When were you old enough?

I was in 4th grade when I was allowed to walk to the candy store a few blocks from my grandparents' house alone - so 10? Had to cross suburban neighborhood streets, but nothing dangerous.

Around 5 or 6.
Walking or riding bike, to liquor/convenience store to buy cigarettes for my Mother and one piece(or however many pieces one could acquire for a penny)  of penny candy for myself.

As a child and teen, we ran the streets all day, any day there wasn't School or an obligation we had to go to. So did the rest of the neighborhood kids.

We lived in an unsafe neighbourhood, so we didn't go out ourselves.

I do remember walking to school with my friends in senior kindergarten, so I guess I was 5 or 6? It was just across the street. I don't know if that was a regular occurrence or not though.

We lived in an apartment, and I was only allowed in the elevator by myself in grade 1, I think. Which makes me laugh a bit, because my son is in grade 1, and I won't let him use the elevator himself, and we live in a very safe building / neighbourhood!

We moved to a suburb when I was in grade 4, so my younger brother had very different allowances of what he could do when we lived someplace safer.

I grew up on an acreage with the nearest store about 15kms away so no walking to stores at an early age BUT my best friend at the time lived about 30kms away but there was a short cut through the forest so my parents would drop me off at one end of the forest a bit of away down the road from our acreage and I’d walk through the forest to the road at the other end of her house. 😂Technically not a short cut as it took me longer to walk that then if we’d have just drove around the dirt roads to her house. This was in northern Alberta, all country roads and very spaced out farms. We didn’t see bears or any other large animals much where we were so I’d say that was a pretty safe walk for an 8 year old. I felt very adult walking alone through the bush to meet her. Lol.

I walked seven blocks to and from school from ages 5-8. Then we moved and I had to ride a bus to school. When we lived in town, we had a corner store that required crossing two streets: one not so busy and one very busy. I think I was allowed to go there with a neighborhood friend around age 5. My mom could watch us out the kitchen window, which I'm sure she did. We ran into the Safeway from the car to pick up milk on our own at about 7. It wasn't until I was an adult and my mom was watching my kids that I realized she did that on purpose as a way to foster independence. My own kids had free run of our neighborhood as they were growing up, as long as they traveled in a pack with the other cul de sac kids and I knew where they were.

Same as lesley! I was 4 and sent to the corner market (had to cross a street & around the corner) for cigarettes for my mom and a penny candy for myself. Walked to school in first grade alone, half a mile, many streets to cross but a very small town. 

Nine to walk to convenience store for milk, eggs or bread. Ten to ride my bicycle to school, the library or to religious instruction.

My mom didn't drive so I knew how to take the bus that went into town. Otherwise, she always preferred my friends come to my house so we could walk together to school, the movies or to the mall.

Kids in my elementary school would walk to school starting in kindergarten. And they were 4 or 5, we had a Dec. 31 cut off. They had 6th grade safety patrols to help the kids cross the street.

My current neighborhood kids take the bus as we are a few miles away from the school. But parents drive their kids even if it's 3 houses down! And our houses are close together.

We had a corner drugstore that was about four blocks from our house that didn’t require crossing any busy roads and I remember going there by myself (well, with siblings) before I was old enough to go to school. Once I was in kindergarten, I remember my mom walking with me to school with my little brother in a stroller. It was over a half mile each way. She went with me for the first couple weeks and after that she sent me by myself. There was an older elementary kid that would meet me about halfway to help me cross the busy street closer to school but otherwise I was on my own.

In first grade, I went to a different school that was also about a half mile away in a different direction. I don’t remember my older brother walking with me even though I’m sure we both attended in some of the same years. In fact I have a vivid memory of being in the second grade and stopping to watch some fire trucks for several minutes on my way to school. I was delayed long enough that the police patrol kids had already gone by the time I got to the busy street that I needed to cross, and the cars were going so fast and the stoplights didn’t seem long enough for me to get across without help, so I stood there waiting for a long time. I knew I was going to be in trouble for being late, and eventually I got up enough courage to run across that street. I was late and I did get in trouble. When my younger brother started school, I walked with him to and from school. 

I also remember walking or riding our bikes to a 7-11 that was in the area where my kindergarten was, and my mom let us go there by ourselves. That store had way more candy than the drugstore did but it was much farther away so we didn’t go as often.

My kid has never gone to a store by herself because there isn’t anything walkable or even bikeable in our area. When her friend used to live down the street, we would let her walk to his house but usually I would stand at the end of my driveway and watch her until she met up with him halfway and his mom would watch him from the end of her driveway too. She’s almost 12 now and just went to the mall with friends and one kid’s dad last weekend for the first time. I wouldn’t let her go with just friends though at this age. There are too many weirdo creepers out there.

I walked to and from kindergarten alone, it was about 1/2 mile. Also , when I was about 6-7 my mom would give me a dime and I could walk to the little market 1/4 mile away for candy. No major streets to cross.

Me: About 7
My kids: 10

I walked all over with my kids when they were young. Taught them N/S/E/W and how that affected addresses.

The drivers ed teachers I worked with said they could always tell the walkers because their car navigation skills were significantly better than those who had been driven everywhere. They said that increasingly kids couldn’t even figure out how to drive from school to home!

We didn't live in town. Nearest store was 15 miles away, so no solo trips to run errands. But our parents were busy and we spent many hours being completely unsupervised, climbing on hay stacks and the roofs of buildings, playing in overflowing creeks in spring.

As kids we were out looking after animals when we were quite young. By the time I was eight I was riding a horse to school. I had to catch her in the pasture, then look after her at school before going in to class.

We had lots of indoor chores, too, that a child today would not have. My grandmother passed away when I had just turned nine, but I distinctly remember her repeatedly giving me very specific instructions on how to make her tea. With boiling water from a big kettle on the wood stove.

I remember walking home from kindergarten and finding my mom hiding behind a bush to watch me😂. My mom is a self proclaimed worry wart , but I was your typical Gen X kid, off riding a bike in the neighborhood and pretty much off roaming with an understanding that I be home at a certain time.

I regret that my kids did not have that freedom. We’ve never lived walking distance to a school and never lived in a neighborhood where kids just hopped on bikes and cruised around.