Different cultures I guess. I definitely would not have done that as a kid, my parents wouldn't have allowed me to, and someone would have called the police if they saw a 10y/o walking along these roads

It must be culture, at least in areas where walking to school is pretty convenient. Anecdote: When I was growing up, I walked to elementary school, all of five or six neighborhood blocks. The one kid who got driven to school, got teased for it.

Today, same school, same neighborhood, is a traffic jam every morning, as the kids are all driven to school. I could very well imagine parents saying that it's no longer safe to walk, due to the traffic. :-(

Probably. Here everyone did it, alone at my school we had 700 kids each morning coming by bike or foot. Out of 1200.

It was literally impossible to drive on the road for cars during the half hour each morning and afternoon where we kids were there.

Similar to Amsterdam or København

Aren't you worried about stress fractures in your feet? Especially since your bones were still growing at the time?

2km. 1.24 miles? Stress fractures? What?

Every student on a residential college campus that's bigger than tiny is going to walk 3 or 4 times that in a day. Middle school students will stress their bodies a few orders of magnitude harder in sports practices (or even light exercise).

Why would I? Humans are built for walking, this is literally what we evolved to do.

4km a day, or later 8km a day is nothing, and has never caused me or anyone else I know – and literally every child here does this – any issues.

Even today, when I’m bored and I know the bus will only come in 30min, I usually just walk 6km home from uni.

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I’m not even sure if your comment isn’t just satire, exaggerating the helicopter-mentality of some northamerican parents.

I've always had problems with my feet and legs, so I'm probably just paranoid about it. No way I could walk that much on a regular basis without surgery.

If you can't walk the equivalent of five lengths around a standard track without stress fractures you have a serious, debilitating disease and should see a doctor immediately.

Isn't a standard track only ~a quarter mile (400m)? With a 40 lb pack, twice a day, plus hills, on young bones, with poor judgment about balance and weight placement, someone's going to get hurt. Stress fractures didn't seem implausible, though I suppose ligament injuries are more likely?

And yes, every specialist I've been to has said all I can do is try to protect my joints until I eventually decide I want surgery.

Luxury!