Walking vs driving kids to school

[OpportunityKnocks]

I've seen a few rants about traffic on local Facebook pages.

Every single time there is someone who says 'well, if the parents walked their children the half mile to school then we wouldn't have this problem' with an inference that parents are lazy.

Well, actually, people usually drive because it is quicker, just like they drive to work because it's quicker than walking or public transport.

Parents, like the rest of the population have stuff to do. It wound me up because a lot of comments were targeted at parents that don't work. I'm currently on mat leave and drive DS to/from preschool. I have other reasons why I drive him aside from time, but that's irrelevant. Why is my time any less valuable than someone who has to go to work? That half a mile is a 40 minute round trip walking vs a 20 minute round trip driving.

So AIBU to call these people out on blaming parents for traffic?

I live round the corner from a primary school it’s less than a 2 minute walk and I have seen parents from my street get in there car with the kids drive them to that entrance and then drive back home. It’s ridiculous.

no, some people don't have any choice - but in our village with all its pavements there are plenty driving their kids half a mile to school, and then sitting there (often with engines running) at pickup time so clearly not in a hurry. It all adds to the impression that it is parents who care the least about the planet, and the future of their ickle preshuses.

there are ways; car share, walking bus from a suitable rendezvous, school buses, breakfast club for parents who need to be at work sooner than walking the kids to normal drop off allows - but it takes effort. And people don't do effort.

We have a parents car park at our school a anyway so there’s no parking on the road etc it’s all very civilized...

Rolling my eyes at the lazy comments specifically directed at me. I've already stated I have other reasons why we drive, but they are irrelevant to the point I'm making about the value of my time.

I think I may live a little further than I think for it to be a 40 min round trip walking. Not much though. There's also 4 pedestrian crossings, 2 of which add a lot of time.

Anyways, seems I'm unreasonable and the consensus is that parents, specifically sahp, need to find the time to walk

When dd was at primary we lived a ten min walk away. If I walked to school and back and then drove to work I was late for work. I therefore had to drive to school.

OP unless you’re going to state your reason for driving then pp will assume you’re lazy.
If a SAHP is able bodied and not heading to an appointment then they should try to walk.
Your refusal to say a reason makes your points invalid.

I don't think anyone is saying that your time isn't valuable, just that not having to run the gauntlet to school through a herd of nose-to-tail traffic that chokes up the environment while our children grow more and more sedentary is also quite valuable.

You said you wanted to call people out on blaming parents for traffic. But the school run traffic is made up of parents! Who do you think is causing it if not all the people in it?

We are 1.4 miles which I can do in under 30 mins but it takes 40mins one way with the kids. 4 days a week I am going on to work and there is no time to double back for car and on the one day I don’t I am almost always heading straight to the supermarket which is not walkable from my house. They are talking about car exclusion zone around the school without any plans as to what those who have to drive will do. No plans for safe cycle paths or anything else to help.This clearly will push parking onto different residential streets to the current ones but apparently the plan for this is to discourage it - well if that worked an exclusion zone wouldn’t be being considered.

@jk it really doesn't.
My time is prioritised elsewhere, I have a schedule, I have a family to manage. It really is irrelevant. Just because I'm not going to work, it doesn't make my time any less valuable.

I definitely prefer walking as it's relaxing and teaching my son to bike ride! Takes about the same time as driving becuase of all the traffic at school times and parents thinking they are the only ones with somewhere to be, meaning lots of standstill and parking in the road.

I think it's good to point out on Facebook to encourage walking as long as they don't point out individuals in the street. When I do drive it's becuase my disability is playing up and I wouldn't love a jobs body telling me to walk on one of those days!

It would take me 1hr 58 mins to walk to my son's school along 60 mile an hour country roads which are heavily used by idiots and no pavements, working full time in addition means it is a no for us.

Sometimes people have no choice but sometimes people arent willing to make adjustments to their lives, small or big, walk or move, change jobs etc. I work and i walk my kids to school. Alot of things come down to life choices.

depends where you live I suppose - but if it's not the actual middle of nowhere then the school is probably not very far from the house - walking is definitely better! I don't know anyone who drives to the school and i'm in East London, (I don't have children yet) But lots of my friends do - they all walk down or cycle for school run!

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Haven’t read all but totally agree OP. This winds me every time it’s talked about on local fb groups. Shows how narrow minded people are that they can’t see anything other than their own situation. My kids go to school in a different catchment and it’s 3 miles away. I drop them off on the way to work but even if we lived under 1 mile away who has time to walk their kids to school, walk home then drive to work? They forget that kids aged 5-10 or whatever can’t just see themselves to school. Either that or they expect every mother to be at home all day hand washing their husbands smalls instead of out working.

You’ll see this has been bothering me for a while

I agree with others. For those that can walk and don't it's mostly laziness. Our school car park is full at 2.15pm. School finishes at 3pm and by the time the kids are out, strapped in and they contend with the traffic outside school they probably get home about 3.15pm which is the same time that I get in when I walk with my two. No one lives more than a 15 min walk from school in our catchment area.

And it's not doing their kids any favours. There are so many benefits for kids walking to school - physical and emotional/mental - as well as getting them used to the journey so when the time comes to do it themselves it's not a big thing and they can be trusted to make the journey safely on their own. For me, those 30-40 mins a day are more than worth it. I make sure I find the time.

I just put it in on google maps and according to that it takes me 6 mins (I said 7-10) to drive and to walk it would take 1 hour 7mins!!! I think it would probably take an hour...but it’s not safe so I wouldn’t even attempt it!!

I do think that if you live within say 20 mins safe walk and are around at school run time with no work to go to/from straight afterwards then there’s no excuse BUT on a pissing wet or cold day why would you put your kids through it if you don’t have to?

My issue is the people generally complaining on these threads are tarring everyone with the same brush.

Honestly the people who don't have somewhere urgent to get to, no mobility issues, no other reason not to, and still drive rather than walk under a mile to school/work/whatever are lazy. It's bad for the planet, bad for the kids and creates congestion for people who actually do need to drive. Obviously there are many reasons why you might have to drive a short journey (e.g. once a week I work 20 miles away - I wouldn't get to work in time if I dropped kids on foot then walked home then would have to drive past the school on my way to work anyway). However when I'm not working I walk them, even when I feel lazy and would rather 15 extra minutes in bed. When it's drizzly I put them in wellies and waterproofs.

Haha i 'put my kids through it' - we walk in all weathers

Our village has a car park at the village hall which is less than 10 mins walk to the school but parents still insist on blocking up the village lane - as mentioned some for more than half an hour before school finishes!

So I put my house and the school into Google maps, 0.5 miles and it's says it should take 10 minutes to walk it. We generally do it in about 7-8 minutes. If I drove it would be maybe 1-2 minutes. I don't understand a half mile drive taking 10 minutes!!! How does it take you 20 minutes to walk half a mile? Are you crawling there?!

I am not sure why those who go onto work are getting so defensive, even the OP says that some people need to go on to work.

DH and DD walk to school, about 0.5 miles, it probably is quicker to walk as there is a cut through when walking and busy lights and busy roads when driving, and then the parking issues.

We should all be reducing our car use, even if it is only some journeys.

I absolutely think that if you are able and if you don't have an onward journey (ie, to work) that you should walk.

I live half a mile from the school, it takes ten minutes there and slightly less on the way back (no children slowing me down). I am frustrated every day by parents who live closer than I do and drive, I don't see how getting in the car, busy traffic, getting parked, getting out the car, walking to school is really any quicker. It's laziness, and these parents admit that.

@Vulpine so even on the way to school if it’s pouring with rain you’d walk them instead of driving? Is this for environmental reasons?

I genuinely don’t understand that.

God this is also reminding me of my old neighbour who had a DC the same age as DC1 and used to drive bloody everywhere then roll her eyes at me for using a buggy when DC1 was 2.5 and "old enough to walk". Errr yes he did walk most of the way here and will nap in the buggy on the way back - how is that better than your child being driven here?