I went to what today would be called a magnet school. It was 4 miles from my house. I had to take a bus, but many tomes I rode my bike to school, carrying my books and a trombone. When I was 5, I was a free-range child. I wandered about as I pleased until I started getting hungry. By the time I was going to high school, I was used to being on my own and able to get anywhere by bus, by bike or by foot.

yes, I was touched, especially since she's a teenager and, well, our relationship isn't always sunny. :)

wow. how lovely

thanks! my daughter gave me the sweetest present: a jar she'd decorated and filled with pieces of paper all describing things she was grateful for from me. Made me cry. :)

Happy Mom's Day, Youngster!!! -- j, 66
.

One of my earliest memories of school was arriving late my first week of first grade because I got my pants leg caught in my bicycle chain.

I can still remember Mrs. Meisner coming out to greet me with a stern look.

well, Eye, it's the contrast between then and now,
for us old codgers. -- j
.

if I had a nickel for every mile I rode my j.c.higgins
and, later, my schwinn, I would be wealthy for sure! -- j
.

we never had kids, but would feel the same in this
world. . instead, I'm a doting uncle. -- j
.

I used to walk to and from school. Watertown, Massachusetts. The old James Russell Lowell School. (Which, I understand, no longer stands.)

You've heard about the parents who keep having their kids seized for letting them play outside alone? That sort of thing scared the crap out of me as a single mom. I knew what I could trust my daughter to do and not do, but I never knew when some busybody would take it upon themselves to decide she was unsafe.

I'm 55, and I remember when I just turned 6, walking half a mile to school on city streets to school, home again for lunch, back to school, then home again. When I was 7, I spent the summer walking by myself to the pool in a nearby park and spending the day there. By the time I was 8, it was 3/4 of a mile (different school). By the time I was 10, I was negotiating a city bus to school every day.

Why is it that our kids are so mature in so many ways, but we no longer let them do things on their own -- and allow other people's judgment about what's safe for them trump our own?

Ok let me show my age. My two sisters and I had to walk about a mile just to catch the bus my mom 2 as kind on rainy and snow and ice days. Mom's story was she had to walk 5 miles to school and when the snow was too deep they walked on top of the fence post (later I figured it was not true fence posts are about 8 feet apart). I'm 52 now with my little girl 6 years old and would freak out if I lived in the city and she played in the front yard. I thank my lucky stars I'm 26 miles from neatest gallon of milk where I know everyone in at least a 5 mile radius.

I've been sitting here at age 67 reminiscing the many times I rode to elementary school on a bicycle that had a wire basket for school books.
I haven't seen a bike with a basket for ages.

With no shoes!

If a school doesn't want to let kids walk to-and-from alone, I wouldn't want to send my kids there (if I had any).

In the 8 foot of snow, of Southern California

Must have been a slow news day

How meek America has become.

I walked to school every day through the 5th grade. It was the norm back then, if you were within a certain distance of the school, no bus for you.

Edit for clarity - every day from first though fifth grades

and it was up-hill, both ways ... for me, too! . and
I love the slip with the word sacred!!! -- j
.

I was born in 75. I walked almost a mile to school alone each day, starting at age 6. I walked with another 1st grader. When I was 5 I walked with a friend's 8 yo brother. The crime rate is lower today but we're more sacred.

welcome to the gulch, RB! . you will find other
rational people here, and some clever ones! -- john
.