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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To get annoyed at the way all the parents at the school gate do this....

70 replies

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 15/09/2013 23:47

Instead of spreading out a bit and keeping the exit free, they all gather in a crowd inside the yard directly in front of the gates blocking it completely.

WHY!?

I hate sheep. I have tried to break the sheepy behaviour and wandered off alone into the VAST space that is the playground...hoping one of them will follow me...but no. They all huddle together, smack bang in front of the only exit.

As the DC come out, they have to cross the big yard to come towards this mass of parents...a hideous seething mass of Amandas and Richards...all lumped together. They might as well all wear one frigging waxed jacket....one enormous waxed jacket for they have become PARENT.

No individuality is allowed....PARENT moves as one....speaks as one...and always blocks the frigging gate! AIBU to be getting madder and madder about it daily?

OP posts:

gamerchick · 17/09/2013 09:58

I love the chalking a circle idea.. nearly choked to death on breakfast

It's the chatting parents that walk so slow.. is there any need!

Although the couple of traffic wardens who swooped on the lazy gits to drive to school (I'm talking literally around the corner) and dished tickets out last term was amusing to watch.

Maggietess · 17/09/2013 10:03

Our school is absolutely huge but they do it quite well. 3 different exit points for different classes in junior school and a bug painted line on the playground that parents should stay behind. Then each class has a painted dot that they line up on in the morning/come out to in the afternoon so parents know which side to stand on.

All seems to work kinda fine and actually the parents are all very nice and sociable so plenty of pleasant chat too.

I thought I'd dread the school run but I'm there 3 times a day at the moment and it's fine.

peachactiviaminge · 17/09/2013 10:23

Ah the mummy Mafia do it here. Lots of pushchairs, fags all round or spliffs if its a bad day, screaming at the children to stop. wing little bastards while mummy discusses her latest fight with social services or the school itself. Then when the kids come out its time to go screech at the teachers instead. Even parents whose children have graduated to the academy attend pick up often arriving 20 minutes early.

I haven't done pick up since DD was 7 as we're so close to the school and the buggy brigade give me such rage.

Original poster

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 17/09/2013 10:45

Spliffs!? My God! Our school is in a small vairy naice village and nobody smokes (I can't afford to live IN the village mind you) and the parents all drive three feet in their BMWs to drop their precious DC off when it's raining....twats We get the bus! Poor DDs

OP posts:

PiddlingWeather · 17/09/2013 10:57

This is why I am so glad that DD gets the bus to/from school. I only have to pick her up a few times a year. Last time I remembered why I hate it so- luckily the school is relatively clique free, being rural, with most children living on farms etc- but there is a small clique, and my god, their behaviour is worse than any child.

lineup · 17/09/2013 11:02

you need a sheepdog OP

ipswichwitch · 17/09/2013 11:07

lineup you beat me to it! Op, you need to go all "one man and his dog" on them. Borrow a sheepdog and get them all herded into a nice fences enclosure, only to be allowed out when their DC appear. It will make for a nice tidy yard too!

lineup · 17/09/2013 11:13

lol Ipswich, Remember to practise your whistling too!
Really though Op, you do have a valid point, independent thought is rapidly vanishing from society, esp amongst parents doing school run. I feel your pain. There is so much fussing out there!

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 17/09/2013 11:43

my son's primary used to file the kids out and line them up against the wall like a firing squad and teacher would only give them the nod to move when she saw the parent authorised to pick up. took ages.

Original poster

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 17/09/2013 12:48

I don't find the parents cliquey...they'll always talk if you want to join in....it's just the dozy way they all stand in front of the gates that winds me up.

OP posts:

kungfupannda · 17/09/2013 12:56

We had a not-particularly-entertaining escalator moment at the weekend. DP carrying DS2, me holding an already-whinging DS1's hand. Family further down got off the escalator and decided to rearrange the shopping in the buggy - in the actual exit of the escalator.

This meant that we had to do a cartoon-like treading-water type thing, trying to stay in one spot on the escalator in order to avoid being launched straight onto the buggy. They noticed after a few seconds and moved forward about a foot - so everyone then piled up in the exit, meaning that everyone further up the escalator had to start cartoon water-treading process.

They were eventually sort of pushed out of the way by the every-expanding crowd of people, and were clearly very disgruntled about it! They were speaking English, but did not appear to understand "excuse me", even when it was being yelled in chorus by about fifteen people all trying to occupy the same two foot square of space.

Very strange.

Mojavewonderer · 17/09/2013 13:43

Hehe this thread made me laugh. I had visions of the op herding the parents all over the playground...hilarious ;)

anewyear · 17/09/2013 14:02

Im an Amanda..
I don't this...

FeathersMcGraw · 17/09/2013 14:20

Sorry, kungfupannda but

The picture in my head of everybody half way up the escalator cartoon water-treading...

quoteunquote · 18/09/2013 10:48

when you draw the circle, leave two gaps, draw an arrow going into the circle on one gap, and another going out,

Stand at the other side of the playground, and if anyone attempts to cross the line in the wrong location, shake your head, say No.

MillionPramMiles · 18/09/2013 11:26

I'll never have to do the school pick up because by the time dd is school age either we'll only be awarded a school place in an overcrowded portacabin several miles away or we'll have to go private (in either case we'll both have to be at work to pay someone else to do it).
Flexible working is a dim and distant dream for most people.

elliejjtiny · 18/09/2013 11:51

peach I think our DC's go to the same school . It's not all bad though. When I found out DS4 had a cleft lip I thought someone would say something awful about him. When he was in special care I got "'ow's the babby?" from people I didn't even know. The first time I took him on the school run there was a chorus of "ahh, bless 'im" when I took him out of his pram .

PeppermintCreamsSaga · 18/09/2013 12:15

We have a similar set up with a fence and gate, but there is a white line in a semi circle that parents are not allowed to cross so the kids have a fighting chance of getting out alive. I'm afraid i'm one of the annoying parents that stands at the very front on the line.

Dahlen · 18/09/2013 12:19

It's because people are desperate not to look like Billy no mates, so as soon as they spot someone they know, they go over to them and start talking to them. This results in clustering. If it's a problem, mention it to the secretary, who will probably add something in the next newsletter politely inviting parents to make sure they don't block the entrances.

peachactiviaminge · 18/09/2013 13:51

Ellie could well be actually! There's a real sense of community here even if they can be a massive bunch of twats they'd all go out of their way for the little ones.

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