I think there was nothing wrong with letting Jessica walk to school. Is till don't think there was anything wrong with it. As others have said, the danger in auto accidents is much more common. Not only that, I have seen first hand what the result of "helicopter parenting" has done to the younger generation where I work (i am a scientist). I know this is very controversial, but I just wanted to post to say that if you have the same opinion as I do, and have thought you were all alone, you aren't. Not everyone thinks that children need to be under direct supervision 24/7 and that opinion is perfectly ok, despite the outpouring of the blame game we have going on here.
I do agree to some extent; I think the problem is figuring out where the cut off is between being a responsible parent and being a smothering one. My older son walked across the street to his friend's house, and they walked with the friend's older brothers to the bus stop less than a block from their house. I could see the house and the bus stop from my house, but I never walked with him. We had moved to a different house, in a different town, by the time his brother started school. When the second son started kindergarten, he walked about a block (crossing a street going north and two going west). I didn't walk with him either, but he was always with his brother (he was in 6th grade when the younger one was in kindergarten). They still walked together for the entire time we lived there, because the older kids caught the bus at the elementary school.
I never lived in a place where my child had to walk out of my sight in order to get to school, but I didn't stand there and watch them walk all the way every day; I also saw nothing wrong with other parents allowing their 2nd grade and older kids to walk alone either to the school or to the bus stop. In the towns I lived in at the time, none of the parents allowed a kindergartner or first grader to walk alone. I just can't see under normal circumstances, not allowing a 10 year old to walk 3 blocks past her neighbors' homes to meet a friend and go to school.
I personally think kids these days are being raised to be afraid of everything. Everybody stresses stranger danger so much, kids are afraid of everyone (which isn't always a bad idea). If there was an emergnecy, they don't know who they can turn to for help. I think it's getting to the point where kids are more likely to run to a perp who lives down the block to escape an innocent delivery man asking for directions than to be grabbed by a strangfer on the street.
My younger son went to a day care center at the college I was attending when he was 3-4 years old. They stressed stranger danger so much even back then that he freaked out when I took him to see Santa. He just grabbed my hand and said, "I'm not sitting on that man's lap, I don't even know him!" He also refused to accept candy from him - Santa had to give it to me, and then my son would take it.
I really think we have to teach kids how to behave in different circumstances (don't approach a car if someone other than a family member stops to talk to you, never go into another person's house without a parent first telling you it's ok, never accept anything from someone you don't know (or even get close enough to reach anything they might offer), offer to find an adult to help if someone asks them to help them with something, etc. I think in the long run, the kids are much better off and feel more empowered if they know what to do if something happens, rather than being petrified that something might happen.
