to think that criticism of the school run is a form of sexism?

[Handay]

There seems to have long been a popular narrative that people taking their children to school by car are clogging up the roads with unnecessary journeys and delaying working commuters.

Most of these journeys are done by women.

It is a legal requirement for children to go to school, just as most people are contractually obliged to go to work. For many women, their obligation will fall across both aspects in that they will drop their children at school and then continue to work.

Why then are one set of people using a car in order to travel to somewhere they are obliged to be, criticised? There are, especially in cities, probably lots of car journeys that are "unnecessary" in the sense that the people making them could travel by alternative means. Why are women and children's journeys categorised as somehow less important than those of other road users and why are they repeatedly told that they should not be on the roads?

Just one recent example of this here on Jeremy Vine this week:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00035rk

It is a legal requirement that a child be in education, not necessarily in school. Just thought I’d throw that out there

Agree with OP. Absolutely.
And don't get me started on the ghastly school gate narrative.

Our school has one disabled bay which parents with non disabled children tend to fight over every morning as it's right at the door.

Parents have now also started parking on the double yellows and on corners, making it impossible to see anything when I'm driving....

The parents that do this tend to be the parents going to work and are in a rush. Not all women either. I'd say our school is probably 60% women and 40% men doing the drop offs. More women and pick up than men though.

One particular parent at my school has been on tv quite a lot recently and won a competition, she has thousands on Instagram followers now apparently.....when on tv she described herself as caring and considerate and a proper 'people's person'.....she's now started parking in front of people's driveways and she seems it's acceptable. She's also blocked in these cars of parents who needs to get to work. Though she doesn't work, she's just a ding bat

My ndn (living one door closer to the school) is driving her daughter to the school in the morning, then returns back. I'm too lazy myself, the idea of opening and closing the garage, loading and unloading the car is just too much for me. It is a 5 mins walk, never understood why she is doing this.

The ranting about annoying school parking is a red herring and a different issue entirely.

Op I totally agree bil eye rolling about how quiet roads were in school holidays- if only all those pesky women and children would sod off the roads would be so much quieter

about how quiet roads were in school holidays
well, they are, and so are the trains. Why you are making it up into a woman's issue is anyone's guess.

As someone pointed out earlier I. The thread the quieter roads inthe holidays are just as much to do with parents taking time off to look after the children or to go on holiday, as with the lack of the school run

I understand that, but yes I do say how nice it is that roads are much quieter.
As I work near a private school where a few parents stop on double yellow lines to let their children out, blocking traffic flow and creating build-ups of traffic, I know in my case it is actually about the school being closed.

YANBU. Most of the campaigns to reduce car use for the school run seem to assume that mothers are generally at home all day with leisure to stroll to and from however many schools needed, leaving the roads free for the people who have important reasons for driving.

The campaigns to reduce car use for the school run are I suspect aimed at those who can easily reduce their car use. There is no point targeting those who would find it very difficult to do this.

Tbh although the majority (although not vast majority) of people doing the school run at our school are women/ mothers, most of the ones doing the entitled parking are father's/men (with certain notable exceptions but they get noted!).

We have some parents who decide the have to drive right up to the back gate where the infants go in even though it's really dangerous to do so (and covered in yellow hatching).

But tbh this is more of a problem for the parents who are walking their kids past than the general public and pollution.

Interesting point, I had never thought of it as sexism. I have no problem at all with people (mums or dads) dropping off children by car if they then are off to work (although in London, I highly doubt you would get anywhere quickly by car after, underground all the way in rush hour).

What I find difficult is (mainly female) stay at home parents who come in big cars, you know they live nearby, and they are clearly going home after (dressed in gym kit or similar). I get that it is more convenient to load everyone into the car, but if you can, I think it is much better to use public transport / walks. I once spoke to a mum (sahm), driving to school who complained about how hard it had been for her AND her husband to get their two (no SEN) children ready every morning. I was like as I always manage to get three children out of the door with no help - and no car. I guess people like that stand out and then everyone gets tarred by the same brush...

The campaigns to reduce car use for the school run are I suspect aimed at those who can easily reduce their car use. There is no point targeting those who would find it very difficult to do this

Yes this.

They also work on the basis that a place in your local school is a given, which is very much not the case!

This is interesting, but I think there is more to it than looking at it from a traffic/sahm/mum perspective.

I've been living abroad for a while where children go to their closest school. There is no discussion unless there are very, very good reasons. If the journey to school is more than 30 minutes or deemed too dangerous (because of main roads etc) then transport is provided. Everyone else is expected to walk to school. There are parking and traffic restrictions on the roads surrounding our school and police sporadically patrol and fine.

However...
School starts at 8 am, leaving people time to get to work.
Children over the age of 5 are expected to walk to school without an adult and are taught to do this from their first year. It is the parents responsibility to decide when they are capable of walking alone.
Older children/siblings are expected to look out for the younger.
It is usual to start leaving your child alone at home, letting them out to play unsupervised for 10 minutes at age 4 to start building their independence.
There is no school uniform. If I took a photo of the children walking down the road today, the vast majority will have rain trousers, wellies, rain coats and rain covers over their bags. If I were to take a photo in winter, they would be wearing snow boots and ski clothes. Not skimpy ballerina shoes, thin tights and a crappy blazer that apparently means the world to everyone because it has a logo on it.

There is only one parent who always collects her child in bad weather and that is because the child is in a wheelchair. The rest of the time the mother collects her on foot.
The children see it as an honour that they are trusted with and one of the most effective threats for a 7 year old is "I'll come and pick you up from school!" Of course, if you don't trust your child to be able to manage that then it escalates into needing to drive them on the roads around the school because you need to be somewhere, making it more dangerous for other children, meaning other parents are less likely to let their children walk and more likely to drive causing more traffic etc. etc. And you end up with congestion.

I agree OP. I'm not minimising the impact of school run congestion or poor parking, but this is caused by Parents, not just Mums.

Similarly commuter journeys are undertaken by workers, some of whom are in possession of a vagina.

Yes, idiots parking on double yellows and in disabled bays really piss me off because of course they’ll only be there for a couple of minutes. No harm done. Except that there are disabled parents and disabled children on school run.

I can't see how it is a sexist thing, isn't it more sexist of you to assume that it is mothers doing the drop off when both parents are working?
It’s not an assumption here, it’s based on actually seeing that is the case.

It depends where you live, but where I live there are a lot of lazy people, male and female, who insist on driving and definitely live within walking distance.
If you saw me leaving my home (in my “Chelsea Tractor”) 3 minutes from the school and driving there, I’m sure you’d say I was lazy. What you miss is, it carries her and her wheelchair and her walking frame up the big hill we can’t walk up. And sometimes I even drive her up then home again if I am working from home. What a lazy cow I am. 🙄

Walking to school doesn't make you late for work, not leaving the house on time makes you late for work
That assumes you can drop off your children earlier. Our playground is open from 8.45. If I start work ten minutes drive away at 9am, walking back to the house is ten minutes I wouldn’t have to spare. No matter when I leave the house, the earliest I can leave the school is 8.45.

clogging up the road for commuters
Many school run parents are commuters - despite what people here are assuming when they say “the vast majority of parents aren’t going to work” Because it is actually impossible for anyone here to know this about every single parent at their school.

Yes, idiots parking on double yellows and in disabled bays really piss me off because of course they’ll only be there for a couple of minutes. No harm done. Except that there are disabled parents and disabled children on school run.
We’re quite good at tackling this. The “just 5 minutes” crowd are often blocked in by the parents with badges, usually taking their children into the EP unit in the school. Then they might stop for a chat, no rush....

Rarely see the same car misusing the spaces more than once 😂.

@clande that's bizzare! We live 3 mikes away so have no option but to drive. I'd love to walk to school every day. I have a baby and getting him in and out of the car in his car seat and then in the pushchair 4 times a day is bloody hard work. Can't understand why you would faff around getting in the car when you are a 5 min walk!

There should be buses for children who live 3 miles away.

Don't primary schools have buses any more?

Primary children really should automatically go to the local school - the problem is systemic, though some individuals certainly make it worse.

Honestly I get fucked off with anyone who creates unnecessary traffic regardless of who they are.

If it's a sahm driving her kids to school when she really really doesn't need to, that would annoy me.

If it's a lazy individual who would rather drive to work than catch a bus like some of my colleagues despite there being very good public transport to our workplace then that would irritate me.

If it's people driving like utter morons creating traffic jams, like blocking roundabouts/intersections so no one can fucking move, that annoys me.

If it's our idiot of a local council setting up another goddamn temporary traffic light where they literally do NOTHING for days at a time, that annoys me.

However people who genuinely have to get somewhere in there car for whatever reason, be it on their way to work because there isn't public transport or they have to go to an appointment etc quick after school drop off then that's fair enough & doesn't irritate me.