Do Public School Parents stop parenting too soon?

I really don't mean to pick on the blogger. His blog is actually quite intelligent. Still in his post "Good Idea Backfires", he talks about how the schools have gotten the kids to eat healthy and one day when the kids could not find healthy snacks they neglected to get on the school bus. As I read this, I scratched my head because I didn't think kids old enough to get on the school bus on thier own were young enough to care about getting a ticket reward for having healthy snacks. I was right.

I got to the bottom of the post and read: "This is two 10 year olds and an 8 year old."

Ok, so my kids were 10 and 8 once. (now 11 and 13) They also once rode the school bus once,as they went to school until 1st and 3rd grade. Here's the question I have... how are an 8 and 10 year old mature enough to choose healthy snacks and get on the school bus without parental supervision. How was the parent surprised that the kids made very immature choices and opted to stay home instead of getting on the bus sans snacks? I can't tell you how many stupid things I did at that age, and my kids... oh boy (last week my daughter took a can of icing to her coop classes as part of her lunch because she didn't want her cupcake to get soggy.)

Yeah, I started walking the mile walk to school with my brother around age 10, but this is a different world we live in. (Maybe the parent is still remembering those days?) Between the immaturity of pre-teens (and his kids are barely that) and the danger of strangers, it appears to me that this parent was lulled into a sense of comfort by the "let the schools raise the child" society, that he stopped parenting kids who still need constant supervision.

But that's just how I think.

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