[user104658]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

Well they need to assess their situation.

A child's safety is more important than them getting in on time.

Speak to your employer. Change your job, make it work. Each organisation should have a policy and procedure on flexible working patterns in relation to childcare and/or adaptations. It's a privilege to have a child.

The amount of children I see walking alone who look knee high to a grasshopper is ridiculous.

What a load of utter drivel, I suspect this is indeed one of the areas where people who have no experience of being a parent should perhaps listen to people with kids.

“Knee high to a grasshopper” I agree, I don’t think kids under 10 should be making their own way to or from school, but beyond that, phased independence is absolutely vital to normal childhood development. The idea that kids should be escorted to and from the school gate right up until age 15/16 and (presumably?) not allowed other independence outside of the house is completely ludicrous and unrealistic.

If you live in a particularly risky inner-city/town area then there are SOMETIMES other considerations, but really that’s the exception. There is absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging teenagers to responsibly make their way to and from school, and in fact I’d argue that those who are hand-held until 16 are going to find themselves woefully ill-prepared for the world in their later teens and early adulthood.