To think that the person who wrote this is quite simply a twat?

[Mouseyinmyhousey]

From FB.

Over the Easter holidays the roads were traffic free. Proving that rush hour I'd caused by parents taking their kids to school. It should be law that all parents should be made to walk to school whatever the weather, getting rid of rush hour, and obesity. Also if people want a better school they'll have to walk further, or better still, make everyone attend they're local school thus making a fairer society.

Complete nob, right?

I don't think you can force people to do anything regarding how they commute or what school they go to.

BUT... I think that more people should realise the benefit of living near work and being able to walk or cycle and of choosing a school in walking distance and living and schooling in the same community (which if everybody walks IS more of a community than if they drive). I would rather a 'good' school in the local community than travel to an 'outstanding' one.

I don't deny that some people really can't aford even the most basic housing near their work (I used to work in South Kensington) but many, many people have chosen to move further from work to get a bigger house or garden, the whole 'more for your money thing'.

Its a 40 min walk to my DD's school, made longer if my leg gives up halfway (Fucked up nerves from failed epidural). So some of us dont really have the walking option.

We live in Ontario, where everyone goes to the local school (unless there are special needs or live rurally, in which case they are bussed). Everyone is within walking or bussing distance of the school but the morning traffic and parking around our school is a disgrace; cars double parked, people honking at each other. It's a fairly affluent area too so there a lot of SAHPs. I just don't understand; why are you driving Tarquin and Isabella in the Cayenne when you live around the corner and are going home directly afterwards?

My children go to school a 30 minute drive from my house- but a 5 minute drive from my office.

If I have to pick them up later eg after a club it takes much longer to drive home at 5pm than at 3.30pm

Much better in days like today when ds was sick at school. I was with him in 5 mins rather than a lot longer if he went to our local school.

Oh and I totally agree Amber - if you are worried about your DC being vulnerable as pedestrians or cyclists, surely the answer is not to just escape reality and hide them away in a tin box? What backwards logic! Children who walk or cycle regularly from a young age learn to be sensible road users (SEN aside).

They do have a bit of a point. We go to the village school. Most of the children live within walking distance. So why is the village car park always full at pick up time?

My neighbour usually drives. It takes her longer to load children into car, drive round to school (we can take a short cut down a footpath), find a space and unload them again than it does for us to walk. We know, because we've raced her (she does not know this).

I better get to bed now then cos i'll be up at the crack of dawn to walk dd to school.It's only 5 miles so not too bad and yes that is our local school so that's about 6 hours of my day taken doing the school run. Just think over a week i'll have done 100 miles. Its my friend i pity she's another 2 miles away.

I have to drive to our nearest school which is 2 miles away. I must be a lazy git

Vinegar, your previous post means we need to invoke the Roger Protocol.

I usually drop my DC off at 8am. I do not miss the rush.

I would happily walk my DC to school....the problem is getting to work after dropping them off. Walking half an hour home, to get in my car and drive back past their school seems a bit silly.

Now, if there were better public trasprort.....I fancy some trams for instance.

Badguider, of course it's not that simple. I'm sure people would work locally if they could, but the jobs are not available. As for moving, there is a lot of job insecurity atm, meaning people could be moving an awful lot. And social housing tenants don't get a choice where they're housed.

With regards to schools, it's not always a case of a good or outstanding school. You could be travelling so ad not to attend a poor school.

As I said, round here you tend to get 4 groups. The schools in deprived areas are usually failing schools. And a high proportion of children have really poor attendance, high social services involvement. Think newsletters asking parents not to bring alcohol into the playground.

Then you get you're satisfactory and good schools slightly out of the estates, you tend to find you can usually get a place in one of these schools. even if it's not in your catchment, as the parents who actually live by these schools are fighting over the outstanding schools in the very affluent areas. Most of whom don't get a place so you tend to get a mixture of local people AMD those travelling from Yeh worst areas.

Then you've got the most expensive areas, where the people who can't quite afford private school fees send their kids. These schools always do the best.

I'm sure people will say that's all rubbish, but that's generally the case. Others are exceptions.

Oh well, you may enjoy getting up, getting your DCs in their wet weather gear and getting out early to do your walk/cycle. You get your medal.

I'll have a more relaxed morning thanks, especially in bad weather. And a child has plenty of other opportunities to earn road sense.

But as has been pointed out, goady thread.

Not goady whatsoever.

I saw it as an attack on working parents and parents in general. I thought most would agree, didn't expect such a mixed bag of responses, but there's obviously debate there, even amongst mums.

The only person its goady towards it the person who said it, but its highly unlikely he'll be using mn.

I read that and imagined the Hovis tune at the same time. Try it, it's quality!

Do you really get lots of parents driving their kids to school Amber ? No one bothers round here, not to state schools anyway, I think of it as a non-inner-London issue, it would take longer to drive and park, we have 5 schools within a 10 min walk so even if you don't go to the absolute closest, all the kids seem to walk/scoot/cycle

Not sure of percentages or anything, but there are a fair few, some of them will be in the 'on the way to work' category which is fair enough, but yes there are definitely some that live within walking distance but still drive.

There are three families in particular, one lives on the same road as the school! and another two who live on the next street! no SN or disability issues [I know because I know them]

It's enough of a problem that there are parking wardens who are regularly parked in their camera vans outside to spot the idiots who park on the zig zags right outside school.

I find it very hard to pay serious attention to someone who writes anything in such illiterate fashion.

But I would point out that my nearest primary school (which, yes, my DCs attend) is 4.5 miles away. That's an awfully long walk for a 5 year old. And I'm not sure that I could manage to walk there, walk back, pick up my car and get to work on time...

Ds goes to theocal village school. I drive him there because I pass the gate on my way to work. What am I supposed to do, walk with him then walk the half mile back home for the car so I can drive past again??

There is less traffic during school holidays because people take holidays. Hardly rocket science.

Makes me so cross that parents driving somewhere necessary are blamed for stuff when people making other journeys are perfectly entitled to use their cars for whatever they choose. The author of the above is clearly an unthinking knob (not you op, the facebooker).

I was being sarcastic my daughter would be horrified at the thought of walking it especially with her mum. She'll get the bus as always but it is unrealistic to not consider different situations. We don't live in a town but a rural area and my dd is at secondary school.

YANBU at all he however is.

I wish we could walk/cycle to school I'd relish it. However the 3.5 mile walk along a busy A road with no paths doesn't allow for that. It's our local and closest school.

People forget about rural areas a lot of the time.

I agree TSC, but I also think there is a lot of prejudice about schools in 'rough' areas.

GrassIsntGreener, I doubt the man who wrote that status was refering to rural areas though. Traffic jams don't tend to be problematic in rural areas do they.

Dd1 attends closest catchment school however there is an airfield between our house and the school which means it's a2.8 mile walk. We tried once but with it including a hill it took dd and I an hour then a further 45 mins for me to walk home only to get in the car and drive to the supermarket.
On days when I work id be late!

What about when all the schools within a 15 mile radius are all faith schools?

Funny how it's okay for people of faith to be driven (well- actually bussed and taxiied at the tax-payer's expense) to schools distant from their homes