Mom Receives Backlash for Asking if her 4-Year-Old Son Can Go to Shops Alone

A mom has been heavily criticized after she asked online whether her 4-year-old son could go to the shops alone.

The mom took to Mumsnet to ask for people’s opinions on whether her son was old enough to go to the shop alone…

It’s safe to say that the overwhelming majority of people thought it was unacceptable for him to walk alone.

One person commented: “Yes, he is way too young. Too young not to get distracted/forget what he’s meant to be doing/not fall over on the way etc etc. Plus you would get looks and be judged. Could you cope with that?”

While another added: “He is far too young to be out on his own. Also he will look very vulnerable walking about like that.”

Writing on the forum, the mom titled her post ‘Letting a four-year-old go to the shops unaccompanied?’

She then began by writing that her son is 4 and a half and starting “reception in September.”

Explaining that she “thought about letting him go to the shop on his own,” the mom said: “We live 200 yards from our local shop, where they know DS [dear son].”

“We live on a busy road, but there’s a wide pavement, and he wouldn’t have to cross the road. He’s quite sensible.”

The mom then wrote that although her son “seems very young,” he is “quite capable of going in to a shop and buying things on his own” as that is something he has done before while she “wait outside or in the car.”

“Is he too young to walk there and back on his own?” she wrote.

What do you think? Is he too young to walk alone?