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I live in a fairly high traffic area. The street we live on is ok, the connecting street a little busier, but nearby is a fairly major through way running through the city.

Our eldest is almost six now so obviously not quite old enough / ready to be out on his own. But eventually I'd like to give him that freedom, and the earlier the better (not sure what age is realistic in the current climate). Currently he is pretty road aware and I do let him walk a short way to school alone.

The question is: what steps should I take to ensure his readiness to be out in a reasonably high traffic area alone, and how would I gauge his readiness? Obviously too young in the near future, but I hope to give him more freedom when it's possible.

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    Note that conventions here seem to be highly depend on the country. Sending out a 5-year old on their own through traffic is seen as perfectly normal in Japan, completely impossible in the US and somewhere in between in Western Europe. Commented 2 days ago
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    55 years ago, when I was 5 years old, I walked to kindergarten on my own, about 1 km, every day. Every other kid did the same. It's not that kids can't do that, it has more to do with parents training/allowing kids to be independent. Commented 2 days ago
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    @GuntramBlohm Just about everywhere in the world the traffic situation was wildly different 55 years ago. Commented 2 days ago
  • "not sure what age is realistic in the current climate" is also critical. There's no single national minimum age for kids to be unsupervised; laws vary wildly by state, from as low as 6 (Kansas) to 14 (Illinois), with many states having guidelines (like 10 in WA/TN) rather than strict laws, focusing on the child's maturity, situation, and potential for neglect, not just age. Commented yesterday
  • @GuntramBlohm And after half a year of primary school, at age 6 and a half or so, I had learned to do the 30+ min commute on my own (meeting other kids who did the same on the way), including taking a crowded commuter train, a bus (not a school bus) and a walk. That does not mean this will work for all kids and societal environments. Not being able to squeeze through the crowd to get out of the train at the right spot was a fun learning experience that I still remember which incidentally led to me getting my first (non-smart) phone. Commented 12 hours ago

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The problem with primary-school aged children isn't that they can't navigate streets (even more busy ones) safely. The problem is that when they are engaged in play, they forget about their surroundings and consequently they forget that next to them is a street with hazards they need to look out for.

As a first step, keep practicing how to properly cross a street and let them tell you when (they think) it is safe to cross. The more consistently that they get it right, the more confidence the both you get for the next time.

The more important aspect is to judge their situational awareness during play. When playing in a more or less crowded area (e.g. playground), to what extent does your child seem to be aware of what is happening around them that is not part of their play?
You can also train this, but it would require a larger group of people, so maybe something to organize with school. You would essentially create two areas, an inner area where a part of the group plays a ball game with a high chance of children wanting to run after the ball and an outer area surrounding it where the rest of the children are simulating traffic. The objective off-course is that the children learn that stopping for traffic is more important than chasing after the ball.

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I am a big advocate of testing and observing the kids’ behaviour. When you walk together with them along the route, do they behave properly? If so, try letting the kids walk together. Bart van Ingen Schenau mentions play as a distraction—see whether they randomly start playing along the busy road, or whether there is some understanding that this situation requires their attention. If the traffic is well separated and there are proper crosswalks, I’d probably even suggest that a bit of playfulness isn’t too bad.

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