To make the kids walk 3miles to school?

So many people just can't read or can't be bothered to read.

The OP says this issue is going to be for a month while they do roadworks. Now I know the weather can be crap in autumn but we are not going to get snow in September. Also yes it does get dark in winter earlier, but at the end of September it still isn't getting dark to 7.30/8pm.

So you used to work in London when you were 12 and 13? Gosh!

I think it's a bit far in poor weather they'd arrive to school soaking, according to Google it would be around an hour. I would find that tiring walking that twice a day but each to their own.
I'd give them a lift if I could manage it.

You're the one accusing people who think the kids walking is no big deal of never having done it. I'm one of those people and I'm telling you I have. If you've also walked to school why are you doubting the people who think three miles is not a big deal?

Not remotely local but wondering if they could walk part of the way and then get a bus?

You sent him out this morning to try the journey op.

And? 90 mins?

6 miles a day for a limited period of time is not ridiculous. However they will be carrying their school things and potentially getting to school soaked. Crazy if there are no public transport options.

I am way too invested in this and googled how long to run a mile. Apparently an averagely fit person takes 9-10 minutes to run a mile. So the pp who said she walks two miles in twenty minutes....hmmmm. I think she's either underestimating the time it takes or over estimating the distance. Or she is actually pretty much jogging.

Well you were hardly likely to say “me? Fit? No way. I don’t walk more then 2000 steps a day” 😆

They can do that. Maybe not ideal but as long as they are not dawdlers its less than 1hr each way.

Is there an option to drive them part way?

It depends on how old we're talking about.
I would have no issue with a pair of 'teens walking 3 miles if it's along roads with proper pavements, and it's suitable weather. If nothing else it'll make them a bit fitter!

A long time ago I walked 3m each way to my High School (zero choice)
I live rurally now (but just inside the limit even SN) so drove my kids mostly as a. no pavements to walk b. twisty roads/heavy lorries re bikes so not any choice.

A friend had her kids cycling 4m to the A1, pushing their bikes across the A1 (!), 20miles on the public bus to School (as it was the catchment one she liked And back. From ages 11/13. I thought that was crazy & and felt really sorry for them.

A primary school was much lauded a few years ago - for getting its whole population running/walking/hobbling a mile a day round its playground before school. This was for improved learning - physical health -and to counter things like anxiety.

3 miles isn't so far for secondary schoolers and might have some unexpected positives.

I'd give them additional pocket money for saving on car-miles and for helping the planet.

Walking 3 miles shouldn't make a healthy 12 year old exhausted and miserable! Walking 12 miles in hilly country doesn't make my 80+ year old friends tired and unhappy. 3 miles is perfectly reasonable and a good way to start the day.

My DH walks freakishly fast and walks 5km (which is about 3 miles) in a bit over 35 minutes, which I find very annoying as it's about the time I can run 5k in. He's fit but certainly not Olympic standard!

@Avie29

do I believe you walk 2 miles in 20 mins? Absolutely

do I believe that it feels to you “just like normal walking speed”? No I don’t.

You will feel (and certainly look to any bystander) as though you are speed walking

@DHdoingmyheadin I didn't know about Great Park farm, what's there? Get my Christmas trees from Catsfield could do with a nice cup of coffee and cake after trudging around

4 miles an hour is actually pretty fast walking. I think it would be hard to keep that up for an hour.

Walk when the weather's ok, maybe just one way - it would be a good start to the day. They're perfectly capable of 3 miles (and much more) at that age. I'd say allow at least an hour though.

Walk one way lift the other way?

I remember learning that as a (Victorian) child, the writer Thomas Hardy was considered to be so frail and weak that he needed education instead of experience in building/farming (trades he wouldn't be strong enough for).

He was expected to walk 3 miles to school and back -of course. Being too sickly for that was unimaginable!

(My mother is now 85 and willing to walk 6 miles for tea and cake. Like Hardy she was thought of as weak as a child- she still has asthma- but walked miles to school. )

This makes sense though.... average walking speed is 3mph so assuming you're slightly faster than average 4 miles in 70 minutes is doable

Amazed at how many people seem to think 3 miles is practically a marathon.
There may be good reasons why OP’s DCs can’t do it… hills, heavy bags, whatever.
But I do wonder if some of the people against at a 3 mile walk are the same people saying they can never lose any weight…

Pretty rude post, isn't it? I also used to walk to school every day, thanks very much, so what that loads of us did it, I maintain that a lot people blithely saying "yeah, no problem", didn't then and don't now.

I think its unbelievable that you walk 4 miles ever morning. I bet its 3.9. And why do you walk so slowly, other posters on here walk at 6 mph!

Are you sure it’s 2 miles 3000 steps is far more inline with 1.5 miles which walking quickly in 20minutes makes sense!

otherwise yes you are competitive speed walking pace