Originally Posted by
kmv2
Doesn't happen in rural communities too often. I grew up taking the school bus, and being driven to school was certainly a luxury. My babysitter was (despite the sparseness of rural Canada) relatively close by, so we could walk.
I was aware kids get driven from time to time, but I was unaware of the extent of the epidemic until seeing suburban schools when I was doing a contract for various school boards. Literally huge lineups of cars dropping kids off.
Honestly quite shocking considering how easy it would be for most of the kids to walk or for the school board to organize a bus pickup.
I suppose its a combination of parents being to cheap to pay for daycare services, or for their lack of daycare services, or because they don't know their neighbours/lack of community in the burbs (or babysitter was a neighbour and we learned of her services at a community bulletin board).
None of my friends have school age kids yet, none of my coworkers really have either (I usually am working in a small company). I avoid the burbs at all costs, so not exposed to it too much.
This is just the way it is for many school-age kids across North America. I'm a teacher in a pretty well off urban middle school. My school is not near a major highway, most students live within 5 miles (8 Km) of the school, and it's a pretty safe part of the city. Some students do walk, but the vast majority of them are driven to and from school by their parents. Maybe 10 students out of 400 ride their bikes to school. I've actually seen kids who live eight blocks from school wait 20 minutes or more for a parent to pick them up. It's not laziness. It's not even fear on the part of parents. To a certain extent, it's driven (no pun intended) by parents' need to be in control beyond an age which is appropriate. (Believe it or not, some people
like driving their kids all over creation.) Mostly, though, it's just the result of kids' schedules. They're usually not going home after school. They're going to soccer practice, or a tutoring session, or a four-hour gymnastics session, or some form of community service. These kids have a full schedule, and their stressed-out moms are not about to allow them to be late for any of it. Walking, riding, or public transit just isn't going to do it when you have this many places to be in such a short time. Kids today have far less unscheduled/unsupervised time than they used to; the days of riding around the neighborhood on your bike, randomly visiting friends, or getting into some sort of mischief, are long gone.