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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU for getting totally pissed off when it's school run time?

58 replies

questforanswers · 10/07/2011 15:26

I live on what is, normally, a reasonably quiet road with a (fantastic, got to be said) school at the end of it. It bloody well winds me up that between the hours of 8.30 and 9.30am and 3.15 and 4.00pm I can't get out of my drive without almost mowing down a child or hitting oncoming traffic and at the worst times the traffic is backed up from one end of the road to the other (it's a mile long!!). The lollypop lady stops the traffic for a single parent and child and doesn't wait for a bit of a queue to build up and on friday waited in the middle of the road for someone who hadn't even got to the gates yet Angrydespite nobody else waiting to cross. Common sense seems to go out of the window for those that have decided to drive to the school and how a day goes by without an accident I will never know. I know that I will be one of these parents at the school gates in a couple of years but I will walk to the gates (people 3 doors up from me drive......why?!) and cross the road outside my house to avoid the lollypop lady. These times mon-fri are absolute no-go times and I'm finding myself feeling frustrated because it almost dictates when I do things throughout the day. I have also seen people arrive at 2.30pm to pick their children up, just so they get a space near the school (why not just leave later but walk?)
AIBU?

OP posts:
hermionestranger · 10/07/2011 15:28

YABU. Surely you knew the school was there when you bought the house, so knew come school time it would be busy? Or did you buy it so you would be near to the fantastic school?

bubblesincoffee · 10/07/2011 15:31

YABU, the school was probably there before you.

Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 15:32

We moved in because it is not far from our work and when we looked at the house, and subsequently moved in, it was the summer holidays so it was a shock at how busy it was when school restarted!

OP posts:
worraliberty · 10/07/2011 15:32

YABU if the school was there before you moved in.

Whilst I agree far too many people drive their kids to school with no good reason (like having to go straight to work), it's not the Lollipop lady's fault. Do you really expect her to stop grown adults from crossing the road with their kids because she wants them to form a queue?

pictish · 10/07/2011 15:33

Yabu - there's a school at the end of your road, so that's that.

CroissantNeuf · 10/07/2011 15:34

If you live near a school I'm afraid thats what you get.

We once lived in a house right next to the school gates (before DC) but realised beforehand that it would be chaotic at certain times, that we would hear the children at breaktimes etc. Its all part of being next to a school.

We just learned when to avoid arriving home if we wanted to park anywhere near the house.

onebigchocolatemess · 10/07/2011 15:34

not everyone will be able to walk - they might live further away or need to go somewhere straight after.

By the sounds of the hell of it, those who drive obviously have to OR find it a useful way to kill some time in their day Wink

a curse of living near a school me thinks. There is nothing you can ever do about it so save yourself years more frustration by getting over it or moving Grin

chunkyjojo · 10/07/2011 15:36

YAB a bit U as cant assume everyone is in walking distance. On the other hand I've seen how some of those lollypop ladies get a bit power crazy and that drives me nuts too

CurlyhairedAssassin · 10/07/2011 15:36

Yep, presumably the school isn't newly built, so you knew what you were letting yourself in for. As for people getting there at 2.30, you say it's so they can get a space but how do you know it's not because they have just finished work and they wouldn't have enough timento drive home first, drop the car off then walk back to school in time for pick up time? You can't possibly know everybody's circumstances.

TheCrackFox · 10/07/2011 15:44

YABU

Children need educating and you chose to live near a school.

Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 15:50

No curly you're right, I don't know everyone's circumstances, but surely if you live more than a 20 minute walk away you're not in the catchment area for the school? What I'm trying to say is that if you're in the catchment area you must be within walking distance. Or am I being naive? We live half a mile down the road from the school so never really envisaged any problems....again naivity? And surely there are rules on being a lollipop lady? (thanks for the correct spelling lol) She should not be stood waiting for someone who is nowhere near her!!

OP posts:
pictish · 10/07/2011 15:52

I suggest you confront said Lollipop Lady at the next opportunity. Slap her with your glove.

TheOriginalFAB · 10/07/2011 15:53

We live further than 20 minutes but got in the school as there is no other school nearby. Some people who go to the school can't walk as they live much further away.

Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 15:54

What glove?

OP posts:
Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 15:55

Oh and by the time I have fought my way through the traffic she has created I really haven't got time to ask her what she's playing at.

OP posts:
pictish · 10/07/2011 15:55

Or alternatively....wrestle the lollipop from her grasp and smack her with it shouting 'who the fuck do you think you are, guiding children across the road next to a school! Huh?!'
She won't do it again.

Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 16:02

God you sarkie tosser!

OP posts:
3littlefrogs · 10/07/2011 16:02

"but surely if you live more than a 20 minute walk away you're not in the catchment area for the school"

Gosh - you have an awful lot to learn about the education system OP.

Original poster
questforanswers · 10/07/2011 16:03

3littlefrogs that is a lesson I am fast learning from this forum lol!

OP posts:
3littlefrogs · 10/07/2011 16:07

If it is a good school, and you have a reasonable chance of getting your dc into it, then I would say that probably makes up for everything else you are putting up with ATM.

Getting dc into, and thereafter to and from, school is one of the most stressful things about parenthood IME. Grin

blueshoes · 10/07/2011 16:12

You are being naive.

LineRunner · 10/07/2011 16:20

I'd get the lollipop lady sacked.

How dare she work for mimimum wage in the pissing rain keeping children safe on the roads?

Shocking. Shock

KatieScarlett2833 · 10/07/2011 16:22

I live 200 yards from our excellent PS.

I knew that school run would be busy when I bought the house. Now my DC's are older I love to see the wee ones going in and out.

YABU

LunaLovegoodIsOnTheGrass · 10/07/2011 16:24

I don't think YABU OP.

I live opposite a primary school & we are also right next door to a chapel. It's not just schooltimes that we can't park - it's also Sundays, any religious holiday, funerals, weddings & any other thing the chapel might have going on.

It's a bloody nightmare Sad

It's a HA property so it's not like we chose to move to this exact spot, but not a lot I can do about it really.

I suppose we are actually in a very good position & should be grateful for it, which we are.

The parking situation is bloody awful though.

CurrySpice · 10/07/2011 16:29

You are not so much being unreasonable as a bit niave. Comfort your self with the fact that your child will get into a great school without hassle and you will be saved the stress of having to drive on the school run

As for the lollipop lady, I do kind of get where you are coming from. There is one in my town who stops the town centre traffic for a single adult (without a child) to cross. IMHO they should walk to the crossing and press the button

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