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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To feel that there is something totally back-to-front with this Walk to School Week business?

56 replies

SixImpossible · 21/05/2014 09:06

Ds walks to school every day. This week is Walk to School Week, and every child who walks to school every day this week will recieve a reward onFriday. But this week ds has an appointment, which means that he will arrive by car tomorrow.

So ds, who normally walks to and from school every day, gets no reward. The kids who normally drive to school every day will get a reward for only driving home.

I didn't say anything about this to ds. But he's no fool, he worked it out for himself, and he is Not Pleased.

OP posts:

FourForksAche · 21/05/2014 09:12

Either lie or park round the corner & walk the rest.

LilacRoses · 21/05/2014 09:17

You are right, that is ridiculous! I would go with Fourforks' idea!

Unexpected · 21/05/2014 09:23

At our school, you got counted as having walked if you drove part way (because school had a wide catchment area) and then walked from say the local supermarket car-park. Is that an option?

LithaR · 21/05/2014 09:23

I'd go with the park round the corner idea, technically he would have then walked to school

FourForksAche · 21/05/2014 09:23

I have a disability which means most mornings I can't walk far, (arthritis) so we regularly use a cab to get to school on time. The walk to school week used to really upset my youngest. It seemed discriminatory.

BrokenToeOuch · 21/05/2014 09:25

It's not a great 'reward' though is it? At dds school, they just get a certificate. That ends up on the recycling bin.
I get what you're saying, but if either of you are honestly bothered, just park a short distance away from the school gate (as advised on the letter) or lie. No one checks.
It's good to walk to school, some dc don't get the opportunity due to circumstances so if those parents can make a concerted effort for that one week, I think thhat's great. Hopefully it will encourage everyone to think twice about the next car journey they make.
I can't get worked up about it though!

flipchart · 21/05/2014 09:27

I'd go with the parking.

I can understand the school promoting walking there and the benefits ( less congestion, promoting exercise etc) clearly it's not going to suit everyone but that doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.

HappyDogRedDogToss · 21/05/2014 09:51

Our week is after half term. I wanted to walk today but DD refused as she said their class would get a better baseline if they all drove this week and walked next week

Original poster

SixImpossible · 21/05/2014 09:53

Oh I'm not going to encourage ds to lie for some trivial and almost arbitrary reward. He's just going to have to suck it up this time. And I agree that some reward schemes feel discriminatory because there will always be people who are unable ever to benefit from them, for a reason that they have any control over.

But I also agree with ds that it is unfair that people should be rewarded for sometimes doing the thing that he always does.

It's the usual situation of consistent good behaviour disappearing under the radar, and badly-behaved children being rewarded. (Not that I'm equating walking to school with good behaviour.)

If 'they' want to reward walking to school, then all the regular walkers should get a reward at the beginning of Walk to School Week!

OP posts:

Original poster

SixImpossible · 21/05/2014 09:54

Sorry, "for a reason that they have no control over."

OP posts:

Vagndidit · 21/05/2014 10:00

DS's school has so many people driving in from 2+ miles per day that they don't even acknowledge Walk to School Week anymore.

What annoys me is this new Golden Mile initiative at the school. They're encouraged to walk/run miles during break times and awards will be given for those who rack up the most miles by the end of the term.

DS also makes the mile walk to and from school every day, so an easy 10 miles per week just for the school run. After school activities count toward the Golden Mile totals, but NOT school runs.

TunipTheUnconquerable · 21/05/2014 10:02

Is this primary or secondary?

If primary, I would have a word with the teacher and ask very nicely if his having walked to school regularly for a set period might be accepted in lieu of his walking to school on that day when, through no fault of his own, he can't.

If secondary it can be a learning experience for him!

FourForksAche · 21/05/2014 10:11

Six, lying is a useful life skill, so either way he could get something out of it

dancinggerald · 21/05/2014 10:17

Walking part of the way isn't lying or cheating though. We catch the bus to school as it's 4 miles away, but it's a 25 min walk to the bus stop, probably further than the village children walk from their homes to school, so ds has been claiming his stickers this week.

FourForksAche · 21/05/2014 10:18

completely agree, dancing.

Lancelottie · 21/05/2014 10:22

DD was similarly annoyed last term when her secondary did a cycle to school thingy. She'd cycled the 5 miles there and back several times the previous week, but not on the qualifying day as she couldn't carry a heavy brass instrument on the bike.

Meanwhile, her friend who lives within sight of the school solemnly cycled from her garage across to the school gate and got cake...

bonkersLFDT20 · 21/05/2014 10:30

At 6 I think you can tell him that walk to school week is to encourage those who could walk to school to do so. Since you already walk to school every day, he is not the child it's aimed at and for that he should be proud.

Then harp on about the health benefits and just make him feel good about himself regardless of the school reward. YOU know he walks every day, HE knows he walks every day and that's really what matters because he gets fresh air before school, a bit of exercise and time to chat with Mum.

Lots of things at school are not fair - it's one of the lessons they learn.

ProudAS · 21/05/2014 10:55

Park round the corner and walk him in OP. You won't have lied then by saying that he did walk - is there anything in the rules about the distance they need to have walked?

PaulinesPen · 21/05/2014 11:04

Ah yes...Walk to school week: an ill throught out gimmick which rewards something you may already do with a sticker and makes those that don't (usually for very good reasons) feel they've failed. Brilliant...just what harassed parents need on top of everything else in the mornings. For us it quickly became yet another bit of pointless hoopla sent home in the bookbag and we ignored it. And yes, they all walked to school anyway. Next week they'll be hopping up and down over lunchboxes or some other nonsense.

CrystalSkulls · 21/05/2014 11:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LtEveDallas · 21/05/2014 11:17

DD used to get upset with this, but is very pragmatic about it now. She just says (obviously parroting me ) "Well I'd love to walk to school, but I would be dead if I walked along the dual carriageway"

For her the best thing about our impending house move is that she'll be able to walk to school - lets see if she still feels the same in winter

Nocomet · 21/05/2014 11:17

Walking part of the way absolutely isn't cheating. Our school ran a walking bus from the edge of the village, because they knew that distance and pavement-less narrow lanes meant many of us couldn't walk the whole way.

In any case if you walk part of the way, you probably walk further than the DCs in the houses nearest the school.

I drove every day and usually parked at the bottom of the estate. Hence walking past the houses of two DCs at the school.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 21/05/2014 11:43

We walk to our village primary most days. It's a five minute walk and unless I'm on my way somewhere else or it's pissing it down we generally walk. However for the last month I've had to drive because I've got a trapped nerve in my back and hobbling any further than about ten yards is nigh on impossible.

What would be a novelty is people having to go to the primary school nearest them. Then they would get the chance to walk to school and we would free our local school up from all the oversubscribed places filled by kids from miles away. My dd2 has twenty children in her foundation class. Over half of them come from the nearby town where they have to pass two other perfectly good primaries to get to ours.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 21/05/2014 11:54

I think they should encourage people to take the best option for them, others, and the environment, all year round.
I think "walk to school week" is a bit patronising and can cause problems for some families. Children want to take it on board, after all the fuss and pressure, and then it causes tensions in families where it's not really do-able.
We always parked in a safe and quieter place away from the school and walked the last 5 mins. IMHO schools should focus more on this option rather than their all or nothing approach.
Later DS started taking his bike to school.
If you can walk for a week you should maybe be walking all the time?
My usual pattern was to drop them off before going on a shortish car journey to work for 9am.
Not do-able for me on foot.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 21/05/2014 12:00

Walking part way isn't cheating - if it were, half the other kids who will get their certificates/prizes on Friday wouldn't be getting them. Your ds deserves this prize and this is a perfectly reasonable way to ensure he gets it.

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