Well, just for another "when I was a kid" annoying scenario...This is not completely ancient history--late 70s/early 80s. At least I don't consider it ancient history!

I got free breakfast and free lunch, walked alone to school with a key on a string around my neck with all the other kids walking alone with a key around their necks, walked home to an empty house (thus the key), got on my bike and rode around the neighborhood with all the other kids just like me until my mother called me and my brother for dinner, and all the other parents did the same. Different hollers for different kids. One kid's dad called him in with a conch shell, of which we were all very envious. I think this was only twice a week, though, since three days a week I had ballet and cello lessons (below).

When I was nine and ten years old, twice a week after school I took the city bus to the transfer station, changed buses to the #8 Dudley Square (why do I remember these things?) bus and got off at the appropriate place for my ballet lessons. I managed my time and money in order to get there. My mother did pick me up on her way home from work. Very valuable lessons. And once a week, I walked to school with my cello (that was a looooong walk with that bulky thing!) and after school walked to the music school--about a 15-minute walk with cello--for my lesson. I was always on time.

I think there's something to be said for learning those kinds of lessons in a real-life context as a child. If everything is handed to you and you don't have to manage anything when you're young, it makes it harder when more complex issues come up later.