Yeah it's hard ... as moms we want to prepare them for life, for whenever we won't be there for them... but we want to protect them all the time. Last year my kid's school was next door. Then we changed schools and the new one was 3 blocks away. I wanted to let my 9 year old boy walk home alone... but he felt he wasn't ready. So I didn't push him. Now we moved to a new town. He is in 4th grade now...and his school is 2 blocks from my work place. He has walked it twice now... the first time I told him to try it and I couldn't stop thinking about the traffic and so I met him half way. After that I tried to relax and he made it a couple of times. I'm not super comfortable about it, but we have to let go, little by little. When I was a kid my dad would drive me everywhere. So by the time I was in high school I had to start learning how to take the bus... and that kinda things. I don't want the same for my son. But the world is more dangerous now, so we should never let the guard down.