when I was 11 I walked 45 minutes in one of the worst areas of town to an activity, generally after dark. Mostly this was because my parents couldn't prevent me, but anyway. I got followed once. Another guy got mugged on the same route, but he did a fake karate stance and te guy ran away.

The post-script, though, is that my parents lost controle of me pretty completely by 10 or 11 because one of them was overprotective, and I was Not Impressed.

-Mich

DS1: Hon, you already finished your homework
DS2: Quit it with the protesting already!