To want one school run....

[Meh84]

Where I do to have to drag children home/shout/carry every bag and panic because my son has ran off down the cut?

I try so hard to keep calm, but it always ends in tears. I've actually had enough. I fucking dread picking them up because I know getting home is a nightmare.

Please tell me I'm not the only one?

No you are not alone,i have 1 drop off in the mornings and 3 pickups.My head does be wrecked.It seems im always giving out,while everyone else skips home like something out of the Waltons.Whereas im the fishwife.It does get better.

No, me too. I live in the same street as the school and am always later home than anyone else
Mine and my friend's DC play on the grass in school, and then run off down the lane beside back gardens because a cute dog lives there and they want to look at it.
We have a cute dog ourselves btw!

I can only suggest massively harsh punishments as that's what dh used when I was ill and it seemed to work. Not sure if it can be sustained, in my case it could not as they would have been punished every day!

I wasn't keen on the school run when DS was 4/5 but I promise it will get easier. I used to shout as well and empasise that if he was out of earshot he was to far ahead. We mums used to say to them you can run to the big bush, the red car, the end of the channel to keep them in check. They are learning their boundaries.

I feel your pain, yanbu. I have 3 dc and up until a few weeks ago the walk home from school and nursery was torture. My heart would sink when it was time to leave work because I knew what was in store for me when I picked them up! Somebody was always screaming or crying, and sometimes it was me .
No advice, but things have calmed down now and it's much better. Fucking nightmare while it lasted though.

My son (4) walks much better after I took reins one day & told him I'd put him in them if he didn't walk safely & nicely beside me!

How old and how many children do you have?

I can sympathise as my two oldest, especially my 4yo, like running ahead. Dd1(6) is fine, stays on the inside of the oath, stops at the one road we have to cross. Ds1(4) frequently runs ahead too far, balances along the kerb, jumps in the puddles in the gutter etc. dts(2) are only allowed to walk on reins as they want to stop and pick every leaf, every stone, puddle jump. While dts will hold my hand nicely, at his own request, his sister refuses. But is happy in reins as it gives her the freedom she wants, while I know she's not going to end up flattened by a car.

Ds1 is told every time he can run to X, and if he goes too far he has to hold my hand until the next run point (we've agreed these in advance and remind them before we go). If he continues I carry a spare pair of reins and he gets one warning that next time means he goes on the reins. I have followed through on 2 occasions. Showing him I've got them is usually enough of a reminder so I don't have to hold his hand more than once.

As for all the bags. Using today as an example, I had 2 book bags for the older two, two back packs and two lunch bags for the younger two. Dd1 carries her own bag. Ds1 is currently slightly too small and his book bag drags along the floor - I had to replace it due to tearing the bottom off by the end of his second week in school!

So I have a buggy buddy which I used to use when we put the twins in their pushchair. It's great for clipping all the bags on and has a nice padded grip to hold. I used to get the big two to put the twins backpacks on and the twins lunch and are backpacks. But it became too much faffing then carrying the backpacks and lunch bags after the big two had gone in to school, as well as keeping hold of the twins' reins.