Why do some people have a problem with parents driving their kids to school?

[VolkswagenBeetle]

I realise this up there with P&B spaces etc. but I'm bored so...

I'm not talking about people who park right across the school gate (who are annoying as hell), but people who drive their kids to school and park (properly). My dds' school is 2.2 miles away (just checked that on Google maps ). Atm DH drops me and the kids off at my dad's house (who lives around the corner from the school) at about 7.45am on his way to work, and we then walk the 5 minutes to school from there. But come September when he's being made redundant we'll go straight to school in the car.

It would take well over an hour for my youngest dd to walk to school, so it makes sense to use the car. I usually get 2 buses back home cos I'm a lazy cow walk back home when they're in school, and the same going to pick them up.

We bike to school . I do have a little titter at the overweight mums moaning in the playground about being fat and then jumping in the car to drive 500 m home every day. . Some of them genuinely don't see the link between lack of fitness and fatness in them and their DC and their laziness.

Yes thats it,fat people should indeed walk everywhere and have their cars crushed by the govt

pictish Good for you and i do the same except on days when i have to then drive 18 miles to work dropping off baby on the way and then get home by 5.30 to relieve the babysitter and start the after school activities which i also use the car to get to.

It just depends on what you have on I think.

No, they should stop moaning to all and sundry about their weight and walk the 500m a day each way instead.

I was shocked the other day when one of my friends said she was glad the school run is over till september ,her child is 16 , whats wrong with the bus?? You wouldnt catch me taking mine to school at that age and we live in the middle of nowhere!!
Yeah, it's shocking to see sixth formers being ferried around everywhere by their parents. Even university students in some cases.

Yes that is the cure to obesity for sure. People are fat for many reasons the same as people drive or walk to school for many reasons.

I have observed 2 women who have dc at school with mine.They have both walked an admiral distance to school and back daily and have become fatter if anything. I am always amazed at the fact that they arent really slim from all that excercise.

People driving everywhere is certainly a major reason why so many people are overweight these days.

So why are we so overweight as a ntion now compared with forty years ago, ledkr? Do you really think driving everywhere has nothing to do with it?

I know plenty of slim women who drive everywhere too and they may be slim but they are also untoned and flabby because they control what they eat but don't exercise.

A lot of these slim women seem to drive from gym/tennis coaching to school and are actually anything but untoned and flabby.

I wish people would mind their own business. Yes moaning residents by school!

The school was there before you bought your houses, so shut up!

The man with the big van and the other parents who live in the village have jobs to come from and go to! They come in their cars because they haven't got time for a gentle stroll to and from their houses

See plenty of people who walk to/from school who are not slim too.

I have much more of a problem with the amount of people driving their kids around talking on their mobile phones/doing their hair/searching in the glovebox. I must see 20 a day during school drop off/pick up times. Appalling. People that live close to schools, and have the time to walk, should probably do so, it'd be cheaper for them and more environmental. Their choice I guess.

theodorakis Thu 31-May-12 12:35:10
"I find it sad that people say "it's ok as long as they live x miles away" because it really is nobody else's business how you choose to take your kid to school. No conditions, no justification just adult people making decisions that are best for them that do not need to be excused by random people."

Byt it does affect other people. Added pollution is bad for other people's health not just the people who chose to create it. If you have children with asthma you end up wishing everybody would drive less. But obviously you understand that some people can't.

There are people who live on my street (ten minute walk) who drive nearly every day, and they aren't rushing off to work etc. I really don't get it as it is sooo much easier to walk - the parking is a nightmare.

To get to school on time we set off at 8.35 (or 8.40 at a push) and to get a parking space I would have to set off by 8.20 am - that's an extra 15 - 20 minutes in bed, in my book! I walk up and down to school or into the village which is the same distance about 20 times a week, and about one or two of those times I might drive (when both DDs have dancing class at different times).

I wish people would mind their own business. Yes moaning residents by school!

The school was there before you bought your houses, so shut up!

Audi Q7s and people parking like utter, utter cunts weren't though.

When they bought the house more people walked to school.

And driving your children everywhere can be a serious hazard to their longterm health.

I wouldn't look down on anyone for driving to school btw. It's up to them.
I don't....I walk and I'm glad I do.
I don't mind if someone else doesn't though.

Another here who did the walking etc.

From aged 11 until 17 my daily journey was a mile walk to the main road, half a mile to the bus stop and then a 40 minute ride to school.

I used to push my bike to the top of a massive hill wearing a tweed cap just to buy t'hovis for the day me. All this before cycling 20 miles to school

Yes, we do have a 4x4 who parks on the pavement in everybody's way
But, we also have a lot of parents doing their best to juggle very complicated schedules in an area where except for the CM no one can walk to work.

DCs are not allowed in school before 8.50 even if they bring their cars I doubt any of our parents get to work for 9, many not until 9.30 to leave again before 3. People can only push their employers flexibility so far.

I'm a SAHM and I drive to school because the school bus service is appalling, but that's a whole different thread.

We had a laughable situation last week when it was walk to school week when we were told 'if you do drive and park 100 metres away in the pub car park we'll still give you a 'I walked to school' sticker

Also perhaps if the school didn't require even very little children to hoof such a lot of stuff to school they'd have more chance of walking?

because it is 1672 miles per year, which is 279 pounds per year spent on petrol, which is 186 pounds in tax -why?

Why when you can walk 2.2 miles each way

What do little children have to take to school?

Well my DCs and I normally seem to carry book bags, coats, peer mediator uniforms, pe kits, swimming kits, copies of Harry Potter 5, two-cubic-feet model pyramids and a dozen muffins for the cake sale.

Plus my handbag, laptop and work shoes, and a couple of bags of shopping on the way home if I haven't managed to get home before I collect them.

The school was there before you bought your houses, so shut up!

No it wasn't