For the first time, Sylvie, who will be 9 in 2 months, was allowed to walk alone to her piano lesson. Usually her mom watches from the stoop. The piano teacher is two buildings away, and there were texts to say she was on her way & that she'd arrived. I'm all for free-range parenting, & contemptuous of helicopter 'rents, but my heart was in my throat. So much easier to be sure that nothing happens by watching every minute.
I once let her dad walk home alone, 5 blocks and two turns, at night. He was 6. He got lost. A lady gave him a dollar to take the bus, & he was excited to have the change to buy candy. There were several of us who thought this was OK, but his parents decided to be mad at me, as they knew I would feel the worst. When he was 20 and 6' tall, it was still all I could do to let him out of my sight.
Nothing happened! Nothing happened! Nothing happened!
I once let her dad walk home alone, 5 blocks and two turns, at night. He was 6. He got lost. A lady gave him a dollar to take the bus, & he was excited to have the change to buy candy. There were several of us who thought this was OK, but his parents decided to be mad at me, as they knew I would feel the worst. When he was 20 and 6' tall, it was still all I could do to let him out of my sight.
Nothing happened! Nothing happened! Nothing happened!