Your experience is different than mine. Could be that middle schoolers are unlikely to talk about stuff like that with adults. 4th graders seem to talk about everything. Even things I suspect their parents would rather they did not.
LOL, yeah i guess that’s it.
I substitute for elementary school, and haven’t seen any fearful children.
Just because my children don’t walk to school doesn’t mean I go around constantly lecturing them about all the dangers in life.
Of course, my elementary and middle school children would have to travel and cross main traffic-ridden roads. My son does walk a half mile to high school.