You're On Your Own, Kid

This being the first full week of school since the holiday break, I've been anticipating some fussing, some reluctance to cooperate, and some bleary, sleepy mornings. And since this is the first full week back to work since a spate of days off, I've been expecting the same from myself and my husband. Ahem. Turns out Henry has been a cooperation champ lately, so if there's any fussing going on, it's coming from me. 

So far, the week back to school has been uneventful, at least for us. A mate of my son's had a rough day yesterday, though. I meet Henry after school to drive him home—we live too far away for him to walk, and we pulled him off of the school bus last year for reasons I'll have to get into in another posting. (I'll just say here: you think you've prepared your kid for some of the bad things that can happen. Then it turns out you haven't thought of them all.) I know several of Henry's friends, and a few of their parents, by virtue of my presence at the school yard every day. One boy's parents seem to arrive a little later than most of the adults from time to time, so I've gotten used to his hanging out with us until he sees mom or dad. Yesterday, as the crowd thinned out, I could see he was growing more and more anxious, and I was getting concerned. Of course, I would stay with him until I saw one of his grown-ups, but he was really worried. My being there with him (and my son's trying to distract him with snowballs) wasn't helping. 

Finally, after the school yard was pretty empty, he had the idea to go back to his classroom to see if his teacher had heard anything. We went back inside and his teacher calmly told him he was supposed to walk home that day. His mom had called and instructed him to walk home. He froze, then blurted out, "the whole way?" and burst into tears and ran away from us. I called him back and offered to drive him home, but he was in a hurry. I imagine they had discussed this at home, maybe they'd practiced his doing this on his own, but he seemed stunned. He took off on foot, headed for home, and refused our offer to walk with him. I wish I'd insisted. 

I found out the next day that his mother had been looking for him on his path home, and I didn't get to speak to her to see how it had gone. He lives blocks and blocks from school, and he has to cross some busy streets to get there. He's six years old, like my son. I know we parents want and need to teach our kids how to do things for themselves, and giving them wings is our job. But it broke my heart that he was so upset about walking home alone. Is this what Free Range Kids is all about, or was this an error in judgment? He didn't seem ready for what was being asked of him. Would my son be able to find his way home if he suddenly was being asked to? I have no idea.