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Original poster

To make DD 4 walk home everyday from school

152 replies

Elderwand · 22/09/2012 22:23

It's around a mile, up and down hills- takes us around 30 mins with her sort of jogging at times to keep up.

We take her in the car in the morning as have a 2yo as well so getting out for 8.15 is bit of a nightmare! Have tried this, walking to school but it is mainly up hill and I'm shattered, never mind DD

DH reckons its too far for tiny legs and she does say she's tired and why don't I pick her up in the car.

Any ideas? Or do we continue and hopefully she will get used to it.

Many thanks

Xx

OP posts:
TwiggysGoneOnHolidayByMistake · 22/09/2012 22:54

Meg, if you have to walk that quickly to get to school that the kids need to jog to keep up then you're leaving too late - just set off 15 mins earlier.

Anonymumous · 22/09/2012 22:54

Gosh Fuckadoodlepoopoo, are you OK?! You sound a little steamed up about something. Firstly, walking a mile does not require "huge amounts of energy" - don't be daft. And secondly, in defence of Meg, it is nigh on impossible for me to walk as slowly as my youngest son. I tend to walk ahead of him, and then stop and wait for him to catch up. My older son (8) goes at whatever speed I do - it's hardly unreasonable to expect older children to keep up with their parents. Don't be such a wet drip.

EverybodysCryEyed · 22/09/2012 22:55

Could she scoot/ride a bike?

DS would find that hard at the end of the day as school wears him out! At the start of the day he would be fine.

Good that you are slowing down! I remember having to jog after my dad and it was even more tiring!

lunar1 · 22/09/2012 22:57

She will be fine when she gets used to it, DS1 is almost 4 and walks 1.5 miles each way to school and back with no problems. I don't really slow down for him, sometimes he is quicker as i have DS2 in the buggy.

Its not just good exercise either, he is getting to know the area very well. Knows the road names, we are learning road safety, what to do if he is lost/alone for some reason. He has learned our address, mine and DH's phone number. Not to touch nettles, even though he had to get stung to believe me! He knows the names of the plants and trees we pass and we chat about the changing seasons.

He also tells me about his day. I was dreading the walk at first but it really gives us time to talk about things and for him to learn about the world around him. He was tired for the first week after that he was fine.

halcyondays · 22/09/2012 22:57

Lots of the kids I know that are 5 or 6 run most of the way to school, through choice, stopping now and again for their mums to catch up, it's not horrible if they have o rush to school, it's probably more horrible to have to get out of bed 15 minutes earlier.

Meglet · 22/09/2012 22:59

twiggy we do leave early. I just don't do slow walking and don't want to risk being late for school or walk (we've never been late for either). If we get there as the gate opens then DS gets a few minutes to play and it makes the drop off much less stressful.

ProcessYellowC · 22/09/2012 23:00

lunar1 that sounds lovely Envy

I am hopeless at plant and tree names and all things nature related Sad Grin

EdgarAllanPond · 22/09/2012 23:01

my 4 year old was fine with this.

a buggy board may help, but i think a mile isn't that far, even given the hill.

using the car for some reason just makes them stroppier - wrong sort of tired.

lunar1 · 22/09/2012 23:03

I had to google yellow, he kept asking me!

ballroomblitz · 22/09/2012 23:03

I don't drive so ds, near 5, would easily walk that distance and has been from last year. If he's tired he knows he can go for a rest or nap when he gets home but more often than not he would much prefer to get quickly changed and out and running about with his friends. We would quite frequently walk a couple of miles into town a few times a week too.

Exercise does kids the world of good imo, and builds up on balance and co-ordination. Agree with the scooter idea. Ds has one and it gets him from A to B much quicker.

CaptainVonTrapp · 22/09/2012 23:04

It's completely individual innit?

Mine tried it aged 4 last year when she started school. She was exhausted. Esp a few weeks into term as the nights got darker/colder. Walking home at a pace that was reasonable for her took 45 minutes.

Not how I want to spend my time - or how I wanted her to spend her time.

Not to say that some children wouldn't cope perfectly well.

Does she enjoy the walk?

ProcessYellowC · 22/09/2012 23:05

OK, so it was your DS that showed an interest.

I am forced to to hold comparative discussion on which cars look like lightning mcqueen/chick hicks/finn mcmissile. hmm that petrol head is emerging in him already....

lovebunny · 22/09/2012 23:06

my mum made me walk half a mile to and from school, with home at lunchtime too. after a few weeks, i 'knew where it was' so i had to walk alone.

she's 77 and in hospital. i told her today that i love her. it took some doing, as i can remember the terrible things she put me through - and i count the above as one of them!

BertieBotts · 22/09/2012 23:06

A scooter will speed her up without being tiring for her, it's why I got DS one. He can walk for miles - he did the entire Million Women Rise march with me earlier this year and was only carried for a short part of it. They kept offering him rides in the bus and he kept refusing Grin He was 3.5 then.

It is different when it's every day but if she seems to be coping fine then it's probably fine. People, including children, adapt very quickly.

lunar1 · 22/09/2012 23:07

I think ill count myself lucky then.

ShowOfHands · 22/09/2012 23:13

Well I can't drive and dd goes to school 4 miles away. A bus gets us 2.5 miles in that direction. And I have a baby in a sling. Some days it's hard work tbh. DS was born 4 days before dd started school (emcs) and it was tough. And over the winter there were days when my umbrella was inside out, rain lashing, ds sobbing, dd soaked and recalcitrant. But largely we use the time for chatting, singing, telling jokes etc. And we all enjoy it. DS is 12mo and just starting to be able to walk some of the way too. I had to do the same as a child and have really fond memories of chatting to my parents on the way to/from school.

feetheart · 22/09/2012 23:16

We have done about a mile to school (and a mile home) every day for the past 5 years (and then another mile or so on to preschool for DS for 2 years of that.
Even DD, who is much less physical than DS and was shattered at the end of school for at least a term and a half of Reception, managed well as long as I arrived at the school gate with a drink and something to eat.
We all love the walk to and from school now (DD in Yr5, DS in Yr2), its a great time to practise spellings and time tables, chat about the day and put the world to rights.

EdgarAllanPond · 22/09/2012 23:16

yep, since i've been on mat leave, walking it has been much much better and i've made lots of friends

QuintessentialShadows · 22/09/2012 23:22

Can she use a scooter?

feetheart · 22/09/2012 23:25

Oooo, I forgot about the neighbours, dog-walkers, people walking to school/work in the opposite direction that we have met and made friends with over the years. I now know far more local people than DH who has lived here all his life :)

WorraLiberty · 22/09/2012 23:38

I've said it once already but feel the need to say it again. Its doesn't matter what other kids can do. All abilities differ just like they do for reading or whatever. The posts saying well my kid could walk 20 miles on stilts at that age are irrelevant

Well they're not really Fuckadoodledoo because learn from the tools they're given.

If a child is given a lift everywhere because the parent thinks that's the best thing, then they won't learn to walk long distances.

If a parent doesn't have a car, the child will learn to walk long distances because there is no other option and walking is all the child will know.

I went to school in the 70's and early/mid 80's...when very few families had more than one car so kids were expected to walk long distances so therefore they did.

WorraLiberty · 22/09/2012 23:39

Because kids learn from the tools they're given

Damn I can't even blame predictive text Blush

3duracellbunnies · 22/09/2012 23:43

It is definitely quicker/more fun with a scooter. If there is a scooter park in the school why don't you drive there with the scooter in the morning and then it is ready for her to scoot home. If the geography allows why not start by driving half way and parking so she only needs to scoot half a mile. I think often for them it is the thought of it rather than the reality. Once she is used to it build up to the mile.

UniS · 22/09/2012 23:47

Its a mile - 1 mile- ONE mile! and you are worried she won;t make it!!! please... she runs more than that at lunchtime I bet. Of course a normally fit 4 year old can walk ONE mile home from school on a daily basis.
She will get quicker.

AlwaysHoldingOnToStars · 22/09/2012 23:48

I agree with Worra. So many of my friends said their kids couldn't walk far. Why? Because they went from house to car, car to school/other destination. They never actually walked anywhere. My friend bought a buggyboard for her son to go to school because he couldn't walk 10 minutes to school. Bloody ridiculous imo!

We don't have a car so we have to walk everywhere. School is 1.5 miles away and DS5 has managed it fine since he started, and DS3 & 4 did it too when they started. We even make them walk miles at the weekend too as we sometimes visit IL's (10 miles away) Poor kids!