School run mum. Dreading it

[Deadposhtory]

I'm sat in my car about half a mile from D's school.
He has a friend I'll call him Sam. Sam has been his friend since reception and every afternoon we walk we Sam's parents the half mile to our cars although we park in different car parks.
I'm fed up. I'm disabled and they know it yet every afternoon I struggle to keep up with them and am often Left trailing behind. The mum never greets me unless I speak first and often never says hi just talks to her older child as I struggle along at the back. Also although Sam has been to ours loads of times they have never once invited my son to their house.
At Easter I gave Sam a chocolate egg and was surprised I got no thanks. I asked mum if he had received it and she just said yes and nothing else.
I have taken to taking painkillers at 2pm in prep for school run.
My son insits he wants to walk the half mile with Sam, but I'm so fed up with it. It's ok with just my son and me.
Fed up and miserable

Interesting how many don't want to walk with other parents and kids from school. I didn't mind it at all, I wanted my children to enjoy the journey to and from school, that's when a great deal of socialising between the children happens, and it can be good to get the opportunity to build up a network with parents who you may otherwise not spend time with.

My kids would do the chattering about their day once we got in the house. :)

@MuddlingMackem I quite agree. I just enjoy watching my DDs skipping along happily with her friends. It doesn't bother me if the mum doesn't want to chat, though; I'm not massively social on the school run myself.

OP I really think you’re projecting too much into this situation. Sam’s Mum collects him from school each day. Perhaps she wants to spend time with her son hearing about his day, or maybe she’s been at work and is keen to get home and get onto the million and one jobs that still need doing.

Your kids are friends but that doesn’t mean she has to be your best buddy too and walk with you and chat with you. You seem to be offended that she won’t meet your emotional and social needs by talking and walking with you. But why should she? What about her need for (probably) peace and quiet, and not having to interact with a person she’s not interested in? You can only control your own behaviour, you’re not entitled to control the behaviour of others.

I know this is an old thread, but for some reason came up on Google...

I hate dawdling. I hate small talk. There are often times I need to get home to get DD ready for clubs, dinner sorted etc. It would drive me mad to have to talk to the same parent every day and walk slowly. I'm happy to say 'hi' but often ensure I don't end up walking with others (sending DD back in to find cardigan/lunchbox etc), I find it really uncomfortable. If I'm picking up straight from work, I am desperate to get home.

As for presents, I find it inappropriate to buy presents for other children without agreeing with the parent first. DD is lactose intolerant so an Easter egg would really annoy me. We also make a point of only buying one or two and ensuring both children get exactly the same amount. If DD got one but not DS it would cause arguments and I would not be thanking the parent! Two years in a row, on the last day of term before Xmas, a friend of DD gave her a book as an Xmas present. We couldn't reciprocate until the New Year, which felt too late and then felt I'm only doing it out of guilt not because I wanted to, and DD started making a list of all the friends she wanted to get presents for. We had to say "no presents for friends" as it was too expensive.

As for play dates, I find them a pain. All the drop off and pick ups and it upsets our family dinner so we don't eat together. She keeps getting invited and I want to say "no, it's too much faff, she has homework or clubs to go to". We've also had to cancel after-school childcare and get no refund on this which is annoying. So it costs us still and now it's inconvenient!

There are two sides to this and we only heard one.