My son rides to elementary school. It's 6 blocks on an extra-wide sidewalk/path. He's one of the few that lock his bike, but the lock is a flimsy combo lock. My daughter rode until this year. Now that she's in middle school she would have a 3 mile ride and would have to cross 2 major intersections with a controlled light and 1 major intersection with a stop-sign (and crossing guard). I'm confident she could do it, but the wife hasn't let her try yet. She is only a 6th grader...

As far as equipment: she's at that awkward height where she could probably ride a 50-52cm frame, but her bike is a 24" wheeled bike with the seat-post at max extension and I've swapped out for a longer stem. I'm just not looking to buy a new bike for her this fall when her mom won't let her ride to school. We'll see about this spring.

Both kids use only backpacks, and both have be-seen lights, a cat-eye 5-LED red blinkie and I don't even remember what the headlight is.

Kids use the same locks as Squeeze mentions in the next post. REALLY flimsy, but better than nothing.