Friends,

I’m curious, do you let your kids use public transportation? Or if they are still too young, what thoughts do you have on that topic?

When I was my daughter’s age (above picture) my friend and I got on a train and went to Munich (a six hour ride). We visited a relative of hers, but I distinctly remember touring the city just the two of us. A year of so later my family and I were visiting friends near Munich. A planned a day trip all by myself to the city, doing an art tour visiting different art museums (how exactly I planned this before the internet is beyond me). I have done many city trips alone in my teenage years. To me that was part of being an urban European, you should be able to navigate any city on your own!

Now that I am raising 4 daughters I am surprised that I feel uneasy about letting them travel by themselves. It’s one thing to put them on a train (above) or plane when they get picked up on the other end. But the thought of her and a friend traveling to a nearby city would scare me big time.  I always want to send her big brother along for protection. The problem is the big brother has no interest in sight seeing or adventure trips in urban settings…

Now that my daughter has figured out she can get places on the train I will have many more opportunities to wrestle with this topic…

Do tell me, would you let your kids travel alone?

-Sofija