Poll: Do your kids walk home from school?

[LD92599]

We're having a huge increase in lurings in our area and i'm curious if your kids walk to/from school.

[SnuggleBuggles]

He takes the bus but walks home from the bus stop alone. One other girl gets off with him but her parent is at the bus stop waiting for her. Ds walks home about 1/2 of a residential block solo.

[LexyLou]

No, but oldest DD is only in 1st grade and school is close to 2 miles away on a busy road.

The middle school is only about 1/2 mile away and she's already propositioned me to walk home once she's in 6th.

[wencit]

I walk DS1 to and from school nearly every day (he's in first grade). It's less than a 10 minute walk from our house. I'm not sure when I'm going to feel comfortable letting him walk by himself. (What a difference from when I was a kid! I remember at his age, I was walking home 30 minutes by myself!)

[cvanbrunt]

My girls are in Pre-K and first grade so I walk them to and from every day. We are an 11 minute walk, straight up the street at the end of the block. There are crossing guards. I will let them walk alone when they are old enough. I figure I 'll know when that is; maybe 3rd and 1st grade.

[american_mama]

I voted yes sometimes with friends, but the answer is really is mostly yes, always with me. We live behind the school with a pedestrian path to the playground, so there is no bus in our neighborhood.

[AnnieW625]

We live 2/1/2 miles from DD2's school so she doesn't walk. I will entertain bike riding in jr. high (6th grade), but DD2 will only be in second grade so it is not like she'll be able to ride her bike as well.

[crl]

I voted never, but that is due to distance, not other safety concerns. San Francisco does not have neighborhood schools so ds' school is not within walking distance. When we move, hopefully he will attend a school that is about four blocks from our house. Dh saw several kids walking together to that school so hopefully we can arrange something like that.

Catherine

ETA. Just for kicks I mapped it and we live 2.3 miles from school, estimated to take 47 minutes to walk. That's the shortest route, but it would involve crossing a highway. And there's no way to avoid a huge hill, and I mean huge by San Francisco standards.

[elliput]

My kids get front door bus service as they both have IEP's which specify busing. Also, even though we are within walkable distance of school, there is a freeway between us with no direct route.

[mom3boys]

So, no, because current school is in a city neighborhood and DS1 is in first grade (and DS2 in PreK at same school).

But, we looked into buying a house--our 2nd choice, we are under contract on first choice--where the back yard backed up literally to the elementary school playground (backyard had a high fence). DC would not have even had to cross a street to get to the house from school. In fact, there was a gate out from the backyard fence to the school yard,. If we had moved there, he definitely would have walked. I would probably have let him do it in first grade.

He will take a bus from the home we are buying but I will let him walk from the bus stop--it is just one small road ending in a cul-de-sac.

I walked home from school starting in first grade--1/2 mile and crossing the two busiest streets in town (which were still not that busy).

[urquie]

We always walk, weather permitting (rain is frequent and okay, down pour is not). It's a half mile walk and there is always (at least) one parent, with 2-10 neighborhood kids. It's a great way to start the school day!

[citymama]

Our school is just 2 blocks away with a crossing guard at each of the cross streets
and lots of foot traffic. So one day, they could walk, especially with friends. For now, DD is just a first grader and we walk her to and from school every day.

[KrisM]

DD, no, because it's a mile and across a pretty busy road.

DS1, yes, with friends. It's .5 miles and no busy roads to cross. He rides his bike, walks, or takes the bus. DD will when she's in 3rd as well.

[citymama]

PS tell us about the "huge increase in lurings." that sounds very very alarming. Is it two incidents, three, dozens? Have they caught those involved?

[ellies mom]

We are within the bus zone. While I wouldn't want to deal with the walk in the morning or rainy afternoons, I wish it was safe to walk home on sunny afternoons. The distance isn't that bad (1.3 miles) but there aren't sidewalks for a good chunk of it. There are also no shoulders and a drop-off right where the pavement ends. And if that wasn't dangerous enough, it is a twisty road on a hill with drivers that consistently ignore the speed limit.

We are changing schools next year due to boundary changes. On the bright side, there are sidewalks the entire way but the new school is about 2.5 miles away so a little far. The middle school is about the same distance and the high school is several miles further away. So I don't see any walking in my girls future.

[georgiegirl]

Nope. We are 7+ miles away. Dd takes the bus to school (pick up in front of our house), and I pick her up from school.

[mom2binsd]

DD is 9, DS is 6, they walk together to school about an 8 min walk, no busy streets, they pick up two other kids along the way, and most of the walk is on a path at the far end of the school's huge property. Many others are also walking at the same time.

Last year there were about 3 reported incidents of 'attempted' abductions of jr. high students who were walking or waiting at a bus stop, all of these were students alone, but not necessarily in remote areas.

Our local school districts and police are very open about these, and an school reach alert (auto calls) from our superintendent go out giving a warning for parents to review safety with their children.

Do I worry, yes, but I worry about a lot of things, but my children LOVE to walk to school and enjoy the freedom of being on their own, they had to earn it and I tell them other mom's will report back to me if they see them fooling around etc.

[katydid1971]

We are about a mile away with one pretty road between home and school. DS gets a bus to and from school. I wait with him for the bus because he likes the company but he has waited alone a couple times when I was super busy. He walks home from the bus stop, it's across the street and one house down so we can see it from our house. If we lived closer without the busy street I would let him walk to school with a friend.

[Robyn0204]

I answered yes, all the time with friends or neighbors. We live on a military base in Japan and there is no bus service to school. My kids ride their bikes, scooters or walk each day. The entire housing area does the same. It is very safe here.

[gatorsmom]

Nope, too far away to walk and no busing for us to our school. I drive them daily.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Yes, most of the time. DH walks DD to school (.6 mi) and the DSs and I walk to pick her up unless we have musik class right up until pickup time, then we have to go in the car. It's one of my main criteria in picking a house for us as it is so much nicer than the crowded busy car pickup line.

[LD92599]

PS tell us about the "huge increase in lurings." that sounds very very alarming. Is it two incidents, three, dozens? Have they caught those involved?


We're at 16, all attempts, since mid-september. Yes, freaky. The vehicle description from yesterday though was fairly specific so i'm crossing fingers for updates today!

Ds walks home and no one else does! Everyone gets picked up...but i do have friends and neighbors that keep an eye out plus he calls me as soon as he gets home (if for some reason he stays after school he calls plus if he's even a minute late,my mom would call me). And he's got a cell phone.

[gamma]

I love it when kids can walk to and from school! But, I am in NJ also and given the situation right now, until the person is caught, I would make other arrangements. Could he go to an after school program or have another parent do pick up? It seems to be the same person doing this as the police sketches are so similar; hopefully, he will be caught soon and your DS can resume walking. So scarey!

[happymomma]

I just started letting me kids (9 and 6.5) walk home from the bus stop. I can see the bus stop from the house and I just stand at the end of the driveway. It is 1/2 a block from the house. They seem to like the independence. Come January, there is no more bus service since the kids will go back to their regular school. They are in a holding school until their school is complete. It will be by January. We are about .75 miles from the school. I don't think i will let them walk home on their own. I have let my son (9) do it last year a couple of times but I was driving down the road so I was able to see him.