How old to ride bike alone around the block?

[abcboys]

Well, even adult women and some men go off disappearing and are kidapped. If you go by that logic, even I am not old enough to go around the block by myself. If I wait till my son is old enough to fight off an offender he would be 17 years old and even then there is no guarantees.

 

[nessz79]

As everyone has said, you have to do what you think is best.

My oldest is 5.5 years old and I don't see it happening soon. First, he doesn't ride his bike well enough to go down the street by himself. We don't have sidewalks and there are cars that drive too fast. I think that up until the age of 8-9, kids can't really be trusted not to dive into the street without looking. I did it once when I was about 9, actually. My dad almost killed me, but I was young and just didn't think about it. A truck almost hit me, but luckily they saw me and were able to stop.

I will probably be waiting until he's 8-9 before I let him ride his bike down the street alone. Our street is about a mile long. To go anywhere else by himself, he'll have to be around 12, I think, because to go anywhere else he'll have to cross a relatively busy street where people can drive 45 mph.

 

[nessz79]

By the way, I agree about anyone being kidnapped, and that they don't have to be kids.

However, I think a 14 year old kid has a much better chance of fighting someone off or getting out of a bad situation than a 7 year old. They're stronger, bigger, and smarter.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

If anyone is interested, last year my DS and I attended an Escape School class through Cub Scouts. If a child is riding a bike and someone tries to get them off it, the child should hold onto the bike with all his/her might. It is much harder to get a person into a car who is holding onto a bike. If you are walking and approached by someone in a car, turn and run the other way. The "bad" car would have to turn around if they chose to chase. The instructor also had the boys practice the windmill move which is a technique to get away if someone grabs you. I thought it was good information for me as well as the boys.

Having written all this, my 9 year old still can't ride his bike very far because we live off a very busy street. I am much more concerned he might fall into the busy street.

 

[crisi]

By the way, I agree about anyone being kidnapped, and that they don't have to be kids.

However, I think a 14 year old kid has a much better chance of fighting someone off or getting out of a bad situation than a 7 year old. They're stronger, bigger, and smarter.

Statistics, however, don't back you up. In part because seven year olds aren't unattended while teenagers are, but most abductions of children and sexual abuse of children by strangers happens to teenagers.

 

[TruBlu]

16

Seriously, I don't know when I'll ever let my kids go out riding alone. Right now they are 6 and 9 - and not going anywhere!

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds7 is allowed to go anywhere on our street as long as I know where he's going -- our street is about 3/4 of a mile from end to end but all of his friends live on 1/3 of it. I have "heard" that he's been going around the corner to a rock pile.

 

[Belle4mygrl]

I just started letting my DD15 walk around with her neighborhood girlfriend. My ds13 is not allowed. This is a new subdivision with a tremendous amount of construction going on and who knows who is in and out.

 

[deedeetoo]

We have the same issues. My dd10 wants to walk to school by herself. Its only about a half mile away. But the way to school is a first along a country road with no side walks, and then on a paved path through the woods. I just can't let her do that.

I haven't even let her wait for the bus alone. The bus stop is at the end of our street but not visible from any house. She's the only kid from our street on this bus so she would be standing there by herself, where no one could see her, waiting for the bus to come. So I walk the dog down to the stop with her and wait til the bus comes. I feel kind of silly since she is 10 and thinking of all the freedom I had at that age.

 

[ajk912]

I have a 9 year old, and I won't let him leave my sight yet. He can bike/scooter/play in most of the subdivision and still be within sight of the house. Going a whole block though? That's putting him out of sight, no way.

 

[livie1205]

my boys are 10 and 11 and our road is a circle,we have 2 cops,a fireman and a teacher that live on the circle and a dozen kids that are all out all the time so yes we let them go outside a run wild lol that is why we moved out of the city and to where we live now...they need a little bit of room to grow on there own without us hovering over them all the time,they both have phones with them.

 

[nessz79]

Statistics, however, don't back you up. In part because seven year olds aren't unattended while teenagers are, but most abductions of children and sexual abuse of children by strangers happens to teenagers.

But I wonder about the teenagers. I think a lot of kidnappings and sexual abuse from kidnappings occur because teenagers end up meeting people they've met from the internet at secluded places. I don't have statistics to back me up, but I'm a teacher of teenagers and I know we have LOTS of assemblies, talks, etc. about the safe use of MySpace, etc.

Statistics are fine, but they often don't explain the context of a situation so they can be deceptive.