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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am baffled by the modern day bus stop culture.

Did anyone else grow up in a place where parents NEVER waited at the bus stop?  Even when I was in kindergarten and first grade, the older kids looked out for the little kids (this was K-6 back in the day).  I also started walking to school alone in probably 3rd or 4th grade.  It was a 15-20 minute walk.  It's not that my parents didn't love me, I swear!!  This was just normal.   I understand that people have safety concerns.  But I'm sure we've all read the same statistics...that the world isn't any less safe than when we were kids and it's just our perception that it is because of 24-7 news coverage.   I also think expectations are just so different.  As the OP says, other parents treat you like a weirdo if you let your kids walk alone anywhere.

It just seems sort of sad.  I have a lot of fond memories of hanging out with other kids at the bus stop (and not parents) and making the walk to school.   These kids are just supervised by adults ALL THE TIME.  When do they learn to trust themselves and have independence/confidence?[/quote]

It all depends where you grew up.  Where I grew up, it was not a bad neighborhood at all (actually a very nice neighborhood where a lot of the kids went to private school), but no kids walked around by themselves.  I find in the suburban neighborhood I live in now, the parents are much more laid back about letting their children walk by themselves than what I grew up with.  For example, we never walked to the neighborhood park alone, and here I find the kids do it all the time.  So because of how I grew up, I much more uneasy about letting my child walk by themselves.

I think a lot depends on the specific neighborhood you are in, where it is located, and the types of parents who are there.  I don't think the era has changed things as much as the fact that we all grew up in different places and with different practices.  [/quote]

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