At what age should little girls be allowed to walk alone?
 

I'm sorry but an 11 year old girl should NOT be walking alone on the streets without a parent.

I believe in Albania you cant walk alone if you're not married. I hear some ugly bitches need to be escorted by their brothers well into their 30s.

bump

Where are you getting that age? The news I was just reading off the AP wire said 11.

yes newcaster said the wrong age or i heard wrong

your right she is 11 my bad

Unfortunately, it depends on the time and the location. There are places I wouldn't walk period, anytime of day as an adult male.

I guess there is really no easy answer.

agreed

I think it depends on the maturity of the child and the local environment, my neighbours 9 yr old is allowed to walk to the village shop on her own but my 13 yr old neice in the city is only allowed to walk to her friends house 4 doors away (and my sister watches her from the doorway).

To be honest it can happen anywere rich area poor area it doesnt matter. As long as these judges let these people back out on the streets no one is safe old or young.

For real??? A 9 year old girl walking out alone to a shopping area? That's just an incident waiting to happen.

How can a 9 yo possibly protect herself?

The judges should all be put on public display.

This is the root problem. Its a rotating door justice system.

yea right, make excuses for the fucking animal that done this to the kid.

it was all the kids fault and the fault of the parents.

the sicko animal that killed her didn't do nothing.

you make me sick.

NBC is showing hidden cam tests they did with families... these kids are walking right up to a strangers car in the street, even after having been told all the time not to do it. fucking scary to think about that. no matter what we teach them, kids are still kids.

Village shop??? My God, where are you located?

I live in a very small village where pretty much everyone knows each other, kids at that age often walk to and from school by themselves here. I wouldn't let my kiddo do that as I was brought up in the city and still have 'city smarts'.

In a small Devon village on the edge of Exmoor, we have around 1,000 people in the parish and less than 600 in the village, we have one tiny shop/post office and 2 pubs :)

Yeh damn right. Its time for parents to take responsibility for their kids.

I think until your of age(18) you should walk with a friend or family member. Can't be too safe in this world these days.

:321GFY

It depends if she goes to a friend in a safe neighborhood - in that case even 8 / 9 is old enough.
If she goes to the city center, then maybe 14 should be enough.

It all depends on where you live.

Why the hell are you being an idiot?

Wtf?! When I was like 8, me and all my friends (both m and f) were allowed to go pretty much anywhere in the neighbourhood.

How in the world is a kid supposed to have a normal childhood if he/she isn't allowed to go anywhere??

Or better yet, just put your kids in prison til they're 30. Can't be too safe in the world these days, right?

:eek7

So without knowing the circumstances, you're already faulting the parents?
what are you, a right winger?

How is walking with a friend being compared to being a prisoner? Stop being an idiot. Times have changed since we were kids. Yeah we could practically do anything, go anywhere and not have to worry.

How it's like being a prisoner? How do you think a kid gets to the house of a friend?

Aside from that, you're the idiot here. The idiot who bases his ideas on media attention instead of actual statistics. For instance, child abuse and such haven't gone up in decades according to most statistics.

Not letting a kid walk alone until age 18 is ridiculous. Times have changed a bit, but that is not a reason to deny a kid all freedom. You're gonna deny a 16 year old the right to go over to the house of a friend by him/herself, walk home from school or go to the grocery store?
Your kid is gonna grow up weak, dependant, scared and not fit for real life.

FIRST
She was waiting for her dad to pick her up

Second ---

You piece of shit motherfucking people.. I am tired of asshole NON PARENT like you to sit and judge parents.

Yesterday somebody said she shouldn't have dressed like that
Today you blame the parents for letting her walk home

Fuckers - ITS NOT HER FAULT - ITS NOT HER PARENTS FAULT

I have plenty of kids that age - They go in the Mall by themselves, they go to the public pool - To the movie - To a school football game

I don't get mad --- ever -- but this took it

If you have no kids than leave your fucking opinion to yourself and just go and ask for the death penalty on that motherfucker who took her

I agree with you 100% on that one. I don't believe children that young whether it be boy or girl should be allowed to walk the streets like that. Even now a days boys are not safe either.

I would not let my daughter at age 11 walk alone..

She's 13 now. Even at the mall, I generally NEVER leave her alone unless she has a friend and they have a cell phone. I have told her about every which way people could abduct her. Trust no one.

I think I've drummed it into her head but ya never know???

Only when they are ready to think clearly and quickly of what is going on in the current situation and be able to take action against the situation. What age is that? Not really sure. If people had panic buttons with GPS on them then I'm sure you'd have better chance, of course then is that considered paranoid or just being safe?

Cheers,
Matt

Perfectly said, in addition to that parents to to teach their children to do whatever it takes to stop what might happen, meaning no matter what you dont leave with them. If your going to end up dead anyway, it might as well be right there, so your family doesnt have to suffer, they dont have to go through the abuse that leads up to the death, if the assholes got a gun so he claims, than let him use it.. right than and there.

these days it is not safe at any age to walk alone!

In my neighborhood, kids walk alone when they're 6 or 7. It's a nice upper-class area where nothing ever happens. I used to walk home from kindergarten when I was 5-6 (a 10 minute walk).

If I had kids, I'd give them pepper spray. I don't care if it's illegal for kids to carry it, at least they would be safe(r).

You wouldn't trust an 11 year old girl to walk to the corner store or to school alone? When I was 11 I was all over the fucking place, and not just me, all my friends too... I was raised by a strict grandmother who was VERY paranoid. So everyone single one of my friend's families and my grandmother were terrible parents because they didn't escort us everywhere? I would take the bus to the mall with my friends (which was about 10 blocks away). My friends came with me too. I think if someone had tried to escort me every single place I went I would have had fits, aside from being the brunt of ridicule from every single kid their age. It's about perspective, I guess... So many factors affect the choices parents make regarding their kids..

I doubt I would allow my kids to do the mall thing alone, but I'm MUCH more paranoid.. not everyone has the same standards though.. and it really depends where you live. I am in a small town, everyone knows everyone. If there is a stranger in town, everyone knows. Period. An 11 year old around here has to worry more about the blackflies than the people, 99% of the time. If I lived in metro Toronto I would be extremely MUCH more paranoid.. It depends on the kid, it depends on the situation, it depends on a lot of things. Every child has their own level of maturity at 11 too.

What I don't get is why nobody would speak up if the girl was yelling and he was taking her away? I would say "wait a second what's going on". *I* would probably say something if I saw that..


It's a matter of perspective, dependant on the situation..just like anything with children. There ARE certain situations I would probably be ok with an 11 year old girl being alone.. but NOTHING will ever guarantee a child's safety 100%. Not a reason to be UNDERcautious, but being OVER-paranoid doesn't accomplish much either. There have been SO many instances lately where little girls are abdcuted from their bedrooms while they sleep. More than them being taken from public places, even.

The whole thing with this little girl is a total tragedy, and it is going to make everyone more cautious with their children.. But when is enough is enough? How far before it's not ok that we teach our children, especially our little girls, live in fear?? When does caution go overboard into obsession? Who is anyone to make the judgement call but the person in the situation?

It's a damn tough call. I have a little girl. I'm going to teach her to be careful, I'm going to teach her to be cautious. I'm going to set rules down, and I'm going to protect her and take care of her. I guess I'm just gonna have to see where SHE is at when she's 11. But above all, I'm going to hope for the best.

it does depend on where you live...I grew up in a city of 120,000 and my school was a 5 min walk away and I knew all the kids and parents in the neighbourhood.

We had a program called neighbourhood watch, kids knew that if there was a sign in the door that they could go there for help if they needed to. The parents always looked out for the kids in the area. I used to ride my bike to a friends house and it was 4miles away but I had to call as soon as I got there.

Living in the city however, I wouldn't allow my child to do that..things are getting worse these days and the system isn't helping...overprotecting your kids is a lil over board but being cautious is not. It just depends on what u think is appropriate for that child and their level of perception and intelligence.:2 cents:

Sorry for my choppy writing lol I was half on the phone :)