AIBU to wish fewer people drove their kids to school?

[zizza]

It's been lovely commuting to work since the schools have been (almost) closed. I thought it was because of people also not working, but turns out most of the traffic at "normal" commuting times is school run traffic - kind of knew that from past experience of how much better it in is school holidays, but this has been highlighted by the Covid situation. AIBU to think that more children should walk to school?

I have had to explain to my mum in the past why people drove to school if they have a job to go to straight after dropping off so don't have time to walk to school and then back home to get the car, but I'm still mystified by how many secondary school age children get dropped off by car (again, I understand that some people live too far away from their secondary school to walk but what happened to kids walking up to about 30 minutes to get to school with their friends?) I think I'm getting old...

We have to drive our kids to school as don't want them on the buses. There is no chance either can walk. One is at a school seven miles away and the other is on a road without a pathway and would take too long even if safe.

I agree, and there will always be those who just can't be bothered to walk, but most people probably have genuine reasons. I hate having to do the school run in the car, for a start parking is always a nightmare, but I'm always going to/ coming from work which isn't within walking distance. On my days off, I always walk.

@XelaM

Why don't you walk to work?

I'm guessing the same reasons apply to kids as well...

This

DD2 (10) attends a primary 2.4 miles from home. According to Google this is a 48 minute walk, some of it is by 3 lane flyover with no pavement. The alternative route is longer.

I drive because I work full time, plus flyover and no pavement!

DD1 is at secondary 4.5 miles away, she catches the bus, but at the moment, with Covid restrictions, sometimes she can’t get on a bus. On those days DD2 eats breakfast in the car, we drive DD1 partway to school, leave her to walk the remainder while DD2 and I turn back and drive to her school in the opposite direction.

I have to drive mine to school in order for me to then get to work on time.

There's an easy solution: ban - or severely restrict the walks to school.

That worked very well during the 1st lockdown, the country had never seen so many walkers and their bloody "daily walk"

Yanbu

So many kids getting dropped at the gate at our school too or parking in the staff car park. They clog up the main roads so walkers are walking through the fumes, they speed down the 20mph streets, then they park blocking someone’s driveway. Yes some parents have a drive from school onto work but not all of them. Kids at secondary schools should really have a viable alternative offered such as a school bus. Ok things a bit different now due to the pandemic but this issue didn’t just start 12 months ago.

Adults drive everywhere. Walking in the cold in the inappropriate footwear that schools insist on, (no boots (WTF!)) is NOT healthy or a good example of exercise. It's a lingering trait of this country to treat children worse than adults, often to the point of cruelty.
I've just watched Oliver Twist when it was very bad, but there are still traits of that way of thinking in UK society, and also alas in some schools.
Two other examples:
It breaks me that children age 11 to 16 are realistically not allowed the human 'luxury' of toileting all day long.
Within the last 20 years it was very usual, upon telling anyone that you were a teacher, for them to quip that they should bring back the cane. This still disgusts me, as it did then.

Sometimes I drive my dd to school - it's cold or she's tired or has a lot of stuff to cart. It makes her day easier. I dgaf whether someone else thinks I should be walking. You do you.

My DD's bus costs around £700 a year. If my DS had gone to the same school is would've been more cost effective to buy a cheap second car and me to drive them. As it turns out he went to a different school and cycles 2.5miles each way so she's stayed on the bus.

I think at the moment it's worse as school buses are all arse about face with the covid rules so it's not fair to comment currently.

However, I voted YANBU because I live within a few minutes of the primary school & around a 25 minute walk to the secondary. I would walk my primary kids to school then hot foot back to the house to drive to work. I expect most people were probably rushing on to work after drop off.

However one mum I know drives her 3 kids to school and no lie, you can SEE her house from the school gates. It's at the top of a very steep hill so you can see her house easily. Her kids are the same age as mine, I know she has no SEN kids as she lives next door and chats to my friend. I mean.....why?? Pure laziness is all I can think as the walk is barely 5 minutes, and more annoyingly she parks on the zig zags.

My secondary age child cycles to school, pretty much no matter what the weather. When we are wfh if the weather was horrific we would drive and drop her at the outskirts of the estate the school is in as the roads are a nightmare but it's very rare.

I think there is a vast difference though to driving your kids because the walk/cycle/bus is excessively long, and driving them just because parental anxiety over safety has gotten the better of you.

It's a consequence of people being free to choose the school they send their child to, I'm afraid. It changed decades ago. It's noticeably worse when the weather's bad, so hopefully things will improve for you as summer comes on.

Walking in the cold in the inappropriate footwear that schools insist on, (no boots (WTF!)) is NOT healthy or a good example of exercise.

just swap shoes when you arrive at school?

You can buy decent gortex waterproof school shoes. I wouldn't cross a river with them, for a shorter walk in the rain, they're fine

^ I live a 3 minute walk to a parade of shops and the amount of my neighbours who jump in their cars, rather than walk over is ridiculous^

What if they don’t want to carry bulky stuff home on foot?

It is bloody miserable to walk 30 mins in the rain if your destination isn’t home with a hot cuppa, so yes, I would also get my kids in the car.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Sometimes I drive my dd to school - it's cold or she's tired or has a lot of stuff to cart. It makes her day easier. I dgaf whether someone else thinks I should be walking. You do you.

I think my kids benefit a lot more from a walk in the fresh air to wake them up, and it's a pity to drive someone who will then have to spend the day sitting at their desk.

I wouldn't even impose that on my DH.

I saw some statistics a few years ago that about a third of those driving their children to school went straight back home.

What irks me even more is those who drive a Chelsea Tractor or are in their pyjamas.

The nasty cure to this would be those who walk their children to school are first in the queue for secondary school places. Given the lengths people go to so as to get their chosen school place, walking each day would be minor in comparison.

There's a mystery why parents in a country like England, or any in the UK, are unable to ever provide appropriate rain clothes to their children, and "getting wet" is the worst possible thing that anyone can imagine

Walking in the cold in the inappropriate footwear that schools insist on, (no boots (WTF!)) is NOT healthy or a good example of exercise.

Change when you get there? That’s what mine do for school and what I do when I get to work (in normal times). I really don’t think walking in the rain is Oliver Twist-level cruelty

The nasty cure to this would be those who walk their children to school are first in the queue for secondary school places. Given the lengths people go to so as to get their chosen school place, walking each day would be minor in comparison.

you are a genius!

I wish they would drive better. We have an almost single file road at end of mine with a school at the top. At school times the mothers who universally just about drive 4 x 4s (private school) drive down the middle of the road often at huge speed so if you going down it is really dangerous as they come at you and just about never seem to give way or slow up.

My comment was mainly about secondary where you can't change your shoes.

Maybe in private schools you can?

The nasty cure to this would be those who walk their children to school are first in the queue for secondary school places. Given the lengths people go to so as to get their chosen school place, walking each day would be minor in comparison.

It’s also a “cure” that disadvantages children who live a long way from their primary school - that would particularly affect children living in rural areas, or children who’ve been unable to attend their nearest schools due to oversubscription.
It could also disadvantage children with disabilities, or children who have parents with disabilities.

@Crystal90567

My comment was mainly about secondary where you can't change your shoes.

Maybe in private schools you can?

They don’t let pupils carry an extra pair of shoes in their bag and also don’t allow comfortable/waterproof shoes as part of uniform? That is abysmal, honestly. How can they justifiably enforce what pupils wear on their feet when they’re walking to school?

@Crystal90567

My comment was mainly about secondary where you can't change your shoes.

Maybe in private schools you can?

why can't you? They carry the bag they want, they can quickly change shoes before walking in. How do you do at work or when you have an interview? I never turn up soaking wet or muddy.

My personal favourite are all the mums (usually mums) driving the kids in their gym kit.

My work car park is shared with the local primary school, not owned by either so everyone has equal rights to park there but it’s chaos as school pick up/ drop off time. Parking in disabled bays to drop off or pick up kids or parking over spaces and refusing to move is the worst. It’s a small town with two primary schools with half going to the respective schools, so no one would have more than 10 minutes to walk but seems like no one does.