At what age do children start doing errands/taking transport on their own?

29 comments

1. Just saying that I used to take the bus alone to and from school every day when I was 7, before the era of mobile phones, and in the era where the country just gained reindependence and crime rates were very high.

   Back then it was normal though, these days times may have changed (even if the country has gotten significantly safer).

2. I’d say around 5-6th grade would be ok. That would mean 12-13 year olds. I remember that’s when my classmates and I started going to school on our own. But we live in the capital and it’s generally safe.

3. I would say going to school alone something like 5-6. But then its always the same route. Doing unfamiliar things on their own maybe age 12 or so i guess.

4. Sent on little erands, like buying a loaf of bread from the bakery across the corner, since I was about 6. At 9-10 yo I started to walk home from school everyday and at 12 I started using public transport pretty freely to go wherever. My parents never had a “come home before x time” policy with me, they trusted that I would be careful.

5. I don’t think our school actually allows kids to walk home alone until they are in year 5 (so age 9/10) and that is with parental permission. But we are in a busy area of a big city. I’d say about this for local things like walking to friends, library, shop for basic errands. Bus probably not until secondary school. It just ramps up gradually.

6. to and from school basically from 1st grade (public transport is free for elementary and high school kids in my city), running errands from the same age i would say. i often see kids near the school at Lidl doing the shopping and their parents picking them up.

7. You’re supposed to enter school with 6 or 7 and its usually considered awkward if your parents bring you more often then the first couple of times…

8. I started when I started school, so 6. But then only between places I knew: school, home, football practice, and whatnot. I was probably like 10(?) to less familiar places.

   I don’t know what the norm is nowadays though, but seems to be at least 7 in my area considering the youth ticket is for ages 7-19. Below that you’re only allowed to ride unaccompanied to/from school.

9. Well, my son started to take public transport to school when he was 8, about 10 years ago in Helsinki, nothing really exceptional in that. I don’t remember when he was sent for errands, I think he asked for permission to go to the corner store to get a little candy or something at about the same age he started taking the bus.

10. the biggest danger to a child is that they get lost or that they will cross the street incorrectly and get hit by a car.

    if they learn to do these two things then its safe for them to do go around the neighbourhood or to school

11. In Ireland I started walking home alone or with a friend at the age of around 9. It was only 600m though. When I was 12 I started taking buses alone or walking to my secondary school. Which was about 3km away.

12. I was walking to the kindergarten by myself with my brother who is 2 years younger than me. I don’t remember how old I was. It was in the time before cell phones tho. My father insisted that we learn directions and how to walk on the streets from a very young age. I think it’s a good thing because it helped with developing of my visual memory. The same can be said for my brother.

    I see children being around 7 years go to school alone too and it’s quite normal thing to do here. I never thought that they are lost if I saw them in the transport.

13. Me and some friends used to go to the nearby gas station alone to buy candy from age 7-8. I remember that I didn’t fully grasp decimal currency at the time.

    At age 9 we were allowed to go to the school by ourself – which is somewhat late, but that’s because we had a large road between school and home.

    I regularly went on errands to the grocery store and bought pizza for the family from the local pizzeria from around age 9-10.

14. My daughter and her friends are 6/7 and they go to the corner shops by themselves. I think a couple more years before I’d let her take transportation alone

15. I guess it depends on the area and how far things are, is it necessary to cross a street etc. I started going to the store by myself when I was about 4 yo but the store was like 200 meters from my house, no street to cross and my mother was watching me from the gate (still, I was super proud to be charged with a grown up errand, lol). My friend allowed her kids to go by themselves to a store when they were about 6 or 7, also a few hundred meters from their home. I personally don’t know any kids who ride a bus but when I take the bus I sometimes see kids there who look like they are 7 or 8, with backpacks bigger than they are, so most likely going to school by themselves.

16. Walking to/from school alone at 6 (with a group of friends), taking the bus alone at 8.

17. My grocery store was like 50-100 meters away from home. I could go there and occasionally buy something for my parents from the age of 7 or earlier I think.

18. The parents are more helicoptering today than they used to.
    Going alone to school (by foot or public transport) from age 6 …but it’s not as common as it used to be.
    Going alone to the shop: depends on where you live. I would say something between 5 and 7.

19. I started when I was 6 or 7, in Inari and Rovaniemi, so pretty safe areas.

20. Locally to the shop about five, they probably start going further afield on the bus about 8ish which is the age they can use the community use sports centre without parents supervision for swimming or climbing wall or stuff

21. Small village in Sweden. Everyone were walking alone (or coming by school bus) by the age of 7. Mum would sometimes give me some money and ask that I would buy a couple of liters of milk on my way home.

    From age 9 or 10 I would semi-regularly take the bus to the next village over (it was on the route to The Big City; my village was as far out in the boonies as that bus went) to visit a friend whose family had moved there a year or two earlier. It certainly happened that I missed the bus back home and had to wait there for an hour… Big deal.

    When starting “junior high” (age 13) we started to use city buses to get to and from school (because the high school was down in The Big City. Population perhaps 30k).

22. Kids can start going to school on their own with the parents’ permission from around 7 yo. I allowed my son to go to the store around the corner when he was 6. Nearly died of anxiety the whole time but I felt it was important to allow it since he asked and it’s generally very safe around here.

    My kids started taking the bus on their own to go to school at around 11 or 12. I’d say normally that’s around the age you’ll see most kids out and about on their own during the day in the city. A bit earlier in the villages, though still mostly in pairs or a group of friends.

23. Looking at the number of parents abusing our private parking lot to let their spawn out of their cars for school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon, I’d suspect: around 30-ish…

    It’s not like I don’t get why. When I take a good look at the genetic source material, it’s no wonder they don’t trust their own offspring finding the way to school and back on their own without getting eternally lost.

24. i wasn’t allowed to walk to and from school on my own until i was 10 but that was general rule in uk schools. i usually didn’t and my mum would take me everyday unless i begged. i was given a phone for christmas so she was comfortable with this. i wasnt allowed home alone until i was 13 but even in my 20s now my parents dont like me being alone overnight. i never have been. i was allowed to run errands and walk round the shops and go to town when i was 13, so in high school. my experience is very different though as i have overprotective parents and an anxiety disorder so i needed extra support (and still do). on top of being an only child, and daughter at that. but i’d say it’s normal for kids to be allowed into town/shop first year of highschool which would be age 11.

25. I think i was like 9 or 10 (so it was in the early naughties) when i was first sent for eggs to the store a block away by myself. I think i only started cycling to school by myself at 12, though, because most days i had to carry a musical instrument too. 

    But it kinda depends on the place you live in too. I lived in a big town / small city during the school year. But in summer when we visited grandma in a village, we kids were free to roam around in the neighbourhood probably from age 5 like every other kid in the area, and we would pass messages between parents too, i think that counts as an errand. 

26. Probably starting secondary school (5th grade, 10-11 yo) cause those are often not within walking distance (like in a whole different part of the city) unlike primary schools.

27. I live the capital area and I see kids that are younger than 10 everyday in public transport alone, going to/from school or to football practice.

    I probably started going on my own when I was 6 or 7. But I basically had no choice as I lived in a single parent household. This was over 20 years ago though.

28. I was allowed to go to the store alone near our vacation house as it’s quite close to the house and we know a lot of people on the island.

    I haven’t really had a need to go do stuff by myself, but I would be allowed to take the bus to a highschool for a science program when I was 12, but I quit.

    I have pretty much always been allowed to do what I want and visit friends as long as I told my parents that I were doing it.

29. I grew up in Romania, I went to get food alone at 6, was in 1st grade then so went to school alone too. As did all kids my age. Here in Switzerland it’s the same, I see the little kids going alone.

    ETA : to clarify I’m Gen X so don’t know if it’s the same in Romania now..