I can't cope with the school run anymore!!

[PapayaCoconut]

I don't drive. (Have a tiny breastfeeding baby, so won't be able to learn until she's older.) DH works looong hours. DD (5) just started school 20-25 minutes walk away.

I just can't do it anymore! DD is so tired some days I have to drag her scooter with one arm and push her sister's pram with the other. In the rain if I'm unlucky.

I'm seriously thinking about hiring a taxi to take us every day... 😖 AIBU?

I remember this, I didn't drive when my eldest started school and it was hard with just a 10 minute walk especially after a day at school! I remember carrying my eldest who was young for his year but enormous while pushing the buggy!! I would just do whatever makes life easy for now ie. buy a second hand double buggy specifically for the school run or at the very least a buggy board. On torrential rain days book a taxi!

Get a bike !!!

rascalrides.com/when-can-you-start-biking-with-a-baby/

, sometimes I think I must live in a parallel universe to mn!
She is 5 years old! A child half her age can walk 20to 25 minutes. She is lazy, she cant be arsed and is bored walking! she's got you towing her scooter too pfffft!!
Step up and be a parent!

Taxis come when they like, not when you need or order them, so don't rely on them for arriving on time. I've had taxi drivers arrive late because they had to take their own children to school... while the paying customer is late for their appointment.

25 mins one way? So you have to walk home and again at the end of the day? That's a hundred minutes walking. It's exercise!

I'm sure it's been said but if the school has a breakfast club, sign DD up and get DH to drop her. Even if he could only do a couple of times a week that would ease your load a bit. Two hours walking a day, all of it potentially with a whinging baby and half of it bonus a whinging 5 year old is no picnic!

Oof. Sympathies OP.

Just echoing what others have said.
Wrap sling is best option, and the baby will stay warm and dry if you do the good oversized hooded coat thing.

Buggy and Buggy board also good. Or double buggy if that's easier. Don't give it a second thought about 5 yr old being too old. nobody cares and anyone who does doesn't matter.

When you say you end up carrying the scooter....do you actually lift it up and carry it? If so that's gotta stop...tip it forward onto its front wheel and pull it along that way (raise height of handlebars if necessary). When I was in your shoes with school run and tiny BF baby, it took me a week or two to figure out how much easier it is to manage that way!

It's shit, OP, no doubt, but it is much easier in the spring/summer and I agree that driving the school run is its own headache and stress.

Pollution is highest in a car than walking or cycling, so your doing your child’s health a favour by not using the car

Meh it's 25 minutes, I heard to do longer with a double buggy, and kids in tow....you know why BECAUSE I had too. It's one of those things we have to do I'd love a 25 min walk now to the school all the exercise.

I must say I greatly prefer to get exercise without DC hanging off me and carrying the 1billion items their school requires them to bring.

Get a buggy board. Everything else means you learning something, child learning something, cost, or you potentially having to drag a bike home which is the problem you have now.

Get a baby carrier too, so if DD is really exhausted she can go in the buggy and baby can go in the sling. This is what I did when DS3 was a baby - I had twins so one in the pram and one on the buggy board. I can drive but we didn’t have a car at the time.

Some of these posts sound like a monty python sketch..
“In my day..” 🙄

Five year old will rarely have more than a boo bag which can go under the buggy.

Im guessing there's no bus? :(

I agree Fizzy. I hate how on these threads it turns into some sort of competition. Exercise and environment shaming people is unlikely to be helpful when they want a practical solution. I love how the men in these scenarios are never available to help, either.

Actually I don't think 20 minutes is too bad for a school run - and at least when you are walking you know how long it will take. The trouble with driving is you always have to allow slightly longer in case you get held up and to find a parking space. You then have the dilemma of whether to leave the baby snug and cosy asleep in the car (of course not!) or unstrap, wrap up and then walk in from wherever you have parked (as detailed by a pp). If at all walkable, I would almost always prefer to walk than drive as it's often ultimately quicker. And I wouldn't think twice about using a buggy - how is it worse to have the option of hopping in a buggy than being taken by car?

Depends on the school! And the 5yo. And if you've been shopping. I also have my work stuff with me.

I passed my driving test in my thirties after 8 weeks of lessons, once or twice a week. It’s expensive but doable. But it did take much longer to feel confident with it.

I think that comments about a competition, or a '4 Yorkshire men' sketch are ludicrous.
I cannot believe there are people on here who think it is anything other than completely reasonable for a 5 year old to be abe to walk 20 minutes. It us a sad indictment on how infantilised children in this country are!

Unless your dd is very heavy, would a buggy and a sling be the answer? I saw plenty of parents with double buggies picking up their children in Reception, if they had a very long walk. It isn't technically any different to giving them a lift home in the car if you think about it!!! It is just you that will be tired but at least your dd will be safe in the buggy and you won't have to carry her stuff and cope with the bike.

There are buggies that are designed for heavier loads I found the offroad sort the easiest to push even on a pavement (big wheels like tyres)

So a single buggy or a double buggy if you feel inclined. Don't worry about what people think. It is much more eco than driving a car and the fresh air will do you and your dcs good. Ditch pram for school run.

Just wanted to say good luck for your driving lessons. I learned and passed when I was 24, which might not seem that late, but it felt very different from when a lot of my friends learned, as they had all the time in the world (plus the bank of Mum and Dad) to spend on their lessons, and most of them passed quite quickly. It was a bit longer for me, but I was so so glad I did it, and it made life a lot easier. It will for you, too.

In the meantime, if I were you, I would perhaps think about a childminder - it's likely that somebody is already walking your way, so you could perhaps arrange for them to knock on for your child? The walk would seem much easier for her as well if she had kids to chat to on the way to school, I think. I think this would be cheaper than a taxi, and it saves you having to fuss around with the baby - and ultimately it would keep your child in the habit of walking, which is important - as she will be old enough to walk herself some day, and will then be used to it.

Buggy board! Sorry I haven't RTFT so I know others have suggested this but not sure if the OP has given a reason for a BB not being a good idea.
Get a board, and make sure you all have decent waterproofs.get your DD to walk as far as she can then climb on when she needs to. She's not to old, it won't make her lazy, and it will take a massive amount of stress out of your day. Do it!

Bloody hell there are some wankers on this thread.

“ I walked 100 miles with breastfeeding triplets strapped in slings, what’s the issue?” ::fake confused face::

Have a bit of empathy for someone who’s struggling ffs.

Exercise and environment shaming people is unlikely to be helpful when they want a practical solution I think as women and people who are bringing up the next generation it really is important to think of the environment and health of our kids.

It’s not shaming. It’s really important. If most of us parents walked the school run think how much less pollution there would be, how much less cars and how much healthier our kids would be. We all have this power to do it. I know it’s an adjustment at first, but it’s not 45 minutes, it’s 20 and small kids just need to get used to it that is how their leg muscles will grow. They don’t need to wait until they are bigger. 5 is well able for walking.

definitely don't use a scooter. What a nightmare those things are when you are tired and juggling and worried about driveways etc.

You are doing brilliantly to walk to school - do not listen to all these people telling you should learn to drive. We are being encouraged at our primary to stop driving kids to school (mine have grown up now, but we lived 5 mins from school on foot, partly because I had the fear of these situations and couldn't drive, but i met mums who combined lifts and walking with four kids. Never say no to the occasional taxi or lift)

I think it's hard to start with as you're not walking fit. We were lucky because although it was a 25-30 min walk, we live in a more rural area so it's a bit of a walk to anywhere, and when kids were small we walked rather than use the car, so a half hour walk there and back twice a day was ok just took time. I usually ran the other way to save time.

You definitely need a large (oversized?) very waterproof coat, and a hat with a large brim and wellies to keep dry - the mud on the footpaths is pretty sticky this time of year, and the puddles plentiful and deep, so an off-road style buggy with larger wheels is more useful. And carry the baby in the sling for the homeward journey and let the DD sit in the buggy, school is very tiring at this time of year. Your DD can leave her wellies at school saves you carrying back and forth. By the summer you will both be a lot fitter so the journey to school will be more fun in the dry, but you can make it more interesting to stop and look at nature changing seasons on the way.

We were the furthest from school, and it's interesting to note that DD was the fastest runner in her year in primary, she could lap most of the class in 600m. Most of them drove there even if they lived round the corner (mind you the footpaths are rubbish and there are not many pavements, we were lucky as we could go through some parkland which was wet and muddy but a more direct route)