It’s interesting to note that in the Germanic countries, parents are yelled at by school officials for NOT letting their kids walk to school alone — kids are expected to learn situational awareness and independence at a young age, and hindering that is considered unsafe.
Funny story: my mom lived with her grandma and mom in a small apartment after WW II — grandma used to send her out to the newsstand on the street to buy a pack of smokes for her. When she was four 🙂
I think the East Coast is also more relaxed than CA about kids going out alone. The mildly annoying sk8ter punks who hang out on my street seem to range from about 8 to high school, and most kids in my NJ hometown are walking to school (alone or with friends) by 9 or 10. It’s a small city, so no busing offered nor required.
I know I was biking to meet friends at the beach by that age as well, and yeah, we had homeless weirdos and druggies kind of like OB.
