<p>I lived a mile away from my elementary school approximately and walked, but only if the weather was good. My mom drove me the rest of the time. We got rides in winter and if it rained. I think 5 miles is too far to walk for anybody, it would take too long at that time of the morning-- especially for a high schooler who has to be at school by 7am in the pitch black.</p>
<p>My subdivision is across the street from what will be our middle school, a block away from what will be our elementary school, and maybe a mile or two away from what will be our HS. I see a few kids walking but really only the ones who don’t have to cross the main road-- our kids would have to cross main roads to get to any of them. There are no crossing guards like we had when we were kids. I am very interested to see what the kids do these days. One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of parents at the school bus stops in the morning, many in cars so the kids can wait in the heat and just run out when the bus pulls up. I never saw that when I was growing up. I’d love to walk my kids to school someday but I wonder how long they’ll allow it. I wouldn’t let an elementary schooler cross the main road with no crossing guard and I’d be hesitant to let a middle schooler too for fear they’d jaywalk directly across the street instead of walking a block down to the crosswalk.</p>