RiDe

Which makes it even more ridiculous and speaks of a bigger fundamental issue.

I assumed from your instance from the onset that you’re also based in Germany, or have something to do with this place. But, my argument still stands. I didn’t mention only schools, did I? And even if we limit ourselves to schools, you should know that the school concept in Germany is entirely different from the US. In Germany you HAVE to go to the primary school within a defined school boundary - whether you’re rich or poor. Privatisation of schools is almost non-existent. Walking to and from school is the norm - this is absolutely encouraged. For example, my kids school bars parents from driving anywhere within 800 metres to drop their kids off. This encourages self reliance as children walk alone or in groups to school each day.

I don’t think so, and even if they were you’d need a car to go anywhere and everywhere. My little children’s school is 2 minutes walk from home. There are three playgrounds within 2, 4 and 8 minutes walk. My boys football club (with proper pitches and lighting) is 8 minutes on foot away from home. All the kids walk there.

That’s a very hopeful outlook. Unless the setup in Europe (Germany in my case) - public schools, really well organised football competitions for children of all ages, various clubs and activities, playgrounds everywhere, etc - changes drastically, I don’t see how this is happening in Europe in a decade. Here we literally chase the children to go out, while we sometimes beg them not to go out because it too much. At the height of the last heatwave, right after returning from vacation, our boys wanted to go out.

There is a better and healthier way; it’s called Europe - where the children enjoy the freedom to be children.