As recently as 1979, a 6 year old could...

From one of my favourite blogs about NOT being a "helicopter parent", Free-Range Kids - a list from 1979, of things that a 6 year old should be able to do, to assess school readiness. The pertinent point is this:

"Can he travel alone in the neighborhood (four to eight blocks) to store, school, playground, or to a friend's home?"

Good grief!  Here's me stressing about my 8yo walking home from school, with a friend, less than 500m!  And without revealing too much, I wasn't far off that age in 1979, and I remember walking to school, more than a kilometre away and across a railway line that had no bridge!  Time to get a grip... :>

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/as-recently-as-1979-a-first-grader-could/