being "busy, stressed, tired, up late" etc. is a badge of honour to show how "important" a person is. A lot of people get their self-worth from how important others see them.
lousy kids, more like dumbass parents. hell, my wife (b. '87) was driven to school from k-12. her elementary was less than a 10min walk, even for an 7 yo. her high school was a >15min city bus ride. and the stop was right outside her door.
i walked to school almost everyday through kindergarten (10min tops), rode my bike day from gr 1-8, rode on warm days in highschool. my bus ride for highschool was 1:30, way faster to ride bike. stupid rural bus routes.
we now live a 5 min walk from my kids' future school. i like to think they'll be walking alone from sk on, since we can see all the way to the school doors