Things have changed. People are more aware of certain dangers and there is more pressure to try and "do something" about those dangers.
My best friend has kids in the Spotsylvania Co. Va. school system and for the elementary students (5th grade and younger) someone has to be waiting at the end of the driveway for them when they are dropped off/picked up. If no one is at the end of the driveway, the bus drivers are instructed to not let the kids off the bus and return them to school where a parent/alternate responsible adult is then called to come get the kids.
This is because a trio of girls (12-16) were kidnapped and killed (Kristin and Kati Lisk and Sofia Silva) there in 1997 after getting off the school bus. Mind you, these girls would've all been too old to be included in this rule and all of them old enough to pick up younger kids.
In general, things are better for kids. Wearing seat belts and bike helmets, being in car seats, and in the back seat saves lives.
In suburbia though, people are way too afraid, when they really have no reason to be.
I am in total agreement with wondering about the currents kids learning to be independent. It's so hard to get them to want to be that independent sometimes.
I regularly have conversations with my daughter on how old she thinks she should be for thing X to happen (date, ride the bus by herself, walk to the local grocery store, go to the farther away playgrounds, etc.) She regularly says an older age than I do. Our kids are picking up that we think the world is a terrifying place, even when it isn't.
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Date: 2010-09-20 03:19 pm (UTC)My best friend has kids in the Spotsylvania Co. Va. school system and for the elementary students (5th grade and younger) someone has to be waiting at the end of the driveway for them when they are dropped off/picked up. If no one is at the end of the driveway, the bus drivers are instructed to not let the kids off the bus and return them to school where a parent/alternate responsible adult is then called to come get the kids.
This is because a trio of girls (12-16) were kidnapped and killed (Kristin and Kati Lisk and Sofia Silva) there in 1997 after getting off the school bus. Mind you, these girls would've all been too old to be included in this rule and all of them old enough to pick up younger kids.
In general, things are better for kids. Wearing seat belts and bike helmets, being in car seats, and in the back seat saves lives.
In suburbia though, people are way too afraid, when they really have no reason to be.
I am in total agreement with wondering about the currents kids learning to be independent. It's so hard to get them to want to be that independent sometimes.
I regularly have conversations with my daughter on how old she thinks she should be for thing X to happen (date, ride the bus by herself, walk to the local grocery store, go to the farther away playgrounds, etc.) She regularly says an older age than I do. Our kids are picking up that we think the world is a terrifying place, even when it isn't.