"Since the kid was travelling alone, he could reasonably suppose it was competent to do so."

Kids in the UK must be raised differently than here in the U.S. Your comment is a non sequitur here.

He is in kindergarten and on the bus because he's five years old. That's it. When he's five he goes to his babysitting class. No one cares about what his parents have or haven't taught him, how much he knows of the neighborhood, or anything else. In most cases, the kids have been shielded from real life in virtually every respect, and what they think they know has all been gained from television.

Someone here said that when they were a kid, they knew how to get home. Well, maybe your parents took some care that you DID know how to get home. What percentage of kids do you know in your neighborhood who have that advantage? Not many, I'll bet.

Kids appear to be an inconvenience that many parents don't want to deal with except superficially. What they DO want is for the kids to do as they're told. Kids who are trained to act like robots also think like robots.

Cynical Sue