Childcare at 7.45am

ska_lover

I wouldn't allow a 7 and 9 year old to be adult free outside of the house for 15 minutes. Accidents do happen, and if something were to happen, social services could well end up being informed

OP, if you were certain in your descision, you wouldn't be asking the opinion of strangers, so that leads me to believe that you are not entirely 100% happy in your choice. How will you even know that they get to school? I couldn't concentrate at work all day knowing I wasn't 100% sure even where my kids were.

You say you trust your kids, but believe me, you do not know 100% what they will and will not do when they are left alone - and you cannot trust the rest of the world either.

It is up to you obviously, and I do think you have a more relaxed approach to giving your children freedom - as yours have been playing out and crossing roads since they were five and seven years old. My son hadn't even played out of the back garden at five years old. He was in nursery and definitely not old enough to be playing out and crossing roads IMO.

At the end of the day, we all need to do what we think is right - but I would also be interested in what the social services think right in this situation

emweaver

bylromarha wrote: »

Figured the age old "THEY'RE TOO YOUNG TO EVER BE ALONE" would come up.

OH and I are very confident in our kids and their abilities. We wouldn't let them out on their walks alone around the area if we didn't.

Thanks for the idea of asking the school office - forgot what a fountain of local knowledge some secretaries can be.

And to repeat, our job times are just not bendable. There is no 15 minutes to make up at the end. It starts when it starts or you don't have a job.

They are too young, no way would I allow my 8 year old to walk to school alone. You can never be too careful these days, there are always stories on the news of children being snatched.

thegirlintheattic

an9i77 wrote: »

It is incredibly easy for employers to come up with a 'sound business reason' for refusing these requests. I know because I used to work in a job where managers would approach me saying someone had put in a flexi working request and how could they refuse it? Of course, I tried to encourage them to consider these request properly and sometimes they did, but if they really wanted to refuse them it was not hard to find a reason that would accord with the guidelines for refusal. The law appears to be on the employees side in this area at first glance, but is really on the employers side.

The OP is a teacher - that will be the sound business reason for refusal. Can't turn up 15 mins late and make it up at the end.

GobbledyGook

emweaver wrote: »

They are too young, no way would I allow my 8 year old to walk to school alone. You can never be too careful these days, there are always stories on the news of children being snatched.

I must watch a different news. I can't remember the last time I heard of a child being snatched on their way to school.

suelizab

From my understanding it is policy that ALL children are signed in for

breakfast club by an adult . This means that clubs may start at 8am but by

the time you queue and have signed your child in it may well be 8:15

before you are back in your car . Breakfast clubs do help parents who work

but were not initially set up for this, hence the starting time not flexible for
working parents.
There are issues for all working parents and it is them, not the children , ,that should take the responsibility and consequences . The majority of adults would think that these children are much too young to be alone this early AND out of area, and I would report a parent that i knew was doing this . Saying that, I would be furious if this parent was also a teacher . My thought would be that she was not fit to have her children and so why mine?

suelizab

Also to add. I am very sensible and responsible but if/when I slip on ice, end up flat on my back side with a fractured coccyx or wrist and I'm crying , it will be because of the pain and not because mummy has left me all alone, strangers are approaching me, my sibling is also crying and I'm so ruddy frightened .

whitewing

I have friends in their 50s, 60s and 70s who used to play out or walk places unsupervised. They all have stories of a person who wanted to show them his puppies, or someone who flashed at them and their friend. They all say, 'never did me any harm', yet they all remember the situation in perfect detail decades later.

I'd be horrified now if a stranger flashed me.

I used to let my son (more recently) walk from school by himself in the last year of primary school. Despite knowing all about dangers etc, it was impossible to stop well-meaning parents of his friends giving him lifts if it was raining or they were going that way. They knew him but not me. It can be very difficult for a child to say no to an adult that they do know, especially if that adult doesn't agree with the child walking by themselves anyway.

I knew my warnings and worries had gone overboard when I let my son go to the shop alone and he asked if I wanted him to take his baseball bat.

purply

I haven't read the responses but my sons breakfast club opens its doors around 7.50ish maybe this is an option...?


I think its cos the ladies are good like that and don't mind the kids coming in whilst they're setting up.

southoftheriver

If you absolutely had to, could your children be enrolled at the school where you work, or would that not work because of catchment areas and their ages? Trying to think of anything useful.

I don't have kids yet but have a job with very inflexible hours and this is something that worries me so I sympathise.

Poppie68

GobbledyGook wrote: »

I must watch a different news. I can't remember the last time I heard of a child being snatched on their way to school.

You also don't read about many attempted abductions either because they only become a National interest if the abduction is succesful.

3 weeks ago a 14 year old girl in from our local area was approached by a man and a woman on her way home from school, they tried to bundle her into the back of their car, her struggle alerted another couple who were close by..thankfully it was only news for our local paper and didn't become interesting enough for the front page of the Nationals.

As a parent we have to do everything in our power to mitigate any risk to our kids, it's harder to tighten the reins of a 14 year old than it is of a 7 and 9 year old.