The last time we allowed my son to walk on his own, he failed to follow instructions so we had to disallow it for a little while. Today I let him go to the grocery store and to the library on his own with the stipulation that he be back in an hour. Not only did he make it home with ten minutes to spare, but he actually called from the library to ask if it was OK for him to spend some of my change from the store on a color copy of the Periodic Table.
He ASKED! He did not just spend the money and let me find out later! I told him thank you for calling and when I got home he was there already. I made sure to make a big deal out of it at dinner too.