I took the bus to school, on my own, since day two of primary school. It wasn't hard, and I don't recall anyone ever getting lost. Even if they had, it's not the end of the world; they'll find their way back eventually.
It's a peculiar American-ism to assume that children are incapable of handling themselves, and one that's been repeatedly proven false.
You know that, and I know that, but god protect you from the busybodies and CPS if you treat your children like they arent completely incompetent and made out of glass.
Nowadays, that kind of "negligence" will get your children taken away and land you in jail.
That and other related/similar societal changes have me scared of having children. I would get locked up for spanking my kids' butt or letting them play outside or something like that.
Recently a dad in BC let his kids take transit by themselves (after a lengthy period of testing before letting them journey on their own), he was banned from letting his kids take the bus.
I did not say anything about children getting lost on the way to school. I said "getting ready and out the door in the morning", which generally just concerns activities that take place in the home.
Children are not simply small humans, differing from adults only in size. There are significant cognitive differences between very young children and adult humans. They are not fully developed cognitively until the early 20s.
In particular, young children are not good at time management, balancing current actions against future consequences, anticipating and planning for how things could go wrong, and setting priorities.
Don't extrapolate the safety of the neighborhoods you lived in to the safety of all neighborhoods. There are some in my city that I don't feel safe walking alone in as an adult.
it's only even somewhat recent america. in the 70s and 80s I walked to school or rode the bus, as did the hundreds/thousands of other kids in the district. no doubt some kids were personally drive, or carpooled with other families, but it was a rarity. the parking lots simply couldn't have accommodated dozens/hundreds of car dropoffs/pickups, and it didn't happen. i don't quite know when this started...
I took the bus to school, on my own, since day two of primary school. It wasn't hard, and I don't recall anyone ever getting lost. Even if they had, it's not the end of the world; they'll find their way back eventually.
It's a peculiar American-ism to assume that children are incapable of handling themselves, and one that's been repeatedly proven false.