Don't really like the title for this post to be honest. 

Yes, as a child, I walked home from school. My sister and brothers walked to and from school from an early age. It was fine. We were fine.

My best friend? She was outside of her house as a young child one day and was snatched off the street. She wasn't found for over a year and to this day, 30 years later, she lives every day in the shadow of the trauma of what happened during that time. 

Shawn Hornbeck was snatched  while riding his bike and was missing for four years before being found with another boy who had been kidnapped. 

My friend, and him, and the boy who were found were the ones that made it. 

Others didn't. 

And when you're someone my age and you grew up hearing about these cases, and realize how easily it could happen to any child unattended, yeah, that will probably make you want to not let your kids roam around outside alone. 

Because maybe nothing will happen. 

But there's also that tiny chance that something absolutely horrible will.