I'll never get used to it!

One of the sweetest stories that my Grandmother told me, was about when my Dad was growing up in Washington DC. At 6 years old, he used to have to take the city bus alone (and change busses each day) to get to school. He had a dime for "emergency" telephone money if he ever needed it. One day, he never showed back up at home in the afternoon. My Grandmother was frantic, looking all over the city for him. After a lot of searching, she found him walking over a bridge, in what is today an area that you would never walk over alone as an adult, let alone as a 6 year old child. My Grandmother, said to him, "Why didn't you call with your money." My Dad replied, "I thought the money was only to be used in "Emergencies." The story always made me laugh, because I could not imagine a world, where this could happen (our society has changed so much, and you would NEVER send a 6 year old off in the city to change city busses to get to school alone!)
Fast Forward to today...one of the things that I will never get used to is the independence of kids over here. Last week, Camden had a "Wandertag" (basically a field trip). All of the kids were to meet at 9:00 at the Central Bus Station. I had to be somewhere at 9:00, so we rode bikes together. We locked the bikes up, and walked over to where we saw some other kids in his class. There were no parents to be seen, only kids that had taken the bus into the city by themselves for the fieldtrip! No permission slips, and no Chaperones. As I rode off by myself (leaving Camden behind, before the teacher even got there), I was nervous, yet felt a little peace knowing that this is "normal" over here. Everyone made it safely home that night, with no problems at all.
The classes at Bailey and Camden's school are a little like College, so sometimes, a class might be cancelled. Yesterday, Bailey came home an hour early, because one of her classes was cancelled. Nobody thinks twice about letting the kids out early. Even during the school snack break, they can run and get a snack at a local backery if they so choose. When a teacher wasn't there growing up, we still had to stay in the school (even at 17 years old). I really LOVE the responsibility that the kids must uphold, but I will never fully get used to it!!!