About driving kids to school

[Rowanapp]

So I walk the kids to school, and then cycle to work. Now secondary schools are back the traffic is awful again. I hate the fumes and worry about my kids developing lungs and brains being exposed to them. Why is the traffic so bad? Key workers presumably have always been driving to work. Everyone else still WFH. I always thought parents needed to drive due to needing to go on to work but that can’t be the case it must be parents driving children to school. I live 1.1 miles from school and up quite a big hill but mine have walked from starting at 4, or scooted (but I worry about scooter because of the traffic and now are good on bikes but I can’t cycle on the road with them because of the traffic)
Why can’t these children walk? I get some rural kids can’t but in a densely populated city why not just send your kids to a school within a few miles and let them walk. It’s good for their mental health and learning and physical inactivity is a far bigger killer than covid. Obviously some children have disabilities and specific challenges but honestly when did we become like this that most kids are thought incapable of walking a couple of miles a day.

I drive my kid to school. Just because I’m working from home doesn’t mean I have any more free time to do the school run by walking - which would be an hour in total there and back, rather than ten/fifteen minutes. Normally I would drop and go onto the office, now my office is my home but I still have to drive. What’s so difficult to understand that we are still working under normal hours but just at home?

I'm taking the piss already by taking DC to school when I should be working. Pardon me if I don't think it's appropriate to take 40 mins out instead of 10.

I live in a village 1/2 a mile from the Primary school. There are pavements all the way. Every school morning it's like the start of a rally in my street as they all set off for school in their cars. 20 - 30 mins later they all return home. And repeat at 2.40pm every day. It was exactly the same before lockdown so these aren't people rushing back for a work zoom call. They're just lazy. And yes there are problems with parking outside the school due to all the cars - most of which don't need to be there at all.

I drop my kids to school in the car so they can get up 40 minutes later. I also pick one of them up every day as they prefer that. I don’t really care what anyone else thinks. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why can’t these children walk?

Because it would take an hour and 10 minutes to walk at my pace (alone not my pace with a 5yo and pushing a pram, or worse walking with a 2 year old who hates the pram), and then an hour and 10 minutes for me to walk home (or 25minutes to cycle). So I'd be late for walk. I'd then have to walk home 2 tired and grumpy kids and get them home after bedtime.

And no, we don't live rurally.

Not everyone lives within walking distance to school, and to catch the school bus, some require a lift to do just that.

In an ideal world, you’re right. I sympathise, our son has asthma.

Right now though, when he returns after a year at home next week, I’m not risking him taking the 18 mile journey to College on the bus, it’s just not safe. Neither is it safe for him to cycle on a dual carriageway. So, I’ll be driving him in twice each week (blended learning) until he’s double vaccinated.

I live a 10 min walk away from my eldest school and we walk when we can but this is rarely because I also have to drop his brother off at nursery 15 minutes in the opposite direction then drive 40 mins to work which I have to somehow arrive at by 9.30am. I work in an opticians and we have been open throughout not everybody has had the opportunity to work from home. I'd love my kids to walk to school but it is logistically impossible. You really aren't thinking on this one I'm afraid.

Simple logistics: - 2 schools, 2 different directions, both need to be there within 10 mins of each other, and my meetings often start at 8am. My husband drives our daughters: drops primary one outside a friend's house for her to walk the rest of the way, takes other daughter to 2ndary that's 2 miles from our house. Son walks to school (20min walk). Our kids always walked the 25mins to primary, not sure what we'll do post-Covid - probably lift-share, but at the moment that's not allowed.

I WFH, some days I walk for half an hour each way happily, other days I drive so I can log on as close to 9 as possible, or because it’s raining. Or simply because I’m an adult who pays road tax and car insurance so I can drive as and when I choose. My children are extremely active so I’m don’t need to walk for their mental or physical health.
Don’t worry so much about what others are doing, people have a million reasons why they might drive instead of walk so save the judgment.

Not everyone can work from home but they still need to continue to work.

We always walk when I'm not working but 3 days a week I have to drop them off and get to work, I've also driven them the less than 1 mile journey when it's been absolutely pissing down.

I think there are just too many people in the country / world and it's overcrowded.

My DD would need to catch a 7.15 bus to get to school by 8.15. She isn't allowed on school premises until 8.40 because of covid. So what would she do in the meantime?
I drive her because it means she doesn't have to leave so early; it's on my way to work; I don't want her taking public transport during a pandemic if there is a sensible alternative; it's cheaper to drive.

Drives me mad! I bet most parents could walk their kids to school but are too lazy

Because my daughters drop off is now 8:55 thanks to Covid it would take half an hour to walk home and I start at 9. Go figure.

I bet most parents could walk their kids to school but are too lazy

Yep, you’re so much better than those of us who drive. 🙄

Kids at different schools in my case, with hardly any time to get between the two.

DD is too young to walk herself, ita a mile and a half downhill to school and I've got excruciating hip pain at the moment, so walking downhill and and uphill is unbearable, so DH drives her and comes home to start work at 9. If he walked with her, he wouldn't be back in time to start at 9. I had to walk for her on Monday afternoon and was in so much pain we had to keep stopping every few minutes, it was just horrendous. Some days are worse than others and on days that are better, we do walk.

At DD's primary school, there was one mum who used to drive her kids along and they lived about 30 seconds away in the car 😂 She wasn't going on to work because she was a SAHM. We used to actually park where she lives (we live out of the village), when dropping DD at school, that's how near it was!

Our school is five miles away. I’ll be continuing to drive, thanks! It’s rural so there’s no public transport at all. Plus I have to get back home to work.

If we went to our catchment school we’d walk, but we don’t because our chosen school is much nicer.

Hmm yes I do understand that people are WFH but have to keep certain hours. We pay for breakfast club for ours though even though I suppose if we drove and WFH my husband could perhaps be back (8.50 is normal drop and he can WFH in normal times). We started with the proposition that we wouldn’t be driving to school though and therefore would need breakfast club for an 8.30 drop off on the days I work.
I’m not judging particular parent btw. It’s just I have really noticed a massive increase in traffic since the schools went back and therefore can’t help but conclude that a lot of it is school related. So wondering why, in a densely populated city with lots of schools and where everyone can go to their local school, there would be quite so much school related traffic.

Oh and to the poster who said they couldn’t cycle because they would need a shower. After a short cycle a few miles in UK weather there are very few people who would be excessively sweaty once you get fit by doing it a few times a week. Or if it’s longer or hilly - electric bike is your friend, they are amazing. I do get that not everyone can cycle and walk and there will be many reasons why it won’t work for individuals. But looking at the congestion on the roads we have to get our kids more into active travel or what sort of gridlocked crazy polluted country are they going to live in.

@Rowanapp so you've got plenty of reasons why some children don't walk.

Does it help you..

Thought not!

My DS’s school is 1 mile as the crow flies but the only suitable walking route is 2 miles each way. It’s a lot for a 4 year old in reception who is tired from school anyway. In September and October we did sometimes cycle with him, and will do so again when the weather improves. But walking isn’t really an option unfortunately, it would take forever at his pace and we might be wfh but we still need to be ready to start by 9.

I think you are being slightly unreasonable with the primary aged kids. We live 20-25 min walk from school and I am still working from home but even if I walked I wouldn't manage to log in until 9.30 which is too late.
I agree about secondary school kids though. We live by a secondary school and the number of cars is insane. Why they can't get the bus if they love too far to walk is beyond me.

OP walking to school would be the norm if it got a child head of the queue for a secondary school place (not that will happen, nor should it, and perhaps a small number have genuine reasons to travel by car). If a congestion charge applied the numbers would reduce greatly I am sure.

What I dislike most is the use of Chelsea Tractors and would like to see them classed as if a van or HGV and to drive one, you must take a driving test in one.