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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if you take your primary aged DCs to school and pick them up?

166 replies

Sunnydayinapril · 26/04/2016 06:57

First of all no one is being criticised

Looking into work that might be able to allow me in the future to do this (not an issue at the moment.)

My parents never did as they always worked. It didn't bother me.

But I think I'd like to pick my children up.

Do you, and if not who does?

OP posts:
Schwabischeweihnachtskanne · 27/04/2016 15:03

Happy youare ddefinitely unreasonable to be "sad" that other people's kids get the bus! That's just so ignorant unless you know that those kids (who are mot mini you from 30 years ago and are not your kids) aren't happy getting the bus! DH or I could drive our nearly 9 year old to school and would if he wanted because one of us has to drive the 5 yo to the kindergarten about 50 meters away (Kindergarten kids in our area are not entitled to bus transport) - but it would be really embarrasing to be driven to school daily (ok in an emergency but unusual enough that he'd be asked why by other kids and maybe teachers). The twins in his class who's mum was the only parent in the class still walking them by the time they turned 7 told him they'd told their dad they were gojng to put themselves up for adoption if she didn't stop ... Grin

PourMeSomethingStronger · 27/04/2016 15:14

DS1 is 5 and in reception. We drop him off in the mornings and he gets the school bus home, with one of us there to meet him when he gets off. I would like to pick him up, but he thinks the best thing about school is sitting with his friends on the bus!

phoenix1973 · 27/04/2016 15:25

The school run is a pain.
We are lucky enough to back onto the school field so live very close.
However, my child doesn't want to walk to and from school on her own yet.
She is 9 (10 in September) Year 4. I'm happy for her to walk to/from. I work part time, but am able to drop and collect her every day.
I find it odd that round here there aren't any kids walking to/from on their own.
Yet on Mumsnet there are quite a few whose children walk alone.

ChoudeBruxelles · 27/04/2016 15:29

I virtually chuck ds (10) out of the car near the school and then on the days I pick him up I meet him half way home. He'll starting walking to and from school (when he's not at after school club) next year (yr6)

ShelaghTurner · 27/04/2016 15:30

Goodness, I can't imagine letting my 8yo walk to school on her own - not criticising anyone else who does! And school still match them up with an adult albeit in a looser way than they did in infants. I'm outside the school now waiting to collect dd1 from club and the teacher on the gate doesn't let them out until they've seen their grown up, and that's right up to yr6

CheerfulYank · 27/04/2016 15:34

It's less than three blocks for my eight year old :)

Muskateersmummy · 27/04/2016 15:42

Dd is starting in sept. I will take her to early bird club 4 days a week and either myself or her GM will collect either from after school club or at finish of school. One day a week I will take and pick up at school hours without the wrap around.

idontlikealdi · 27/04/2016 15:55

I drop off every morning and collect two days. I really love the walk with them and have juggled my hours to be able to do it.

DotForShort · 27/04/2016 15:55

I love the fact that I now live in a place (not the UK) where children walk to and from school by themselves, beginning at the age of about 6. I did the same. In this area, it is perfectly safe to do so.

I8toys · 27/04/2016 15:57

I've always taken mine to school. DS1 now in year 8 (he walks on his own now) and DS2 in year 5.

I work part-time and did school hours up to a few years ago. Now drop off every day and pick up twice a week. Grandma and Grandad pick up 2/3 times per week. Sometimes DH. I want to be around for them.

Kim82 · 27/04/2016 16:05

Dd is 8 and in year 4. She walks to and from school herself but there are only two houses between our house and the school, it's a 30 second walk for her. I am always at home to see her off in the morning and both me and Dh are at home when she gets in at 3.30pm.

HerRoyalNotness · 27/04/2016 16:09

Yes, it's a 40min (adult pace) walk to school and they're 8 and 5.

If I'm still off work next year I'll put them on the bus, it goes from the corner one block away. If I get a job before then, they'll go to before and after school and we'll do drop off/pickups.

Haudyerwheesht · 27/04/2016 16:38

I do because I'm a sahm / student. In a couple of years my youngest will be 7 and she will probably have to go to a childminder / out of school club.

Natsku · 27/04/2016 20:17

Was thinking about this earlier - I used to pick up a 1st grader from my local school because I looked after her in the afternoons (she's my OH's little sister), after the first few weeks I stopped picking her up after realising, that out of a school of roughly 80 children (7-9yr olds - about 20 or 30 of them stay for the after school club though), there were one or two parents at the gates and between 5 and 8 cars (depending on the weather) waiting on the road at pick up time. And no teacher ever asked me who I was even though I was a 'stranger' picking up a 7 year old - the children just come out of the door and leave. Takes some getting used to!

vdbfamily · 27/04/2016 21:49

I have a son at one local primary school and a daughter who has just moved to a different one. The first school where my 3 all went initially was happy for kids to walk home alone from key stage 2 . In year 3 my youngest who is August born would have just turned 7. She has a brother in yr 4 and sister in yr 6. I felt she could have gone with them from even younger as what was happening every day up until she was KS2 was that the 3 of them would set off on bikes/scooters and arrive at school way before me. I would just turn round and walk home again on arrival at school as their bikes were all there and they were playing with friends on playground.
At her current school, at the age of 9.5, no children are allowed to leave the playground without an adult and those who get the bus are escorted to it. It seems very over-protective to me. On her first week there, she had a taster day at the local secondary school which is near where we live. It finished at 2.30 and I was at work til 5pm and my DH was away with work(usually works from home) I sent a letter in with her giving permission for her to walk home alone and they were happy with that. Her older sister was home 30m later and by the time I got home my 13 year old had cooked tea, walked the dog and got the washing in off the line. I am now wondering whether they actually need me at all any more! I think that the more independence we give our kids, the safer they become and that wrapping them up in cotton wool all the time actually makes them far more vulnerable.

AliceInUnderpants · 27/04/2016 22:04

Mine walk themselves, age 11 and 7. That'll be nearly two years they've been going themselves, since DC2 went into P2.

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