This morning on The Today Show, there was a segment about when your kids are old enough to walk to school alone. They never really answered the question, so I'll never know, but what they did say startled me. They said that parents should NOT be afraid of letting their kids walk to school alone. White men are usually the predators and that their victims are usually girls in the age range of 12-15 years old. So why wouldn't we be afraid? Well they said because out of the 60 million children that attend school, only 115 are abducted by complete strangers (someone not related to them or someone they know). Yes, this figure is VERY low and the odds of MY kids being abducted compared to the next is quite slim, but would I take the risk - I'm going to go with NO. Sure, I'm only dealing with Kindergarten issues and we're only in week 4 of school and Emma rides the bus. We walk to the mailbox for her to get on the bus and the bus driver drops her off directly in front of my house for her to get off. But I would NEVER leave her alone to wait for the bus, to me it's just not worth the risk, even if she was in 5th grade.
I understand parents have to deal with the issues of allowing their child to walk to school alone or having no other choice due to demanding work schedules, but I was just amazed when they said don't be afraid - but it's probably because I'm a scardy cat about things like that. As much as I hate it when people say, well when I was young, we didn't have [fill in the blank], but literally 15 - 20 years ago, I walked to elementary school. I rode the bus to Kindergarten because it was half a day, but first grade to until fifth grade I walked to school, with no supervision and in Falls Church it was quite a hike. But I just could NOT imagine sending Emma alone to walk to school, not now, not in a few years - not with all those psychos out there!
Any thoughts?
Yeah, I know you and I have talked about this, but I feel completely the same way. I feel like as a parent, it's my responsibility to make good decisions for my child. If anything were to ever happen to her, it would be my fault, and I would never forgive myself. I would rather "rip her off" of certain "experiences" (as people like to put it), but know that I've done everything in my power to keep her safe. I can't imagine letting her do something like that, then something happening to her, and knowing it was completely my fault. She can live her life in my "bubble of protection" as far as I'm concerned =)
ReplyDeleteYep, I agree too. I'm with Brittany- if something were to happen to Ellie, and I could've prevented it, I would never forgive myself. A few times I've thought, "we're just riding to the other side of the shopping center, do we really need to buckle Ellie in" But the answer is always YES. If some crazy loon hit our car and Ellie got hurt, I'd never forgive myself. It's worth the extra 60 seconds to buckle her in. Same for Emma getting on the bus.
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