# How Far is Too Far for a Kid to Walk Alone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424 "2025-07-03T02:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/41 "2025-07-07T21:52:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And I’m certain that what he did was illegal. Probably not actually illegal based on the other states’ laws cited upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/42 "2025-07-07T22:02:35Z")
Those laws are really vague though and parents have absolutely been arrested for far less. We’re functionally creating a society where children are no longer allowed to have accidents. If a kid gets hurt, it’s someone’s fault, usually the parent, so kids are no longer allowed to manage themselves or take calculated risks or, you know, grow independent. They must be in constant surveillance until adulthood and then enjoy a protracted adolescence learning how to actually be independent by their mid twenties. It’s not ideal. (And many parents encourage this.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/43 "2025-07-07T22:17:21Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Those laws are really vague though and parents have absolutely been arrested for far less. Have they? Got cites? I imagine that a lot of bad parents who face consequences say that it was for minor things, but let’s see the actual record. “Everyone knows” that parents will get arrested for letting their kids walk home from school is just as bad as “everyone knows” that kids will get attacked if they’re allowed to walk home from school. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/44 "2025-07-07T22:32:56Z")
> **[Georgia mom's arrest puts free-range parenting back into spotlight](https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-moms-arrest-puts-free-range-parenting-back/story?id=116004039)** > > A mom in Georgia is facing possible jail time after her 10-year-old son was found walking alone to town, less than a mile from the family’s home. > **[Attorney: Georgia couple faces reduced charges after leaving children home alone](https://newschannel9.com/news/local/calhoun-couple-arrested-for-child-cruelty-after-leaving-sons-home-alone-for-storage-run-gordon-county)** > > Calhoun Police charged a mother and her boyfriend with child cruelty charges after they say an 8 and 10-year-old were left home alone for nearly 2 hours.The wom > **[Mom arrested for leaving 9-year-old alone at park | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/21/living/mom-arrested-left-girl-park-parents)** > > The arrest of Debra Harrell for allegedly leaving her 9-year-old alone at a park has sparked debate about how young is too young to leave kids on their own > **[Suburban mom handcuffed, jailed for making 8-year-old son walk half a mile home](https://reason.com/2022/11/16/suburban-mom-jailed-handcuffed-cps-son-walk-home/)** > > Heather Wallace was prosecuted for child endangerment after her 8-year-old son walked half a mile home through the Waco, TX suburbs. > **[Connecticut parents arrested for letting kids, ages 7 and 9, walk to Dunkin'...](https://reason.com/2023/01/30/dunkin-donuts-parents-arrested-kids-cops-freedom/)** > > "I have never felt threatened by a single person in this town until meeting those officers and the social worker." ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/45 "2025-07-07T22:53:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Probably not actually illegal based on the other states’ laws cited upthread. Yeah - in IL, it is under 14 “for an unreasonable amount of time.” Around here this got a lot of publicity several years back when some idiot couple (I’m thinking last name something like Schoo?) went on vacation and left their young kids at home for several days w/ inadequate food, money, no supervision… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/46 "2025-07-07T22:55:46Z")
An “unreasonable amount of time” is incredibly vague and subjective. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/47 "2025-07-07T23:05:58Z")
Which IMO does _not_ include Dad being gone for 45 minutes at the nearby store. So not illegal. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/48 "2025-07-07T23:32:21Z")
It is - but really there isn’t any better alternative. You put a bright line rule in, let’s say it’s illegal to leave child under 11 years old home alone for more than two hours. What happens when it’s a 12 year old left alone over night? Doesn’t violate the law. Suppose a parent leaves a baby alone asleep in a crib as they drive the six year old to school? Doesn’t violate the law. OK so now you add more laws - a child under 17 can’t be left alone overnight, a child under five can’t be left alone for any amount of time. So now that parent leaves the baby sleeping for long enough to get the five year old from the school bus that stops right in front of the house. Two minutes or less. Violates the law. It is absolutely impossible to write laws that will cover every situation to account for age, the maturity of the child, the amount of time, how far away the parent is (are they in front of the house or in the apartment across the hall or a 20 minute drive away) and on and on and on. People will do things you can’t even imagine until it happens - I worked in CPS and saw some terrible things - but [this](https://www.deseret.com/1993/7/11/19055637/pair-who-left-2-girls-alone-give-them-up/) suprised even me (I think this is the case @Dinsdale was referring to. ) The real problem is that so many people (neighbors, police, whoever ) think that anything they don’t agree with is abuse/neglect - I wouldn’t let my kid walk two blocks to the store so you shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/49 "2025-07-08T15:45:08Z")
Also, how long is “reasonable” can depend on other circumstances. Like, is it reasonable to leave the kids home from when they get home from school to bedtime? Maybe, if there’s food in the house for dinner and they know how to cook it… but probably not, if there isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/50 "2025-07-08T17:33:37Z")
I the 60s, I walked to school in Chicago. Three tenths of a mile, according to Google. Since riding the bus was Hell, I frequently walked home from Middle School in Wisconsin. 2.20 miles, in Winter. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/51 "2025-07-08T19:35:29Z")
My CEO used to be some kind of higher-ranking police person. She told us a story that one night she was called out because someone found a five year old who had been left home alone for a few hours. The police were stumped because the kid was highly articulate, knew all emergency procedures, had lists of contacts in case of an emergency, and aside from his age seemed completely competent to stay home alone. Ultimately they did not make an arrest, because the kid seemed fine. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Which IMO does _not_ include Dad being gone for 45 minutes at the nearby store. So not illegal. Yet someone was arrested and charged with child cruelty for leaving similar aged kids for two hours. It’s clear there can be a wide gulf between what reasonable people think is reasonable and what police and child care workers and prosecutors think is reasonable. I’d be curious to find out what _juries_ think is reasonable, though. Because I know I’m not the only person who finds this insane. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/52 "2025-07-11T11:44:44Z")
We were discussing this in another thread I think, but I was walking to school by myself by 1rst grade in urban NYC and at some point between 3rd and 4th grade I became a fully autonomous latchkey kid in urban San Francisco. My elementary school for 3rd grade was ~1.6 miles on foot from my house and certainly by 4th grade I roamed freely at least a couple miles in either direction from home on weekends, including all over Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District. This was in the 1970’s and it only accelerated when I moved to suburban Michigan thereafter. I think I might have some reservations giving me quite as much autonomy as I did as young as I had it. But…it all worked out fine and I was definitely the more independent for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/53 "2025-07-11T12:04:44Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I worked in CPS and saw some terrible things - but [this](https://www.deseret.com/1993/7/11/19055637/pair-who-left-2-girls-alone-give-them-up/) suprised even me (I think this is the case @Dinsdale was referring to. ) Yes, that is the case. Thanks. Not sure why I couldn’t google it… Apologize if I over/mis stated the illegality of my SIL’s actions. Funny - I google mapped my walk to grade school. It said 1/2 mile, but weirdly, it said to start by walking 1/3 of a block south before heading back north to the school which was only 1 block to the east and a few blocks to the north! 🙄 No one would EVER choose that route instead of starting off headed north. There were plenty of other kids - and my older sisters - walking the same route. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/54 "2025-07-11T13:27:39Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Funny - I google mapped my walk to grade school. It said 1/2 mile, but weirdly, it said to start by walking 1/3 of a block south before heading back north to the school which was only 1 block to the east and a few blocks to the north! 🙄 No one would EVER choose that route instead of starting off headed north. There were plenty of other kids - and my older sisters - walking the same route. Google Maps chooses some odd routes. For one of the elementary schools I went to in Colorado, they had deliberately built a sidewalk that leads to the north side of the school. Google wanted me to skip that entrance, instead sticking to the street by circling all the way to the east to where the main the main entrance is located. For my school in Munich, Google had be tacking on an extra 100 or so meters by taking a more circuitous route. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/55 "2025-07-11T14:02:15Z")
In the former case I expect the only thing Google knows is the street address. If there are other entrances that’s not in their model. So all routes lead to that one entrance. For large facilities that get lots of traffic, such as stadiums or airports, they add enough data points to address most/all of the various destinations within the facility. For something with little traffic like a particular elementary school, probably not. As to the latter case: I've noticed that whether driving or walking, every now and then Google decides to include a loop or a start going the wrong way then turn around. And not something associated with one-way streets, or no right turns or whatever; just a plain goof. What’s interesting to me is IME it’s then remarkably resistant to manual attempts to remove the loop or backtrack. Somehow it decided that part of the route is special and inviolate. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/56 "2025-07-11T14:07:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In the former case I expect the only thing Google knows is the street address. If there are other entrances that’s not in their model. So all routes lead to that one entrance. > > For large facilities that get lots of traffic, such as stadiums or airports, they add enough data points to address most/all of the various destinations within the facility. For something with little traffic like a particular elementary school, probably not. I suspect that the bigger issue is that few elementary school students carry phones. For a middle or high school, where most students do have phones, Google would very quickly notice that there are a lot of users walking to a particular spot on the edge of the building. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/57 "2025-07-11T14:25:28Z")
Good point. An interesting question I know nothing about is how much Google’s nav algorithms are natively learning about the world from use. Such as alternate entrances. How much of that is automated learning, and how much of that is the automation highlighting oddities for further human analysis and action to e.g. update the nav model with extra entrances. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I now live in a large roughly square building. It occupies the corner of two boulevards. There is an unnamed street/alley that runs along the other two faces of the almost-square. The street address is on one of the boulevards, but the primary and secondary entrances are on the two legs of the alley. If you search the address, Google drops the pin along the appropriate boulevard at about the mathematically correct distance towards the next block. If you search the name of the building, it drops the pin at the secondary entrance on the alley. Neither of those locations are useful for package delivery people. Often leading to hijinks. But if you Uber to or from the street address, Uber puts the pin at the primary entrance on the other leg of the alley. Different point of interest … Just a couple days ago I drove to a familiar downtown hotel. I could easily find the place on my own, but I fired up Google maps mostly for the traffic and ETA. It helpfully navigated me to the street address on the main boulevard. Not to the parking / drop-off entrance / lobby which is a half-block down one of the side streets flanking the building. The hotel has a few hundred rooms and has been there for at least 15 years. Whole lotta folks have come and gone in that time. Google hasn’t yet learned where the entrance is. It’d be neat if we all had an effective way to submit feedback to any geo-service, _and_ get an acknowledgement it resulted in a change we can see. That second feature is key. Absent acknowledged results, people quickly tire of dropping virtual suggestions in the virtual suggestion box. _If_ they can even find it. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/58 "2025-07-11T14:37:32Z")
Some of these rules/reactions are nuts. I was born in 1973. Grew up in suburban Boston. At age six, first grade, I walked about a mile to school every day. Also, at age six, summers and Saturdays were “I’m going out” at about 8am, and I often didn’t return until 5. And this was ALL the kids I knew. There was no limit to how far I was allowed to go, and the woods, the parks, etc were constantly filled with a random assortment of unsupervised kids. And it was fine. Time to channel my grumpy old man: This is why today’s 25 year olds still live at home and expect mom to go with them to job interviews. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/59 "2025-07-11T14:43:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > An interesting question I know nothing about is how much Google’s nav algorithms are natively learning about the world from use. Such as alternate entrances. How much of that is automated learning, and how much of that is the automation highlighting oddities for further human analysis and action to e.g. update the nav model with extra entrances. I do know from experience that it’ll update from very small data sets, if that’s all that’s available. For instance, there was a spot downtown that I was biking to fairly frequently, a few years back. One time, I was starting from a different point, and so I put it in Google to see the best route: I knew the route downtown, but wasn’t sure if it’d still be best to go over the same bridge. It was, but the part of the directions after the bridge was the exact same complicated route I usually took, because I’d learned through trial and error that that particular set of zigzags minimized the difficult traffic situations. I was surprised at first, until I realized that I personally probably accounted for about 90% of the bicycle traffic from the West Side to that particular destination: It showed me the same as my usual route because it literally was my route. So why doesn’t it learn from the small set of elementary students with phones? My guess is that the teachers (and other adult staff) in the building mostly use the entrance closest to the parking lot, which is a different entrance, and there are a lot more teachers with phones than students, so the parking-lot entrance appears (to Google) to be by far the most popular entrance. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424/60 "2025-07-11T15:17:55Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Funny - I google mapped my walk to grade school. It said 1/2 mile, but weirdly, it said to start by walking 1/3 of a block south Man - I’m such an idiot. I forgot to click “walk”. My street was one-way south! 🙄 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-is-too-far-for-a-kid-to-walk-alone/1020424.md?page=4)