Childcare at 7.45am

Spendless

sharnad wrote: »

It says 181 kids were away from a parent or carer but 75% of attempts were unsuccessful

Does it give a figure iof how many were co-erced rather than physically grabbed?

I follow a ladys blog about missing people, and the cases I've come across in this country where a child has come to harm most times they have been persuaded to go away willing with the adult (often known to them) rather than 'snatched'.

sharnad

Spendless wrote: »

Does it give a figure iof how many were co-erced rather than physically grabbed?

I follow a ladys blog about missing people, and the cases I've come across in this country where a child has come to harm most times they have been persuaded to go away willing with the adult (often known to them) rather than 'snatched'.

The 181. The co-erced were under a different list

Nicki

There have been attempted (stranger) abductions at both my children's schools in the last few years. As chair of governors I get copied in to the Local Authorities alert to all local schools which goes out when this kind of thing happens. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen.

OP - you say your kids are street smart. Honestly, how would they react if:

1. It was raining heavily and one of their school friend's parents/a friend of the family pulled up and offered them a lift when they were alone in the car? At 9, even as a smart kid, I would have been trusting enough to hop in, and as others have pointed out more abductions happen at the hands of someone known to the child than at the hands of strangers.

2. If the 9 year old was taken ill. My DD suddenly developed epilepsy with no warning at the age of 10. No sign of it whatsoever beforehand (even 5 minutes beforehand) until she collapsed on the floor fitting. Hospital told me 1 in 4 children will have at least one fit before they reach adulthood. How would your 7 year old cope in the dark on her own on a road to school if this happened to your 9 year old?

3. How would the 9 year old cope if she had a row with the 7 year old who threw a strop and refused to walk the rest of the way to school with her, or ran off in the opposite direction?

4. How would you feel if they were "flashed at" or otherwise subjected to nasty adult behaviour. I was in the camp of being allowed to walk to and from school alone from the age of 8 (about a 15 minute walk) and I must say even in a fairly quiet rural area I saw a fair few adult willies over the years, and was subjected to some pretty ripe language from ne'er do wells who hadn't quite slept off their skinfulls from the night before. Not every day of the week of course, or even every year, but nor was it all that unusual and I know a lot of other people who've had the same experiences.

I'm not in the least overprotective of my kids. I let my 10 year old make his own way home from school (over a mile in Central London) as soon as I felt he was ready for it. But there is a huge difference between letting your children out by themselves in daylight or close to home when you are at home and know roughly when they are due back, and casting them out of a car, 30 mins walk from home on a dark morning with no one else around and no safe way of them summoning help if needed and driving off, not to know whether they have safely arrived at their destination until you don't get a call mid morning to ask where they are!

FBaby

I let my 10 year old make his own way home from school (over a mile in Central London) as soon as I felt he was ready for it

So how did this protected him from:
1- A friend stopping by and telling him to hop in a car (and potentially kidnapping him)?
2- Having an epilepsy fit
3- arguing with a friend
4- being flashed at?

In both cases, this could happen, so can't understand the argument that the above was ok, but not what OP is considering doing.

Just one thing I thought of today as a possibility. How far is your school from theirs? Is the longest journey from home to their school, or their school to yours? Because if it is the first, could they come with you to school (even if leaving a bit earlier still) and then they could take a taxi from your school to theirs?

Nicki

FBaby wrote: »

So how did this protected him from:
1- A friend stopping by and telling him to hop in a car (and potentially kidnapping him)?
2- Having an epilepsy fit
3- arguing with a friend
4- being flashed at?

In both cases, this could happen, so can't understand the argument that the above was ok, but not what OP is considering doing.

Just one thing I thought of today as a possibility. How far is your school from theirs? Is the longest journey from home to their school, or their school to yours? Because if it is the first, could they come with you to school (even if leaving a bit earlier still) and then they could take a taxi from your school to theirs?

My post was about assessing risk. I asked the OP if her children could deal with all of those I listed and said I accept you have to give independence at some point. I'm not saying that children have to be accompanied at all times until they are 18. I thought about the risks for my child and thought they were managed (but not eliminated completely) by:

1. Having him do the journey in daylight hours at the same time as other children of his age
2. coming home to a waiting adult - so if he was not home safely within 10 or 15 minutes of an expected time I would have known to go and look for him
3. yes he could have been taken ill - but I wouldn't have been asking a 7 year old to take responsibility for that, and again if he were ill and this made him late, I'd have been out on the route to school to look for him within 10-15 minutes of him not getting home.
4. He wasn't responsible for getting a 7 year old anywhere, so if he fell out with a friend and the friend ran away, so what?
5. Yes he could have had something unpleasant happen - that can't be eliminated completely even if you are with your child. But do you think is it more or less likely at a well lit, well populated time of day or at 7.45 on a winter's morning with no one else around to see other than 2 small girls?

If OP has assessed all the risks I raised (all quite likely ones) and any other ones specific to her own area, and has decided that at 7 and 9 her children are able to deal with them, then fine but they would be exceptional girls at that age if they can.

nearlyrich

supersaver2 wrote: »

Same at my school, all power is off at 7.00pm and this morning I counted 17 minutes for my PC to start up and get my register open!

This bit is off topic sorry


Sounds like you need some faster computers or a faster start up routine does your IT manager know how long it takes?


My laptop would be out of the window if it took more than 30 seconds..


OP you may be surprised at how helpful people can be, ask around for a parent who will help or an older teen looking for a little job. Someone mentioned the cost of a child minder I get the feeling it's not the cost just the difficulty in finding appropriate care that fits your timings.

FBaby

I understand, although I strongly believe that there are different levels of maturity so to me, it is not exceptional for a 7 and 9 year old to be mature enough to cope with the above, especially if the school is well informed so that if they didn't see the children arrive within 15 minutes, they could themselves contact the parent.

My biggest concern as you have indeed raised relates to how the two girls get along. My two (3 years apart) are very close and I always knew that my youngest would always do what his sister said even if they had an argument, so I wouldn't have been concerned about him going his own way if they did, but that's not always the case.

Also, I assume OP would call the girls 15 minutes later to check they had arrive at school and contact the school if she didn't hear anything back.

Regardless of age, the first time children are on their own, it is an unpleasant experience. I remember being so anxious when my DD walk to school for the first time at 11. My son has been taking the bus alone since he was 9. The first couple of weeks, I was glued to my phone waiting for that text to say he was home. Nowadays, I don't think much about it. I know my DD would contact me if he wasn't home when he should. It's become the norm. After experiencing one instance that could be considered an 'unpredicted emergency' when my son dealt with it with complete ease and confidence, I feel especially comfortable to know that he is ok to travel on his own.

Lunar_Eclipse

I would speak to your children's school. For starters, I doubt they will accept them in to the breakfast club unescorted by an adult. But also, I think they are likely to be able to help with a solution.

When my eldest daughter started school, there was a parent in her class with a similar issue. The school sent a letter home with all the children in the class explaining the situation and asking if anyone could help. It made it look that little bit more formal for the letter to come from school than the parent, but either could work. Two parents offered help and it was sorted the same day! I recall being quite surprised at the time, but I've known of a few examples like this in the 3 years mine were at that school. Some people are very helpful in this way and I suspect that being a teacher yourself will earn you brownie points. ;-)

Whilst I don't think your children are too young to be able to get themselves to school as per one of your options, I don't think it's ideal. My concern is definitely not abduction (the chances of that are so slim), but emergencies and sibling conflict. Also, in heavy rain, ice or the dark I think they could be frightened which could cause anxiety or similar in their longer term independence. One of them could easily fall over and hurt themselves quite badly for example.

I would start by talking to their school.

daisiegg

nearlyrich wrote: »

This bit is off topic sorry


Sounds like you need some faster computers or a faster start up routine does your IT manager know how long it takes?


My laptop would be out of the window if it took more than 30 seconds..
s.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: you have clearly never worked in a school. My work laptop is about 10 years old and you cannot have more than one window open at a time or it freezes. This is considered perfectly acceptable!

Tenyearstogo

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

For starters, I doubt they will accept them in to the breakfast club unescorted by an adult.

This comes on here everytime breakfast clubs are mentioned.

My sons school does not require children to be signed in or escorted by an adult. So why the assumption that all schools do?