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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand this mum

85 replies

justalittlelemondrizzle · 20/06/2016 15:01

I live on the same road as the school ds attends. For the last year I see more and more parents arriving early so they can get a space on the road and then waiting in their cars. There is one lady in particular who arrives at 2pm on the dot every day. The children don't finish till 3.15. She sits in her car all this time with a 2 year old sat in the back. I just think it's a bit odd. Why would you want to sit there for over an hour with a restless toddler instead of parking a bit further away and walking round the corner. Just to add, she doesn't appear to have any problems walking, she's often seen running after the little one when he's finally released from the car.
She also lives about a 10 minute walk away from school.
I just don't get why anyone would want to waste an hour of their day doing this.

OP posts:

IamSlavetotheEU · 20/06/2016 16:31

maybe she has been to soft play toddler is worn out and happy to sit and she gets a moments peace without chasing round all the time.

Wit I am the same often caught out between time and get there a bit early I enjoy the peace

HyacinthBouquetNo1 · 20/06/2016 16:35

I used to have to do this, not because I was lazy but because of the heavy traffic, once finishing work, picking youngest up, there would be no point driving home as, as soon I got home, I would have to set off again to get to the school in time, so used to just go straight there and wait

Kenduskeag · 20/06/2016 16:37

"today it was torrential rain in the morning and lady on my street still insists on walking all of her children to school - despite there being ample on street parking a 5 mins away from school"

I walk my kids to school in any weather due to neither driving nor owning a car. There's no alternative. It's not 'weird', it's just... life. A bit of rain didn't hurt them.

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 20/06/2016 16:40

They have this at my sons primary school. I think it's everywhere. Some people just don't like to walk even if they are physically able to.

Another thing that annoys me, there's a childminder who likes to park in a certain spot, she must get there really early as I've been half an hour earlier sometimes if I've been out. BUT if she'd just move her car about 2 metres either way, another car could just park behind/infront...but no..slap bang in the middle. Thats selfish and it drives me crazy. There would still be plenty of room to still get the children out and a double buggy she has.
I'd love to do it back but can't bring myself to get there any earlier.

MrsSpecter · 20/06/2016 16:40

Ooh i have the same set up OP and there is a mother who does exactly the same! She arrives around 1.10pm and sits until 3pm (she collects a child at 2 and one at 3) with her preschooler in the car the whole time.

Mycatsabastard · 20/06/2016 16:40

Yep, seen this happening at DD's old school.

She's at middle school now and on the very, very few occasions I've either driven her there or been up to collect her, there are always cars sat in the 'unloading only' zone. It's a tiny car park, you can't park or stop on the main road so the cars are meant to come in, circle round, drop off and leave. Except for the speshul ones who sit with the kids in the car until the bell goes blocking the zone meaning everyone elses kids have to walk across where the cars are driving.

Most of the kids are either local and within walking distance or get a school bus which drops them off further up the hill. It's just a minority of parents who can't bear to see their precious child using their legs (not including those with genuine disabilities of which there are a few) and it's frustrating for parents with children who ARE disabled who can't safely drop them off.

SistersOfPercy · 20/06/2016 16:41

I used to do it when DD was in a tiny village school with a car park for about 8 cars. There was only me in the car but I'd take my Uni work or a book and enjoy the silence for an hour. I think I probably did most of my course work sat on the car park because there were no distractions

FlyingElbows · 20/06/2016 16:44

I go early and park in the same space in the car park every day. I enjoy the quiet time to read or do admin type things. My car is also the size of a small ship so I choose the space as it allows me to exit easily and quickly.

Babysafari · 20/06/2016 16:44

That is weird, I'm guessing there's a logical explanation though I can't think of one!

lem73 · 20/06/2016 16:46

Does this happen at other people's schools too?! I thought it was just ours! What amazes me is the people who manage to get the exact same space every day! There are actually two mums who live around the corner from the school but still take the car. I can't find any explanation for that (no mobility issues).

BetterthanEE · 20/06/2016 16:49

oh, are yu talking about me?! I don't live 10 minutes walk from the school though so I don't think you're talking about me! I live around a 20 minute drive from the school and my daughter attends a nursery near the school. Every day I pick up my daughter from her SEN nursery and drop her off at her mainstreem nursery.
After running errands, if I were to go home I would literally have 10 minutes before needing to strap my 2 year old back in the car and go and pick up my eldest. So we end up sitting utside the school from around 2pm, I park close because as soon as I've picked up my eldest I have 15 minutes to go and pick up my middle one.
Its crazy, but its only until the summer when both of my girls will be at the same school! (Not that I'm counting down the days )

NewLife4Me · 20/06/2016 16:49

The worst has to be when they are leaving, mind on their children and not the road.
It was awful outside dd old primary, we had to report to Police and community parking liaison at school just gave up, she couldn't cope.
Some used to drive round the lollipop person, as children were half way across the road.
This was usually morning and I'm afraid to say always mums on way to work.
One woman was dragged out of her car and beaten up as she missed a child, nobody knows how she managed to as she was so close.
I don't believe in violence and of course the parents were out of order, but nobody came forward as a witness for the woman, she didn't do it again.

AButterflyLightsBesideUs · 20/06/2016 16:50

That is a long time. Mind you, for the last few weeks I have taken to driving to school 30 mins before pick up time so I can park right next to the gate. This is because I'm 8 weeks pregnant and have the most appalling nausea/lightheadedness on standing and I really can't manage the extra bit of walk from parking further away. Normally DD and I walk the mile to school and the mile home every day. It does feel like a waste of time though and I will be glad when I don't need to do it anymore!

OptimisticSix · 20/06/2016 16:53

Twice a week I go at 2ish because DC have a club in another town that they love but the only way to get there is to make sure we get to the car asap. It also has to be parked the right side of their rather big primary school:D I quite enjoy my car time, I read and really relax because there's nothing else to do.

BetterthanEE · 20/06/2016 16:54

oh and when I have both at the same school, I wont be that parent sitting outside for an hour I will turn into that parent who's 5 minuites late every day

AllegraWho · 20/06/2016 16:55

today it was torrential rain in the morning and lady on my street still insists on walking all of her children to school - despite there being ample on street parking a 5 mins away from school

Not everyone has the option of driving.

Ali157 · 20/06/2016 17:02

This happens at my DD school too, cars arrive from 2pm. The school is wedged in a corner in a super residential area and the parking is chaos. In fact there are actual police outside the school every afternoon as physical fights and shouting and swearing breaks out at least once a week between parents.

MamTDM · 20/06/2016 17:04

I live in the next street to our school. We walk - it takes less than ten minutes even on the slowest of slow days. There's a mum three doors up from us who drives her perfectly able-bodied kids to and from school every day, rain or shine, and if she can't park in the street where the school is (which she quite often can't), she'll park in the next street again, thus having to walk back exactly the same distance she'd have had to walk if she'd walked from home to school in the first place.

Sirzy · 20/06/2016 17:08

I ran past Ds school a couple of weeks back and had a panic I was later than I thought. But no I had time to get home and shower and change and still be 5 minutes early for Ds! I will never understand the logic of some people.

Just like I don't understand the logic of the two parents who live in the same street as the school - less than a 4 min walk away - yet drive daily!

lljkk · 20/06/2016 17:10

It's bad for (hard on) a car to drive it a mere 1.5-2 miles.
So I would walk in torrential rain. I like fresh air, too.
Hail... I get in the car for short journeys at the sight of hail!

ArcheryAnnie · 20/06/2016 17:11

I know someone who drives their kid to school - which is on the same road as they live. It's just extraordinary. (No mobility difficulties with either parent or child.)

trafalgargal · 20/06/2016 17:13

I used to finish work and go and pick up DS . I didn't have time to go home first as I'd be arriving and needing to go straight out again -so as school was midway between work and school I'd often park outside school and listen to the radio or read .

Probably a similar situation but had anyone commented on it to me I'd have thought they had too much time on their hands to take that much notice.

BalloonSlayer · 20/06/2016 17:18

The secondary school bus used to drop off at the corner of my road. A woman used to park there a good 15 minutes before it arrived in order to pick up her DC. There is loads of parking on our road, no need to get there early for a space. And there are lots of buses so there must have been a bus stop pretty near to wherever they lived. And it wasn't for an after school club, it was every day.

I live a 10 min walk from the Primary School and sometimes when the DCs were younger and likely to be tired and fractious on the way home I would, on my day off, drive up there at lunchtime, park on the road in pole position and walk home. Then I'd walk back up at pick up time and voila! Best spot in the street! I don't bother now though, they are bigger and don't get so tired.

trafalgargal · 20/06/2016 17:20

Maybe it's the where they are going next in some cases .....eg Mum going on to work after dropping off. I preferred the mile walk to driving but I didn't have time to walk back home -pick up the car and get to work on time.
After school , getting to clubs or classes on time - or even making up enough time the kids can eat before ballet or whatever.

moosemama · 20/06/2016 17:26

The carpark across the road from my dd's school usually has at least half a dozen parents parked up waiting by 2.15 pm - school finishes at 3.15.

I know one of the parents and asked her why. Apparently it's because they all live on the other side of town and if they leave it any later they end up stuck in traffic and late for pick-up.

There are also a shocking amount of parents who live close enough to walk, yet still drive their dcs both ways though.

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