To not buy a second car we can't afford just to do 0.7 mile school run!

[Acunningruse]

Our second car broke during the first lockdown and we haven't replaced it as DH and I now both do 3days wfh/2 days in office. This means that the parent wfh that day walks the children (9 and 5) to school. We live 0.7 mile away from school and to be honest it's been absolutely lovely over the spring and summer months, having time together on a morning and not fighting for a parking space. However...
This morning was absolutely biblical rain, just torrential. I wrapped kids up as best as I could in waterproof coats, wellies and took ab umbrella (utterly useless in wind!) but we still got soaked. Dd (5) thought splashing in puddles was hilarious but DS (9) was increasingly grumpy, muttering about how 'no-one else' walks (this unfortunately is almost true, 99% families drive) abs then got very upset that his trousers were soaked so now of course I feel horrendously guilty. Not to mention all the playground comments this morning of 'oh goodness, you walked in THIS! You must be soaked!' No shit Sherlock but it's a bit of water I'm not sending them down the mine ffs!!!

AIBU- no, buy another car at once, walking every day will be awful in winter
IANBU- no, buy the kids some waterproofs (where to change them though? School not really set up for it as above no-one else walks far) and tell them when I was a girl I walked to school in rain hail or snow, uphill both ways...

Waterproofs are fine. Take off in cloakroom hang on peg.

You are absolutely not being unreasonable

Don't buy another car. What you are doing is brilliant and is much better for the environment. Buy waterproofs.

I would buy a second car but then I hate walking

Don’t buy another car - it will work out cheaper buying good quality waterproof clothing in the long run!

Get the school involved in “walk to school “ initiatives, part of which can involve WhatsApp group for offering lifts in unseasonal weather to those doing their bit for the environment by being less car focused!

Take a taxi if it’s raining really hard.
Walk the rest of the time

Totally fine! Just get better waterproofs for everyone including trousers for the kids

Invest in decent waterproofs and wellies and embrace the puddle jumping fun

YANBU.

I live very close to my DC school but we have a similar arrangement and survive with one car.

My DM didn't drive back in the day and I had to walk to school in all bloody weather. Its good for the constitution or something.

Get waterproofs. 9yo can take off at peg and 5yo just strip off outside so you can make sure they get hung up properly and not lost. You’ll be wasting a fortune with a second car.

Buy some good waterproofs, it's mad to buy a car for that, can you work out how many hundreds of pounds a mile it would be as well as the environmental cost. Cycling is another suggestion, get there quicker so less wet?

I really despair about climate change. It's 0.7 miles, I can't imagine driving that distance.

YANBU. One of mine wore waterproof trousers and wellies this morning. The other refused to, but polyester school trousers dry really quickly anyway and they had sensible shoes on. Nobody drowned or dissolved.

You can get really fantastic double layered waterproof trousers from Mountain Warehouse to help with the wet trouser problem, sorry if I misunderstood your post but if trousers are getting soaked maybe they aren't wearing these?

They slip on over school trousers beautifully so the school trousers stay dry.
Works for my 5yo. We're walking too at the moment.

Get better waterproofs. I wouldn’t dream of getting another car for the days when it’s raining for a walk that short. You have the option of a taxi if it’s ever absolutely unbearable.

We walk further than that to and from school because I just refuse to drive them to school. The number of cars is ridiculous.

If you're going to walk in all weather though, you need to invest in it.

Waterproof trousers and wellies. Waterproof coats and hats/decent hoods which stay up.
Same for snow, you may need padded waterproof show trousers and thermals depending on how cold it gets where you are.

They take them off when they arrive at school. Our school has no problems with kids popping to the bathroom to get them off without spraying water over anyone else.

Thank you all, I am very much of the mindset that we are doing the right thing and with recent price rises we could barely afford a second car and I really feel that the benefits of walking every day outweigh the occasional bad weather day- though maybe I will feel differently by November!!

I think mum-guilt just got the better of me this morning.

Any recommendations for waterproofs for a tall 9 year old boy who will a) moan about wearing them b) moan about getting wet if he doesn't wear them...

Yanbu.
Those heavy rain days are few and far between. I've walked to my office for a decade and there's probably only one or two days a year it's truly awful walking in.

I walk my kids a mile every day. Made my daughter wear a poncho over her jacket (school dresses pose a different problem from trousers), and wellies, the other insisted on her normal jacket but wore wellies. As you say, absolutely pouring this morning. Both changed out of wellies and the poncho outside school and I carried poncho and boots back.

People coming in cars were soaked too- they didn't put on wellies so the kids' feet will be wet all day.

I find driving a short distance to school in awful weather unpleasant, the spray and the worse traffic, and then you don't dress appropriately for the shorter walk into the school after you've parked. Better just get yourself kitted out properly (if your son's trousers are tucked in the wellies then a decent length waterproof coat should sort the rest?) and make the journey on foot.

Please don't buy a car for 0.7miles. The roads are choked up with unneccessary short journeys by car.

YANBU at all. Would be a huge waste to get a second car just to drive such a short way.
You could consider getting a cargo bike with a rain tent. It would keep the kids dry and you'd have to wear good waterproofs and change when you get home.
Something like this www.ternbicycles.com/en/support/kb/336172/clubhouse-fort-what-it-and-how-build-it

I see others have replied while I wrote that! Pleased I'm not in the minority here.

We got rid of our second car a couple of years ago and can't imagine going back to two cars now.

I second getting a taxi or lift on the days the weather is too bad. We live right next to the primary school my son goes to now but when the older one was at a further away school I would always text my sister in law and offer a lift if the weather was really bad.

Add up all the money you're saving. As well as how good it is for the environment. Think about if there was another lockdown and you were paying for two cars sitting doing nothing on the driveway all day.

yanbu
up to a mileis perfect walking distance
raingear is a wonderful thing.

I would buy the 5 year old decent waterproofs. I would tell the 9 year old they can also have decent waterproofs or get wet let them choose as if you just buy the waterproofs they may refuse to wear them. Also invest in a good storm proof umbrella. We've all had to do it as kids it teaches resilience etc etc.