to think that using the local secondary school where children can walk to

[catham]

should be what every parent aspires to

today driving past my sons school (where he walks to) i was pretty horrified at the amount of cars lined up outside to pick up their little darlings, most who could probably walk up the road a mile or so where there i less congestion.

why do so many parents have to drive their kids to school? i imagine that as its the start of term so many parents are paranoid that their kids can't walk home alone but they will learn if we let them!

waffling sorry but cars are more dangerous to our kids than letting them make their own way to and from school.

[DumSpiroSpero]

walking distance even!

[carlywurly]

If your children go to a local school which is within walking distance then surely they can walk rather than being driven?

Yes to this! Our local city is totally clogged with cars in term time, school hols it's blissfully quiet and my (13 mile) commute to work takes 20 mins less. Half the issue is parents taking children right up to school gates up a narrow lane and then turning round, rather than just dropping them in the vast car park about 100m away and making them walk the last (safe) bit.

[fffinsake]

Johnny you know this thread isn't about that. There are loads of kids in cars round here who live out of town and aren't far enough to be eligible for a bus. Fair enough that they're driven. Not the case for those whose parents arrive in the car, in a dressing gown, from an address a ten minute walk away!

[Morgause]

We live opposite the side gate to a secondary school (built in the 1930s and much extended) and it can be a nightmare. It's quite a narrow lane and there really isn't room for cars to park safely, let alone park both sides of the road. But they do.

If we try to get in or out of our drive the parents can be very stroppy when we ask them to move, and also huff if we park in the middle of the road indicating that we want to turn into our drive. One woman actually said she'd only be a few minutes when I had to go out and ask her to move so that I could go to work.

Mornings are bad but evenings are awful. The school closes at 3.30pm but the parents arrive from 3pm, jostling for position and parking over the drives of local residents. There are no houses at the bottom of the lane and they could park there without much inconvenience to anyone but that would mean the children having to use their legs for 5 minutes.

One parents even got into the habit of using our drive to turn round until DH explained (loudly) that this was not on.

The main entrance is on the road into town and there are buses in both directions every 15 minutes but still some parents prefer to sit in the car for 30 minutes, waiting.

Every so often the police come along and ticket everyone (a fire engine or ambulance would not get through) and it gets better for a few days but they can't be there every day.

It makes me really that parents can be so inconsiderate and have such little regard for the safety of others.

[Johnny5needsinput]

I could get a bus to work. It gets me in at 7.55. I start work at 8.45. The next bus gets me in at 8.55 so I would be late. Therefore, I drive. Every day, and take DD in the car. When. Technically I don't have to and could get a bus. And she could walk. 8 miles along a dual carriage way. Or get the bus. Or I should aspire to uproot my family and move somewhere else so that the judgey people are satisfied.

This place is nuts at times.

[kungfupannda]

I think that, when the time comes, I won't set my children off to walk a couple of miles down a pavement-less, verge-less lane, to squeeze themselves into the hedge every three seconds as the commuters hurtle past doing 60mph through the 20mph village. Or to then struggle up the enormous hill at the far end.

I'll probably carry on doing exactly what I do now - and drive them to school before commuting for 20 miles to get to work.

Because, unfortunately most of us don't like in CBeebie-like communities with everything you might need within ten feet of your front door.

[Pinkpinot]

Because you know the life story of every one of those parents, do you?
Its the first week of term, some kids need a bit of settling in.
Not everyone has super independent children at 11
They might be coming straight from work
They might actually live miles away

Yes in an ideal world our super confident 11 year olds would skip off to the local secondary school just 500 metres away, but life ain't like that.

[He11y]

I can't help thinking you driving past the school (while going somewhere else) isn't any better just because your children weren't in the car!

You're still adding to the congestion and it's a well known fact that all schools have traffic congestion twice a day.

If safety us your priority then avoid the area until at least 9.30 am!

[fffinsake]

It's that heady cocktail of a parking thread with a good dose of school choice and a bit of working parents thrown in. Madness.

[SoupDragon]

DSs don't go to the local high school(s) they cold walk to. However, they get the bus. Is that OK with the OP?

[JedwardScissorhands]

Our nearest secondary is 10 miles away, all unlit A roads with no pavement. It is in a town, it's just that a lot of pupils come from the surrounding villages. I think the OP does need to appreciate that not everyone can walk. Oh, and my children are neither obese nor unfit.

[LIZS]

Nearest secondary 3+ miles away in one direction, 5+ in the other. If everyone moved to within a walk of secondary villages and rural areas would die and towns become even more overcrowded

[MadeOfStarDust]

Ours isn't walkable, it is the closest to our house - hubby drives them to school in the morning - it is on his way to work... they get the public transport bus home - (school bus is twice the price)...

[Johnny5needsinput]

What has upset me is the op's assertion that all parents should aspire to live near a school there kids can walk to.

That would remove me from my friends and family and remove dd from her friends. Remove me from my support network.

But because I don't aspire to do that and I aspire to different things for me and dd I'm a failure

[BeckAndCall]

Funny how we always get drawn into a thread specifically designed to draw us in..... The type where the OP says

'From my narrow view of the world and the limited experience I have with my life, this is how I think you should all live your lives'

And we fall for it every time!

[grumpyoldbat]

sake I don't drive my dc to school. We walk, she's still at primary age. However when the time comes I'll be putting her on the bus and not letting her walk.

DN is in a city. They live where 3 catchment areas meet so is within walking distance of 3 schools. However DS and BIL have been advised she's unlikely to get into any of them as they're all oversubscribed and she's on the edge of catchment. FX but you also can't assume that parents have actively chosen a school a distance away.

I'll admit that there are times when I wonder why people drive their dc to school, eg the lady who lives next to the side gate of dd's school because I'd have thought driving round the front and into the carpark then the congestion getting back out again would make her later for work.

Op bad parking and agressive behaviour really annoys me too, if you only directed your ire in that direction I'd have been with you.

[catham]

fgs have any of you actually understood my op?

i don't care where you drive to but i do care when you cram up the roads with bad parking then honk and get aggressive with other parents (not me i am just observering)

i may have been slightly annoyed at the 'get a life' type comments though but i guess this is aibu and people read what they want to read from the thread

still think it's a good idea maybe to have no car zones near schools

[Johnny5needsinput]

I read and understood your op quite well, thank you, especially the first sentence about what I needed to aspire to as a parent.

[Johnny5needsinput]

How would your no car zone near school work for the likes of you who want to drive past op?

[catham]

oh whatever you lot just want something to rant about

[Pinkpinot]

Er no, you didn't mention anything about bad parking/honking in your first post.
It was all about paranoid parents taking their precious darlings to school

[catham]

the 'likes of you' fgs try being civil

[Johnny5needsinput]

Can I gently suggest you go and read what you posted in your first post?