Reply to Kids walking home from bus stop by themselves

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a professional in a child-related field, I will say that one must wonder what a parent's goal is in doing this sort of thing beyond an early grade level.  We have a child in our quiet, suburban, upscale neighborhood (sort of like Mayberry) where a father walks his son to the bus stop (five houses down) every day. The child is going into the eighth grade. He hangs at the bus stop, too. This has happened since they moved into the neighborhood when the child was in 6th grade. The child is not bullied in any way, and the other kids at the bus stop are good kids. But no one can enjoy that social time because the boy's father is there hovering and utterly cramping the style. The kid has no idea that all the others are wondering what the problem is--that his daddy must walk him to the bus stop and hang out...primarily because my child is enormous and popular and is a friend of this boy; no one would dare want to bully my son's friend because there might be a consequence for crossing my son. But my son goes to high school this year, and I flinch thinking about what will likely come. As a professional, my biggest concern isn't, "Why is this father doing this?" It is, "Why ISN'T this child saying something about it?"  Children need mothers, not smothers. They don't need Dad's to hover. Oppressive parenting is fear-based parenting, and it is more damaging than helpful.

There is a tremendous amount of merit to encouraging competence in children. Walking to the bus alone in middle school, when there is no threat at all to the child, is a simple, easy way to promote autonomy and self-sufficiency. That is where self-esteem comes from in the end.[/quote]

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