In fact, it was quite enjoyable.

You’d stroll casually to school, stopping along the way to pick flowers, gossip or take the long way to delay going to class.

On the way home you’d rush back via the faster route, perhaps talking to neighbours you knew along the way, chatting about your day and planning for the evening ahead.

Or did you dawdle to avoid doing your homework?

Sometimes you’d beg your parents to drive you because the weather was too hot or cold.

And if you didn’t want to walk, you’d spend most of the day dreading the inevitable walk home or trying to scam lifts from your friend’s parents.

Not only was it a good social outing but it was an easy form of exercise and a way to learn about the surroundings. 

But a study released on Monday shows that a lot of parents believe it is too unsafe for their children to walk to and from school.

The survey conducted by the Heart Foundation's LiveLighter campaign showed that more than 50 per cent of parents believed it was important that children be able to walk to school without an adult but less than one-third believed it was safe.

Parents also said there was too much traffic in NSW for their children to walk to school.

Some parents said the school was too far for their children to walk while others said it was just not safe enough.

There are no figures specific to Wagga or the Riverina but it would be interesting to see what parents in the region think.

Is it too unsafe for our children to walk to school?

It’s sad to think that this could be the general consensus of our community, that its residents don’t feel that their children are in a safe environment.

It used to be nothing for us to leave our homes unlocked or for the children to leave for school or to play in the morning and not return until the afternoon.

Now, more than a few hours is cause to ring the police.

So what can be done for our community to be deemed safe enough to allow the children this simple pleasure?

Have your say at www.dailyadvertiser.com.au.