The author let her son walk alone to school when he was 8.
Courtesy of the author
The first time my 8-year-old walked to school alone, I watched him turn the corner and disappear. I kept picturing the busy street he had to cross — at just over four feet tall, would drivers see him?But he made it to school that day, confirmed by a quick message from his smartwatch. And when he returned that afternoon on his own, he was glowing with pride.We'd been thinking about when to let our oldest walk on his own for years. In first grade, it wasn't even an option. His school was a 3.5-mile bike ride or a 30-minute subway and bus trip. Then we moved within walking distance of campus, and suddenly, his question, "When can I walk by myself?" was harder to dodge.We finally settled on third grade.In Germany, kids walking alone is normalBy local standards, he should have been walking to school alone for at least a year. When I told a German friend he was walking to school alone, her response was: "Why so late?"In our Berlin neighborhood, the streets fill with kids heading to school on their own each morning. In September, younger children walk with their parents. A few months in, many of those same kids are on their own. On the subway in the morning or mid-afternoon, I'll see someone barely four feet tall, backpack on, navigating their commute as confidently as an adult.
