...to find the school run tedious?

[HelloJuly]

I haven't actually even started the school run proper, as DC1 doesn't start school until Sept, but he has been to pre-school on the school premises for the past year. Same start/finish times.

Before that he was at nursery where you could pretty much drop off and pick up when you liked so I'd finish work then go and pick him up when I was ready, about 5ish. 3pm now rolls around very quickly and I have dc2 who usually finishes napping around then so I end up leaving him sleeping as long as possible before rushing out.

I find it really tedious making the same journey nearly every day and having to plan everything around pick-up! Nothing to do with the mums or school, I love to see DC1 when I go and collect him but the round trip can take the best part of an hour on foot and I have a very low threshold for doing the same thing over and over. I'm now a SAHM so I know it's far more of a stress when you're working, so I'm not complaining about that - I'm just picturing spending every afternoon making the same old trip at the same time of day in all weathers for what seems like a million years, over and over....

aibu? I think it's just not something I really anticipated as a parent (rather foolishly).

Reason 4583 for having my children fairly close together : fewer school run years.

I have a love-hate relationship with it, I do enjoy the walk/scoot with my DC, but very often it is, as a PP put it, low level stress all round.

I had my first two close together and they’re in consecutive school years. However we then had a third when DC2 was 3, which extends the school run by 4 years!

To be fair doing a school run in a car every day would drive me bonkers

I used to quite like it - when it wasn’t raining - a mile walk there and back (45 mins round trip) was my exercise. Then I drove to pick up unless it was a glorious summer day.
Some of this time I was working p/t so used breakfast club/after school some days.
Was good to see the mums and I made some lovely friends - sadly some who have drifted now as it’s 4 yrs since DCs left.

The school gate 'clique' is harder to navigate sometimes than the walk or drive to and from.
Ds2 was great to pick up as he used to tell me about his day in detail which was unusual for a boy.

I started school runs (preschool) in 2011 and will finish them around 2024.

Tbf we live within a 5 minute or so walk of the school & once my youngest is year 5 she can walk to & from school herself.

I still find them tedious. I'll sometimes listen to music, or ride my bike just to mix it up.

My friends mum started school runs in 1984 and is still doing them every day as once she finished with my friend and her younger brother she had had another child with a big age gap so had to start taking him. Then when he was old enough to walk himself to high school she began doing the school run for all the grandkids so her kids could work.

My friends mum started school runs in 1984 and is still doing them every day

Oh god. My idea of hell on earth.

This is why I'd never have a big age gap..who would want to go back to all this?

Before we moved the school run was very tedious and not something I looked forward too. There was far too much dog poo dodging, overly cheery lollipop ladies (who are actually lovely but made me feel murderous with their incessant chirpyness at cocks fart in the morning), busy roads, 'free range' children haring about on scooters and bikes at a million miles an hour and looking anywhere except the direction they are going in, and other general chaos. It was a 20 minute walk each way too so it felt like it took a lot of time from the already very broken up day.

Now though we are spitting distance from the school, take a short cut next to a field and regularly see squirrels and all sorts of sweet little birds on the school run. There is no dog poo to dodge and we miss 90% of the general carnage. The school run is lovely now (because it's actually a pleasant walk not a stressful one) .

I find the getting them ready for school before the run the most tedious bit . I quite enjoy the school run itself, we are lucky enough to have a park to walk through so its a nice run to be fair. I also use it to get some exercise in. I'm useless at motivating myself but since i'm out of the house anyway its much easier to keep going for a long walk etc. I don't do running but I see a lot of the mums at school drop their dc's off in their running gear then practically sprint out of the school gates for their run.

I have done 14 years of school runs, my youngest starts in a year no I have a further 15 years to come, that's nearly 30 years in total

Did it for eleven years and I absolutely loathed it (live in polluted city with nightmare traffic). Hated being tied down to it every day. Hated the tedium (and I speak as someone who loves being around small DC). And no, it wasn't exactly the first potential parental duty I thought about when I got pregnant.

19 years of school run. That's tedious!

This is the number one reason I went back to work full time - childminder drop off and pick up is a much better option (and she’s much nicer than I am in the mornings).

Get a job and don't do it every day. It's manageable and enjoyable for two days a week.

I did it for 12 years. Some days I didn't mind it, others it was tedious.

My youngest is 17 now, so it stopped some years ago before she started secondary school. I don't miss it, if I am honest.