To think kids should be able to walk in the rain

[MiaMarshmallows]

To school if it is less than 30 minutes away?

plenty of people dont have a choice

Should add that I do t wear full waterproofs or put my kids in full waterproofs every day - you don’t usually need them if it’s just a bit of drizzle. Do usually keep some stashed in bag, though.

I’m on the fence. Yes I’m with adequate protection they could. But then they have to cart round sopping wet coats/brolly alongside their stuff (usually no lockers!) and often their shoes will be wet. Which they then have to wear all day. All windows and doors still open in schools and if they are damp from the rain it’s going to be more cold…

We walk to school everyday, if its raining my son wears a thin waterproof coat and a pair of waterproof over trousers, when he gets to school he puts them in a little dry bag. Yes, the outside stays damp, but the inside is dry so if need be he can wear them again on the walk home. I then give them a good shake at home to get any water off, that usually leaves them dry enough to be packed away.

What hope for climate change if kids can’t walk because it’s raining?

Isn't that just normal life? My kids walked to school in the rain, and DH and I walked to work. We have coats and umbrellas.

@Pixxie7

What hope for climate change if kids can’t walk because it’s raining?

Quite.

How on earth did previous generations who didn't have access to a car cope. Storage space at school hasn't shrunk since I was there. It was none existant then too.

All these excuses are just that. Excuses.

I remember feeling miserable that my parents wouldn't come out for me when it was raining before or after school. Not drizzle but bouncing rain. I don't like the thought of the kids being cold and damp all day either. So I'll run them down in the car those days.

Even in the winter in the UK it’s rarely raining hard enough that a normal waterproof jacket and an umbrella aren’t sufficient for a walk to school. And a thin pair of waterproof trousers (if it’s so torrential these are needed) won’t go mouldy in a plastic bag in one day. And getting a bit damp doesn’t give you a chest infection. There’s some serious hyperbole on this thread. Walking, cycling or public transport should be the norm for travel to school, not the other way round. It’s depressing that it’s apparently changed so much in a short space of time. I’m not that ancient but no one would have been seen dead getting dropped off by their parents at my secondary school, rain or no rain.

Yes they should. Even walk in snow if they have to.

But you're very brave asking that question on here.

I can hear the sound now as thousands of sets of pearls are being clutched at the suggestion of children actually using their legs and walking somewhere. These are always the same parents that four years before were bragging on Facebook that their DC was walking at a month old and doing tap routines by six months.

All shoving waterproofs in a bag will do is keep them damp, smelly and will potentially make them go mouldy. Damp waterproofs need to be aired and dried out, not stuffed in a backpack to fester all day.

Nonsense, they won't get close to going mouldy by the end of the school day. Just air them when they come home. Mine are fine after a wet day's hiking, stuffed in a rucksack until I get home.

We have no choice rain wind thunder hot weather 40 mins each way to do school run as I don't drive and would have to get to 2 unreliable buses.

@chocolateorangeinhaler

Yes they should. Even walk in snow if they have to.

But you're very brave asking that question on here.

I can hear the sound now as thousands of sets of pearls are being clutched at the suggestion of children actually using their legs and walking somewhere. These are always the same parents that four years before were bragging on Facebook that their DC was walking at a month old and doing tap routines by six months.

I was thinking similar. Could set up a bingo card if reasons it's not possible (meanwhile thousands of dc manage perfectly fine)

My lot walk every day regardless as I leave for work before them... and being teens they generally refuse to wear a jacket as that's not cool 🤦‍♀️... girls will consent to a brolly... the smell of wet wool from the blazers must be horrendous in classes in wet days as apparently nobody wears a waterproof jacket...

If you have proper waterproofs then YANBU. If people can't afford them that no, I wouldn't expect a child to walk in the rain and sit there all day wet.

@lazylinguist

All shoving waterproofs in a bag will do is keep them damp, smelly and will potentially make them go mouldy. Damp waterproofs need to be aired and dried out, not stuffed in a backpack to fester all day.

Nonsense, they won't get close to going mouldy by the end of the school day. Just air them when they come home. Mine are fine after a wet day's hiking, stuffed in a rucksack until I get home.

I'm sorry but I cannot imagine living around wet bits in my bag all day with my school books. I left school a few years ago and it's still fresh in my mind.

Even with buses it's not pleasant to be out in the rain if it can be avoided. Can't imagine walking a full 30 mins in proper ration at the start of the day, awful

Also shoes? Being nursery age, do kids wear them to school? I can't see it, unless they have a designated area for drying clothes

I'm sorry but I cannot imagine living around wet bits in my bag all day with my school books.

They don’t sit there getting school books wet. They go in stuff sacks or pack up into their own pockets.

Honestly, people all over the country do this every single day. We go to the same schools and nurseries and workplaces that other people do, we don’t have special ones with special storage and special drying areas. It’s really not ‘awful’, we manage fine, you just have to dress for the weather.

@GoldenOmber

I'm sorry but I cannot imagine living around wet bits in my bag all day with my school books.

They don’t sit there getting school books wet. They go in stuff sacks or pack up into their own pockets.

Honestly, people all over the country do this every single day. We go to the same schools and nurseries and workplaces that other people do, we don’t have special ones with special storage and special drying areas. It’s really not ‘awful’, we manage fine, you just have to dress for the weather.

I know not everyone drives but getting a bus (im in London) is different to actually walking the entire journey which sounds a bit miserable

I know it's go in another bag, but it's just bleughh

I do the 1 hour round trip with my own child now to preschool, but I can't imagine actually walking there in the rain. If it rains it's bus or car. I care about the environment, but... yeah.

is different to actually walking the entire journey which sounds a bit miserable

People are walking entire journeys every day, with our feet. And we are fine, really we are. I appreciate that when you imagine it it in your own head clearly sounds like some sort of torture the like of which no person should ever have to undergo, but the reality of it is fine. It’s just… normal. You just put appropriate clothes and get on with it.

What is it you think people do?

“Oh, it’s raining, ugh. Oh well, waterproofs on”
or
“Oh it’s raining! Oh my goodness oh my gosh there is actual water falling from the sky, whatever shall we do, we cannot possibly walk when there is rain, I’ll just have to call school and work and nursery and tell them we cannot possibly be expected to leave the house!”

Gawd, kids these days don’t know they’re born,
When we were young we had to SWIM to school.. through 6ft of raw sewage… with weights tied to our feet.. and we got a good hiding when we got there!
Made me the woman I am today.

@GoldenOmber

is different to actually walking the entire journey which sounds a bit miserable

People are walking entire journeys every day, with our feet. And we are fine, really we are. I appreciate that when you imagine it it in your own head clearly sounds like some sort of torture the like of which no person should ever have to undergo, but the reality of it is fine. It’s just… normal. You just put appropriate clothes and get on with it.

What is it you think people do?

“Oh, it’s raining, ugh. Oh well, waterproofs on”
or
“Oh it’s raining! Oh my goodness oh my gosh there is actual water falling from the sky, whatever shall we do, we cannot possibly walk when there is rain, I’ll just have to call school and work and nursery and tell them we cannot possibly be expected to leave the house!”

I think some people on this thread are talking at cross-purposes. Many who are saying that waterproofs/change of clothes and shoes etc don’t really cut it, are talking about really torrential rain which happens quite infrequently. So to say ‘loads of people do it every day’ just isn’t true of those situations.

Many who are saying that waterproofs/change of clothes and shoes etc don’t really cut it, are talking about really torrential rain which happens quite infrequently.

But that’s the situation waterproofs are for, though.

Fine weather - walk in normal clothes, so long as your shoes are suitable.

Drizzle/light rain - coat that is water resistant to some degree, umbrella if needed. Will also hold up for short distances in heavy rain.

Torrential rain - head to toe waterproofs over clothes.

All-day hiking through downpour - more expensive waterproof clothes.

We don’t have a level of rain in this country where it’s impossible to dress for without being damp and cold and miserable all day at school/work/nursery. You just have to wear the right things.

Lol at the thought that a school round here
(South Wales) would be open for kids to walk to school in the snow!
They seem to close before a flake has even fallen - just in case. Often the forecast is wrong and we don’t get anywhere near enough to warrant a day off school!

And we lived in a shoebox , in a coal scuttle, that was flooded!

Come on , who the fuck wants to walk anywhere in bouncing rain for 30 minutes? Not all kids will have adequate over clothing to arrive at school dry underneath so may well have to sit in class soaked to the skin . The drains around my area only need a sprinkle of rain and they're flooded so the knobhead drivers drench pedestrians!
For the record I DO walk 30 minutes to work but I fucking hate it in the rain and I wouldn't expect my child to walk that far in the rain! Luckily for me, school is a 45 second walk from my gate to school