When we send our children to school, we do so with an enormous amount of trust. We label their lunch boxes, headbands, sweaters, and jackets expecting that each item will be returned safely and swiftly each day. But we don't label our children or send them with instructions each day because we assume that the school is well-versed in taking care of children, if not their things.

But for one mom in Houston, the mistake her son's school made when reviewing bus lists meant that her 7-year-old second-grader walked 2.5 miles along highways to get home recently. Damion Robinson's mother said she received a call from a woman who saw her son walking along I-45 last Tuesday. He was walking home from R. J. Hoyland Elementary.

Can you imagine how you might react?

Apparently the boy rejected a number of offers for rides, which shows that he is clearly well-versed in stranger danger. Luckily one woman decided to go the extra mile and call his mom. Ten points for the bystander! I would definitely do the same, I hope. But that poor boy must have been so scared.

As a mom, it's hard to imagine the mix of guilt, relief, and fury poor Damion's mom must have felt upon hearing what happened to her son.

There is simply no excuse for such a mistake. No child should ever be forced to walk home when he is supposed to be bussed, and a school shouldn't be so committed to their lists and procedures that they don't double check when a second-grader says he should be taking the bus.

Second-graders don't often lie about such things, and even if they do, it isn't worth the 15 minutes it might take to call his mom and double check? The school says they are making changes, but I hope it will be more than just the one school who does so. This is the kind of thing that is simply too dangerous to ever happen again.

What if no one had helped the little boy? Or worse, what if someone had snatched him or he had been hit by a car? Or he had become lost? The scenarios are too many to count and they are all frightening.

No child should have to go through this.

Does this scare you?


Image via LaurelRusswurm/Flickr