To wonder why so few parents walk their kids to and from school these days?

[JellyDiamonds]

This evening I had to quickly pop into town and my route takes me down a side street where there's a large old Victorian primary school with a smallish car park that's for teachers only. It was 3.15, and despite the fact that it was absolutely glorious, warm and sunny, I couldn't get over just how many parents had driven to collect their kids from the school.

It was absolute chaos, cars double parked, parked on corners, parked at strange angles, blocking entrances to a business and even blocking the entrance to the school itself. I felt so sorry for the people who live there, most of the houses are terraces with no off street parking at all. It made me think, I was rarely picked up or dropped off by car. I always walked, even in the rain. When I got to secondary school I got the bus as it was further away. The only time my parents even picked me up by car was if we were going somewhere straight from school, which was so rare.

Surely most children live within walking distance of their primary school? And on a gorgeous late summers evening there is surely no excuse for such laziness? We have all legs don't we? Why don't we use them more often? I don't understand it...

Do you have children op? Have there been times you drove?

not related but does anyone else sort of snigger when they hear a grown adult profess they 'don't drive'? that's like hearing someone at 50 say they live with their mum - not very adult or grown up.

Lots of lazy people driving around here, and yes I know them and their circumstances.

Catchment radius means maximum of 800 metre walk to the school in my street. So no excuse there. Lollipop lady and pedestrian crossing at the one road to cross. And tons of parents who live less than 5 mins walk away insist on driving right down to the school gates and casually parking across driveways. Lots don't appear to do this because of time pressures and having to get to work as they then stand and chat for ages after the kids have gone in.
So yes, I do wonder about why they do this.

Wow. Good for you for not having to work a full time job to pay the mortgage but I'm bloody proud of how I manage to juggle my life and just fit everything in. It takes 15mins to walk to school, 2 to drive. I start work 5 mins after school starts which is 20 mins away. Work that out and tell me how I can do it better.

I hope your judgy pants are a thong 2 sizes too small. That is all.

It is a concern though, surely? Research shows that pollution levels are much higher around schools because of people leaving their engines on, and kids are getting more and more obese. Don't know what the answer is, and I certainly don't think it's about laziness, but it's far from ideal.

Lally112, I know adults who don't drive, responsible members of society, who choose to live in places with good public transport and not contribute to polluting the planet. I don't snigger; I feel ashamed of how much selfish driving I do.

My sons SN school is over 5 miles away and the LA refused to give me transport for him.
HTH.

Lally no, I don't snigger. DH is one of those who doesn't drive. He was in a very traumatic accident when he was young.
Don't let that stop you from sniggering, though.

In the holidays, I love to walk to the nursery and collect my DCs. On working days, I work as late as I can to squeeze in my job. That extra 10 minutes per day to drive past the nursery, double back on foot and collect is an extra precious 30 minutes I can spend on my job. In the morning, it's a tight squeeze to get the DCs in for earliest drop off, so that I can maximise my working day. I don't work far away, but it's a tight balance to fit my work and commute in between 8 and 6.

I walk once a week with DTs (4) to school, whilst DS1 (9) walks with a friend and DD1 (7) walks with her friend ahead of me and her friend's mother. On my work days I drive DTs and DD to school, DS still walks with friend. After school, the child-minder walks home with them.

driving is sodding expensive. costs a lot for lessons. there is a bloody good reason people don't drive.

sometimes those who do drive can not afford to run a car.

those who don't drive are doing the rest of us a favour...

When mine go to school my parents will mostly have to pick them up and take them to theirs until I finish work so they will be collected by GPs in a car.

They will be dropped by car because it is a 20 min walk and that is too long for me to double back for my car to then get to work on time.

A 5 min walk is about 1/4 of a mile, I don't think that many of the pupils will live that close.

Lally112 what a bizarre remark, Especially as some people do live in City with good transport systems in place. :)

How adult of you, sniggering about how other people choose to live their lives. How grown up.

Any number of reasons that people need (yes.....need) to drive to and from school. Perhaps you should take your head out your arse long enough to consider some

Children at our school come up to 12 miles each morning, crossing 2, or even 3 LA boundaries, which funnily enough don't have direct bus routes along their commutes.

That said, we walk, and I have lost count of the number of times drivers that are not school run drivers, but commuters have driven straight over the zebra crossing outside school without stopping, or even driven along the pavement opposite the school gates, because they have to slow to pass the cars turning into the school gate.

I walk with bike and kids to school (the local one) then whizz off on bike to work. Then whizz back for home time and a gentle saunter home with bike. On Fridays i don't work so we drive. For a change.

Stuff after school makes it impossible. Brownies, tutor, football, swimming, tennis etc etc etc.

Just not enough time. We live 30 minute walk from school. By the time we got home and got in the car to get to the activity they'd be late.

I also come straight from work, I couldn't work til 3pm if I had to leave at 2.45 to collect them.

this is slightly off topic I know but these threads always illustrate to me just how different life must be if you live in a big city. The idea of an entire school full of children living within 800 metres of the school blows my mind. I don't think there are any more than about five houses within 800m of my kids school!

Another reason they might be parking, or sitting and waiting, nearest the school is the neighborhood might have parking restrictions, leaving their car a block over might get them ticketed.

There are many good reasons to drive, but if they are mucking up the streets to the point that emergency vehicles cant get through and they cant get themselves sorted and away if they realize the fire brigade or an ambulance is attempting to reach a home/the school then that IS a problem. Likewise, if parents breaking traffic laws are putting children in danger with their self centered driving habitsthat needs dealing with. It has been happening around our school. School is on a dead end road, they drive down to get their dc, the multiples of them are doing 3 point turns, blocking the school gate or bumping up onto the sidewalks where other children are walking, and even driving along with one wheel up as they try to make an exit lane. And when a parent walking with children called a driver out on it, it nearly came to blows. Certainly, when the parent council handed out a flyer pointing out the illegal behaviours, they were treated to foul language.

I'm amazed at the amount of negative responses on here! Yes, some parents have to work, some have disabilities etc but I bet a hell of a lot of parents in many towns and cities (excluding rural schools here as many are miles from houses) are within easy walking distance and have the time but the modern day mentality is just to drive! I know people who drive across our nearest small market town with teenage kids in tow and then complain about the congestion in the town and how the proposed new builds are only going to make it worse. I know people who are fit and healthy in our teeny village who drive a mere few hundred metres to get to events in the village. I have witnessed a well respect local business owner drive back to work from a lunch meal at the pub which is separated from her business premises by a small road-but there is a bit of a hill up to the premises! So OP-perhaps not the most eloquently put post and perhaps not best just singling out the school run but I can see where you are coming from.

Yes loads of parents do have to drive for all the reasons given above but some parents just can't be bothered to walk We live an easy 15 minute walk from our local primary. We walked on most days but other friends living in the same road (non working mums no disabilities etc etc) always drove. They used to say' ohh we should really walk' but somehow they never did. So I'm going to be judgy and say they were lazy. At the same time i will polish my medal.

How childish Lally112, to snigger. Children snigger, not grown ups. Oh, and I don't drive.

I'm not in a big city, treacle - a medium sized town in an estate, with a purpose built school, which is why no pupil has more than about 5 mins to walk. What a shame so many are driven - there are safe routes for them to walk to school that wouldn't need a parent to accompany them on such a short walk and a lollipop lady.
Even worse is the way the parents drive. Despite the speed bumps in the road, parents drop their kids off, do crazy turns and then accelerate up the street as they are leaving. One ran over my cat and just left him to die in the gutter. It can't be too long before a child is run over by another parent.