Everything your child should be doing at each age - from shoelace tying to bike riding and dating

There are some milestones we all remember hitting.

 

Learning to ride a bike, learning to ride a bike without stabilisers and finally being able to tie our shoelaces are just some achievements of which we can recall the exact moment we mastered.

 

Then there are other milestones, which are more like rites of passage.

 

Being allowed to have a mobile phone, the first certificate 15 or 18 film we see (with or without our parents' blessing) and the first time we're allowed to be home alone are just a few.

 

Now new research commissioned by My Nametags has emerged which puts together a timeline indicating when our kids should be doing everything, from riding a bike to being allowed to go out at night.

 2000 parents were surveyed to put the findings together, and it's an interesting indication of modern parenting, and how much mums and dads think their offspring should be allowed to do.

 

The timeline

16 years old

 

- Have friends over when parents are away

- Go out after dark

 

15 years old

 

- Listen to explicit songs

- Go on a date

- Buy their own clothes

- Have a girlfriend or boyfriend round to visit

- Drink energy drinks

 

What’s the one thing that never fails to make you feel better?

14 years old

 

- Have Facebook

- Have Snapchat

- Go to town with friends

- Have their own front door key

- Have WhatsApp

- Go to the cinema with friends

 

13 years old

 

- Be in the house alone

- Go out on their own

- Go to the shop on their own

- FaceTime friends

- Have a computer in their bedroom

 

12 years old

 

- Walk to school on their own

- Surf the web alone

- Own a mobile phone

- Cycle to school

- Play at the local park unsupervised

- Have a laptop

- Have an MP3 player

 

11 years old

 

- Have a tablet device

- Have a TV in their bedroom

 

10 years old

 

- Put the dishes away

- Take care of their school uniform

- Not to lose belongings

- Understand the value of their possessions

- Be allowed to choose what they wear

- Have friends over for sleep-overs

- Go to friends for sleep-overs

- Fold-up clothes when they take them off

- Get ready by themselves

 

9 years old

 

- Lay the table

- Start getting pocket money

- Bath or shower without help

Mastering the art of tying shoe laces is a big deal

 

8 years old

 

- Tie their own shoelaces

- Put their own clothes in the wash

- Brush their teeth without help

 

7 years old

 

- Ride a bike

 

Going to bed

 

- 8pm - eight years old

- 9pm - ten years old

- 10pm - 12 years old

 

Movies

 

- Watch 12 certificate movies alone - 12 years old

- Watch 15 certificate movies alone - 14 years old

- Watch 18 certificate movies alone - 16 years old