When is the Right Time for Kids to Travel Alone?

In India, we are too possessive for our kids to let them travel alone. In the metropolitans, the older children may commute on their own to school or college, but letting them go to other cities or countries never crosses our mind unless they push for it. If you are a parent of an under-ten kid, gear up to let your kids become independent for their betterment and let your possessiveness take a backseat.

When should the kids go out alone?

At the age of ten, you must educate your kids about the road sense and how traffic moves in your city. Although Indian roads are very risky for even adults, it is imperative for your kids to become independent. Show them the right place and way to cross the road, use a footpath, and board a bus or train. Let them travel in the city for 2-3 years until they prepare to travel for longer distances on their own.

When they become familiar and confident with going out alone, let them travel to longer distances on their own. You can, for example, drop your child at the railway station and make them board the train. Ask someone to pick your kid from the destination station and keep everyone in touch. When responsible adults are there to educate kids, they learn quickly.

Talking to the strangers

We, as adults, often advise the kids from a very young age that they should not talk to the strangers or take anything from them to eat. However, the need of the hour is that they require to talk to the strangers to ask for directions or many other things as they travel. You need to edify them to identify the kind of people they should talk to, and use their intuition to find out suitable people to talk. The kids should know that they can seek information from people without letting anyone intervene too much.

Teach the traffic sense

In India, the situation of traffic is a mess, and is difficult to cope even for adults. Teach your kids the value of responsible driving, and watch their behavior as they drive. Accompany them as they drive a scooter, bike, or car. If you are in a metropolitan, you can also rent a car in Delhi or other cities to know how they drive and deal with traffic and violent drivers on the road. Do not be a dictator, but just be careful. Parents can easily cross the line of being too strict, which makes the kids lose their confidence. Be a gentle teacher so that they do not feel scared of you, rather they should see you as a responsible adult who can teach them things.

Pay attention to the demands of kids

Children are often shy in the beginning to demand for solo road trips, but you must not refuse their wishes whenever they ask you. When you feel confident that they can handle themselves, you need to set them free. Ideally in India, late teenage is when kids wish to travel with their friends or alone. You can ask for the details of their friends, but never cut down their freedom in the name of conservatism. The times have changed and the parents need to change their thinking as well.

We need to understand that the next generation is always smarter than the previous one, just like we outsmarted our parents. However, this does not mean that the parents should take a backseat, rather they should take up the responsibility to make their kids reliable adults.