Seeing Green’s son, Little D, is walking to school alone. He’s nine and his parents are sort of ready for this big change. Here’s an excerpt:
Elizabeth says that when she was in first grade in Los Angeles, she and a
friend would walk by themselves. And cycle in the streets. What have we lost by our perception that we can’t allow this anymore? And it is a perception more than reality
in the type of neighborhood we live in. Your child is statistically
more likely to be hit by lightning than be abducted (which I assume is
the most trenchant fear, you can after all teach your child to be
cautious about vehicles.) When D walks to and from school in Park
Slope, he probably walks by many of his friends and acquaintances. In
fact, one of our older neighbors said to Elizabeth yesterday, "He’s
growing up! Walking to school by himself." Talk about "eyes on the
street," she’s aware of a lot that happens in front of her house.
I used to walk to the school bus stop FOUR BLOCKS when I was FIVE YEARS OLD. This was in Denver, CO. I was always running the street and neither my mother nor my grandmother if she was babysitting knew where I was. This was in 1977.
Now, my mother freaked out when my sister put her 5 year old son on the school bus for a 5 minute ride to school. “Things can happen on those buses! Fights! The bus driver is not watching them!” blah blah blah. I was like, I USED TO ROAM THE STREETS COMPLETELY UNSUPERVISED FOR HOURS AT THAT SAME AGE.
What has changed? Our world? Are the risks more prevalent now than then? She says yes, I say no. Also yes now, we live more in a culture of fear and yes now, kids are more coddled. They are not used to being outside or doing things on their own AT ALL.