05-29-2010, 12:45 PM
When we lived down the street from the Elementary school, my kids walked both ways. But the school was built in the middle of the subdivision development, and the school even assigned 'walking buddies' to K-3 kids who didn't have an older sibling to walk with 'em. Nice neighborhood, whole bunchalotsa kids. So the school encouraged it, and had a crossing guard on the one road crossing for the neighborhoods on the other side of the main road.
And yes, the whole 'panic' issue is primarily the fault of 24 hour news networks, and people like "Nancy Grace" who fan the flames of paranoia by making parents think that remote and random acts against one particular child will definitely happen to their child. And these 'news media' morons do this for the basest of reasons- to help sell toilet paper and viagra. There were statistically more violent acts against children when I was a kid, but you only heard about them in the local newspaper (unless it was particularly aggregious).
And yes.. from 7th grade on, I rode my bike (or cross country skiied in winter) to school 5.6 miles, with hills in both directions both ways.My kids still roll their eyes when I tell them that.
And yes, the whole 'panic' issue is primarily the fault of 24 hour news networks, and people like "Nancy Grace" who fan the flames of paranoia by making parents think that remote and random acts against one particular child will definitely happen to their child. And these 'news media' morons do this for the basest of reasons- to help sell toilet paper and viagra. There were statistically more violent acts against children when I was a kid, but you only heard about them in the local newspaper (unless it was particularly aggregious).
And yes.. from 7th grade on, I rode my bike (or cross country skiied in winter) to school 5.6 miles, with hills in both directions both ways.My kids still roll their eyes when I tell them that.