do not trust that, my oldest is only 5 but i will not let him walk home when the time comes now if the school was in my neighborhood maybe, but not since we live a bit away i wouldnt feel safe, not with the way the world is these days.

I have to be at the bus stop because my daughter is only 6. I think the crossing guard would freak out if I wasn't out there. The other kids out there are 2nd-6th grade and they wait by themselves (only the 1st grade kids and kindergarteners get picked up by parents). I was walking home from school when I was 9 or so. The school was just down the street. By the time I was in junior high it was a different school in a different part of town and I walked home every day alone in 7th and 8th grade (11-14 years old). It was about a 6 block walk.

I am a stay at home mom so I am always here when my kids gets off the bus. MY almost 15 year old walks to and from school most of the time sometimes her dad or I will drive her but she normally walks.

My kids are 18,16 and 10. My husband and I have always made it a point to adjust our schedules to be home for them and to take and pick them up from school. I live in a very small town and my older two do walk home from school, but I pick up my daughter everyday. I just don't think you can be too careful these days.

I dont have children right now but when I was little my mom used to walk me all the way to the corner of the block where my school was and wait for me to go into the building. she would even be there when I got out of school. when I got to the fourth Grade she would wait at the corner of our block and she could watch my nephew and I walk all the way to school. My mom was a very overprotective mother...

Although my daughter's bus stop is at the top of our street, I go with her every morning and wait with her until her bus comes. She has to be at the bus stop at 6:50 am and it is not quite light out yet. She is 12 years old. In the afternoon, I let her walk home. She has a friend who lives on our street a few houses up from ours, so they walk together to her house, then my daughter walks the rest of the way home by herself. I work at home, so I am always there when she gets home.

Im a Fifteen year old kid, And I walk home alone, LOL! I do walk home alone, its okay, I get to see the sun setting and beatiful blue sky after the sun set. so It takes 45 minutes for me to get home.

with my grandchildren, the school is fairly close so the parents drive them and pick them up or sometimes when its nice out or the car is away, my youngest daughter will walk then back and forth. The bus stop for one of the boys is no closer than the school is, but is in a different direction, and along a busy highway so its not worth while to take the bus.

my parents let me walk home and be alone by myself all the time. even tho im only 14 my mom thinks im smart enouhg and responsible enough to be on my own!

we live in the country and are like you with the long driveway. I have three kids, 7, 9 and 11. I do have them walk to and from the bus stop, which is at the end of our driveway. I am comfortable with this, as there are other kids at the bus stop too, some teenagers too. I have told my kids to not speak to anyone who stops while they are out there. Just look and tell them "My mom doesn't let me talk to strangers." Since they are all there together, they are safe in my eyes. I heard on the news today about the boy that man stole 2 years ago. He was playing in the alley behind his house, and the man told the boy he wanted him to help him look for his lost cat. The kid got in his car, and that was that. He was gone. I hope they throw the book at the guy.

I walk or drive my son to the bus stop. I can't see it from my house and it takes about 3 minutes to walk there. He is only 6 so he doesn't get to walk by himself. I'm not even sure when I will let him walk by himself! There are probably 7 or 8 other children at the bus stop and all but my neighbor walk up to get their children. They take her up but they won't pick her up.

My girls are 7 1/2 & almost 6. I walk them to & from school every day. If I can't, then my in-laws drive them. They are never home alone. I live in Chicago & will probably be walking my kids to school when they are in high school. I always worry about someone trying to take one of them. I am not sure which abductor you are referring to. It has become a huge problem with kidnapping though.

Even as a child myself the thought of abduction and kidnapping scared me. I was always looking over my own shoulder and was very cautious about this. i also do and i think will always worry when my oldest daughter leaves for school until she is safetly back at home. it is hard being a mother and we always fear the worst!

I live out in the middle of bfe, crime rate 0. Why ? because nobody can find the houses their so far off the road and in the woods. What criminal is going to go down my driveway not knowing if I'm sitting on the porch polishing my shotgun? My daughter is 9 she rides the bus and is droped off at the end of the driveway. She's never home more than 15 minutes before someone gets there. Usually we get there first. As for the child abductor. If your refering to the one who took the two boys I believe there was more going on there than just a kidnapping, perhaps aided runaway. People need to train their kids on how to handle strangers. Most abductors are either relatives or someone looking for an easy target. Don't let you kid be that easy target.

i will let them walk from the school to my home because school is near to my home. another thing is that they will get a good idea of how to walk on road and they can see a lots of people that can help them intheir later life. kids understand things very quickly than us. so i let them to understand this world with their own eyes.