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?

Hear hear Fellatio

I really doubt that parents go off on holidays for the entire 6 weeks holiday somehow.

Thinking about it as well IF dd went to the local school often I would have to drive 10 miles from work to pick her up to then drive 7 miles back in the direction I cane from to take her to dance class.

Instead I drive 5 mins from work. Park up, then we walk to dance which is just round the corner from school (she goes to school in our nearest town rather than our village.

Of course they don't Amber, but more people will be taking time off from work spread across those weeks (or half terms etc) than all the other non-school holiday weeks. They are holiday 'bottle necks' or hotspots, that's all.

Think about it, all of the people in the country without school aged children can choose 52 weeks a year in which to take their leave entitlement, so you will never notice a particular pattern, except in the weeks that fall around bank holidays.

Whereas people with school aged children who work are most likely to choose school holiday weeks to take their leave.

I take all my annual leave in school holidays as does DH, as do all of my colleagues with school aged children.

DD also attends holiday club which is open 8-6pm so I have more flexibility around drop off and pick up times. Which means I'm not on the road at 9am.

There's some fair points in there, but there's also some flaws in the argument.

Working parents, teachers and other school staff tend to take holidays during school holidays, so it's partly due to less people not driving to / from work.

And working parents may also drop children off at school on their way to work, rather than walking to & from school and then driving back past the school gate on the way to work

Also, this might be an obvious point, but not all children can attend their local school. Our local school is about 0.8 miles from our house and within walking distance. The school's normally oversubscribed, and where we live is usually about where the distance criteria boundary kicks in. Sometimes it's just inside, sometimes it's just outside. So when we apply for places for DS, it's a bit of a toss up as to whether or not he'll get to go to the local school.

The next nearest school is about 2 miles away, and walking there would involve crossing a motorway roundabout - with no pedestrian over / underpass or pedestrian crossing - which IME is unsafe, especially at rush hour when the roundabout is busy. If DS got allocated a place in the 2nd nearest school but wasn't eligible for a school bus, then I'd be driving him there rather than risking his life crossing a motorway roundabout.

I see no earthly reason why children should be considered as second class citizens in this; less important or less entitled to get to school easily, safely, quickly and on time any less than someone with a job of work?

Public transport/walking/cycling are all capable of getting people to places easily, safely, quickly and on time too, and I think more people should use these methods. And I include people with a job of work in this; I've no desire to split people into groups consisting of children, who must walk, and workers, who can drive.

TheSecondComing - agree that it often makes sense to increase the size of local schools to support the local community.

Sadly, this doesn't always seem to happen. Like I said, our local school is oversubscribed. The local council have granted planning permission for a development of about 80 family homes in our village, and these houses are currently being built. It's reasonable to assume that at least some of these homes will be bought by families, or couples planning to have children in the future.

However, AFAIK, there's no plans to increase capacity in the already oversubscribed village primary school. This will also be the closest school to the new housing. (Although my house is closer than the new houses)

This seems crazy to me. Especially as I've just been looking at the most recent primary schools admissions brochure, and turns out the next 2 nearest primary schools from us were also oversubscribed for last year (school year starting sep 2012).

Public transport/walking/cycling are all capable of getting people to places easily, safely, quickly and on time too, and I think more people should use these methods

not for everyone they aren't. Has anyone considered those of us that live rurally? Buses that run twice a day, not at school times, long twisty country roads with no foot paths or cycle paths...how do you suggest I get my children to two different schools safely without going by car?

the person is completely right - too many people take their kids to school - and people wonder why so many kids (and indeed parents) are obese...

I remember when I was a kids (back in the 70s) - when each school had a fatty who wouldn't do P.E. etc - they were the exception...look at the number of obese people these days... :(

What about the fact that all the trains / tubes / buses are quiet during the school holidays too?

KobayashiMaru, I agree and I think public transport in non-urban areas is shocking. It seriously needs overhauling. There ought to be more school buses as well; that'd be a much more efficient way of getting lots of children to school.

I agree with sending children to the local school. I've never wanted a choice of school, just for the local school to be good.

My DC get a free school bus as we are in catchment but live over 2 miles away, with no pavement to walk on. It's a great service, they get picked up at 8.45 every morning and dropped back off at the top if our street at 3.45.
There are 3 other children in our street who can use the free bus but there parents insist on driving them! So providing free public transport wouldn't solve the problem
My DC are 6 the other children 11 and 12

Presumably this person expresses this opinion as a motorist who suddenly found his route to work much quicker. Presumably he sees his journey by car as essential and hasn't also unselfishly taken to walking everywhere to free up the traffic for everyone else? Yep. The guy's a penis.

'There are 3 other children in our street who can use the free bus but there parents insist on driving them! So providing free public transport wouldn't solve the problem'

Well, it clearly solves the problem for you and your children. I don't think anyone's saying that there's one sweeping solution; but if there were more options then some people would take them up.

My DS starts school in Sept and I am stressing unnecessarily about the fact that in order to get his brothers to their various childcare establishments (my mum and nursery depending what day it is) and myself to work and back again, I am going to have to drive instead of doing a 15 - 20 min walk. I really wish I didn't have to but there's no way I'll be able to pare my working hours down enough to fit in walking there and back twice a day. I don't want to become one of the those driving-to-school mummies referred to in the OP but I'll have no choice

How many people driving to work could go on public transport or their bike? A lot.

Why target kids going to school?

That would be my response.

A lot of the criticism of school run parents is thinly disguised misogyny.

I live on the outskirts of a city and dd goes to school in the middle of a town centre.

It is not possible to get to her school on a bus for 8.45am.

To get to my work from our local school which is the other cause of the city I would have to catch 3 different buses taking approximately an hour and a half. Not possible to do in the time scales allowed.

I send my children to the local school. It's a short walk away. 90% of the time we walk, 10% of the time I pick them up/drop them off in the car. Basically I do which is most convenient at the time. Most of the time walking is easier, sometimes it isn't. So shoot me. How many people driving to work are also just taking the easiest option?

It wouldn't make a difference - there are plenty of parents I know who would require to have their car surgically removed before they would give up driving their children the 100m or so to the school gates.

What Fillyjonk said. Thinly veiled misogyny, indeed.

Let's blame obesity, road-traffic and whatever else we can on school-run mums.

TSC - sorry to be so late coming back to this but in my case the fact that they still go to the school nearest their dad means that he can pick them up two days a week and that if I am late from work because the head is a friend it's not as big a deal as if I had to be there dead on the dot of finishing time.

And my kids found our divorce very traumatic. School was a constant. To have wrenched them from their friends would have been, in my opinion, the wrong thing to do.

But I do appreciate you would have done different.