To think kids should be able to walk in the rain

[MiaMarshmallows]

To school if it is less than 30 minutes away?

@GoldenOmber

See below. (And also a previous comment that implied that, although she has a car and agrees it's miserable, she doesn't want to make other parents look unkind by making a fuss!)

Well, gosh, terribly sorry for saying you were only being sneery because you think other parents are mean and make our kids sit around with wet feet. Clearly you don’t think that and just felt like sneering anyway, I do apologise.

Their call, then, really? I’m not sure that “Mum, I know I could stay dry by putting the right clothes on but I don’t want to do that so please drive me door to door” sounds that compelling, but perhaps I am just a terribly mean parent.

It might not be compelling, but if I could drive my kids and save them from getting a soaking (waterproofs or not) then I would. Walking in the pissing down rain is grim, no matter how much MN tries to spin it as being virtuous and fun and wholesome.

Again: what do people think those of us who can’t just ‘jump in the car’ do, exactly? Stay wet all day? Refuse to go to work/school/nursery? Or could it be, could it possibly be, that we actually do make this work?

I mean, you might make it work but it doesn't make it any less grim and miserable, lol. I walk outdoors all day in the rain, it's grim even if your waterproofs keep you dry.

Umbrellas are no good here as it's so windy so I still get a soaking wet face, my glasses get soaked and I can't see a bloody thing. I can't clear my glasses as if I get a dry t-shirt/cloth out of my pocket it's soaked in seconds.

I mean, it's doable and I do it everyday but I go home to a nice, warm, dry house where I can strip off, shower and change into something clean and comfortable. That just about makes it bearable imo.

In what I'd see as a "normal" situation I'd say YANBU. But I can think of all sorts of cases where the walk wouldn't be suitable. Like a pavementless road with known reckless drivers. Or a school who are pricks about uniform and would give detention to a child who "is scruffy" because they walked in the rain. Or, like a PP mentioned, a school that's known for having cold rooms. Right now feels like the coldest it's been since spring and I bet lots of schools haven't put the heating on because it's not the calendar date for it yet.

Couldn't be arsed to read the whole thread, but my two penny's:

Depends. On how bad the rain is, how good the coat is, what they need to carry, how robust the child in question is, what they have on that day, have they got a cold etc.

Yeah if you send them out in hurricane Bob with an art project and ingredients for food tech with a cold and wearing tesco shoes and no coat and no change of clothes - massively unreasonable.

Child well, travelling light, bit of light rain, decent coat, waterproof shoes, meh, just get on with it.

@Coffeepants

Did I say other parents are mean or did I say my choice is to drive?

“I don’t understand the perspective at all, kids must just fit into your life and if we managed to walk in snow and hail so should they. I guess we could also still use landlines only and wash clothes by hand.”

“Life is hard enough as it is, don’t think they need any more lessons in resilience from age 4. Also, in my mind, keeping them comfortable and dry where I have the means and ability to, is just common sense.”

Is what I was thinking of.

But as I said, clearly I’m wrong to suggest you were only being sneery because you thought other parents were being in some way mean/unfair/not wanting to keep their children dry and comfortable.

I mean, you might make it work but it doesn't make it any less grim and miserable, lol. I walk outdoors all day in the rain, it's grim even if your waterproofs keep you dry.

Walking for under 30 minutes in the rain is really not the same as being out in it all day, though, is it? Especially if you don’t get wet and cold through inadequate clothes, as various people are convinced that children walking in the rain must do.

@GoldenOmber

I mean, you might make it work but it doesn't make it any less grim and miserable, lol. I walk outdoors all day in the rain, it's grim even if your waterproofs keep you dry.

Walking for under 30 minutes in the rain is really not the same as being out in it all day, though, is it? Especially if you don’t get wet and cold through inadequate clothes, as various people are convinced that children walking in the rain must do.

Well, it depends on the type of rain.

Light drizzle is fine, but when it's so torrential you can hardly see, it's not likely to be enjoyable no matter what waterproof gear you have at hand.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me how wonderful it is to trudge along pavements in horizontal rain and 20mph winds, though

it's not likely to be enjoyable

It’s not, really. But I suppose I don’t consider “not enjoyable” to be all that awful as part of a school journey, once you’ve removed wet/cold/in pain? Certainly not on the same level as ‘abusive’ as a pp described it. It’s a bit annoying, but it’s not a horrendous act of suffering.

@GoldenOmber

it's not likely to be enjoyable

It’s not, really. But I suppose I don’t consider “not enjoyable” to be all that awful as part of a school journey, once you’ve removed wet/cold/in pain? Certainly not on the same level as ‘abusive’ as a pp described it. It’s a bit annoying, but it’s not a horrendous act of suffering.

Oh, I agree it's not abusive (or neglectful as someone else said) but I also don't think it's the worst thing in the world to drive if it means your child doesn't get an absolute soaking.

I would say so far in 2021 (or since the schools/nurseries reopened at least) I’ve had maybe four school or nursery trips where I’ve thought, hmm, best to get the waterproof trousers out for this one. And a fair few more where it was raining but not that badly, hoods up and don’t dawdle levels of rain.

Oh, I agree it's not abusive (or neglectful as someone else said) but I also don't think it's the worst thing in the world to drive if it means your child doesn't get an absolute soaking.

I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world either. I certainly wouldn’t make mine walk in all weathers out of some Victorian-boarding-school philosophy of toughening them up!

But, I think if your answer to “can kids walk in the rain” is a flat-out “no” and accusations of neglectfulness, that’s probably not doing them any more favours either.

@GoldenOmber

I would say so far in 2021 (or since the schools/nurseries reopened at least) I’ve had maybe four school or nursery trips where I’ve thought, hmm, best to get the waterproof trousers out for this one. And a fair few more where it was raining but not that badly, hoods up and don’t dawdle levels of rain.

I suspect this is really area dependent.

It's chucked it down everyday this week, to the point where we had flash floods and you could barely see, lol. We're on the Cumbrian Coast and torrential rain in the autumn/winter months is the norm - our town is cut off several times a year due to bad floods and storms. Umbrellas are pointless - you need full-on waterproof protection plus wellies to stand a chance of staying dry.

But when I lived in Suffolk, it rarely ever rained and when it did, you were fine with just an umbrella - you often didn't even need a hood or a jacket

I’m in Scotland - we aren’t traditionally thought of as lacking in rainy weather up here

@GoldenOmber

I’m in Scotland - we aren’t traditionally thought of as lacking in rainy weather up here

Fair enough!

I do think it can vary hugely on area too. My mum's 40 minutes away and has been in glorious sunshine all day! I got soaked four times at work and finished my final walk 0.5 seconds before we got hit by hail, lol.

@pelosi

I think YABU. I briefly contemplated walking to work this morning to conserve petrol. But it took me 2 hours to get ready, I wasn’t going to undo all my hard work by getting drenched in a torrential downpour.

Hardly think that the average schoolkid (or normal adult tbh) puts two hours into a morning prep. So not really relevant to OPs question.

We have, to be fair, had many more days where it’s absolutely pelted it down for some part of the day, just not as many where it’s rained heavily all day or just rained in the window of time where school/nursery journeys happen.

@GoldenOmber

We have, to be fair, had many more days where it’s absolutely pelted it down for some part of the day, just not as many where it’s rained heavily all day or just rained in the window of time where school/nursery journeys happen.

It's probably the same where you are, but here it's been SO unpredictable.

It's gone from pissing rain to sunshine to hail to sunshine and back o torrential rain within ten minutes, lol. I was out with my last dogs of the day - it was glorious sunshine and t-shirt weather, and less than five minutes later it went dark and absolutely belted it down

We just cycled home through a sudden storm and nearly got blown sideways by a sudden gust of wind! I suppose if we’d have been squashed by the van that was behind us at the time it would have been a sign of our dreadful snowflake tendencies for some on this thread 🙄

I voted YABU because it’s not very nice having to sit in wet clothes all day. Even the best waterproofs aren’t 100%.

@Spudlet

We just cycled home through a sudden storm and nearly got blown sideways by a sudden gust of wind! I suppose if we’d have been squashed by the van that was behind us at the time it would have been a sign of our dreadful snowflake tendencies for some on this thread 🙄

Tbf cycling through rush hour traffic in high winds is an entirely different risk level to walking on paths or pavements in the rain...

It wasn’t the rush hour (by ‘just’ I meant the school run today). And there weren’t high winds when I set off! Or at least not the gusts.

We don’t have pavements so we cycle or we drive. 🤷‍♀️

We usually walk in the rain. Only because school isn't far and wellies/a waterproof coat is usually enough to keep them dry. If it was very, very heavy rain though, there's a good chance they'd get wet anyway. I think it's not too bad walking home (kids usually love jumping in all the puddles anyway!) but definitely not on the way there if they don't have to. What's the point of sitting all morning miserable in wet clothes if it can be avoided?

@Spudlet

It wasn’t the rush hour (by ‘just’ I meant the school run today). And there weren’t high winds when I set off! Or at least not the gusts.

We don’t have pavements so we cycle or we drive. 🤷‍♀️

School run is definitely busy/rush hour round here, anyway, cycling in a road at a time of year where weather is unpredictable and wind gusts are possible or likely is a different risk level to walking in the rain on paths. I stick to my statement. I'm assuming as you're cycling though you aren't someone who always drives their dc to school due to the weather?!

Mine do and did yesterday. Good trainers, thick coats, umbrellas - warm bath and hot chocolate when they got in