What is average commute to work for mothers?

[user1461609321]

Hi

Just curious about how long most of you would commute to and from work each day if you have primary/ early secondary age school children?

Just curious about the norms particularly in London and whether this has posed any problems for you?

I currently leave home at 7.30 each morning then back at 6.30pm, eldest in secondary from September, youngest will be yr5, just trying to see how to manage commute/ school runs and ensure adequate supervision of kids before and after school

So my questions;

1. What time are you leaving home in the morning?

1. Who oversees your kids getting ready for school,

1. how old are they and do they get to school on their own?

1. How far is the child's secondary school? How do they get there? How long does it take them?

1. At the end of the school day? Are kids home alone? What time do you get back?

I would probably say it's worth asking to start early and finished early and your dh does the opposite ie start later and finish later or vice versa, so you each have an am or a pm to deal with. I too would prefer my dc didn't go alone to school though.

I used to travel alone to another borough from yr 8 if not earlier.

It's easy enough to find out the average commute, it's about 31 minutes each way with large regional variations. In London it's 43 minutes each way, in Wales just 24 minutes each way.

I go swimming before work so leave early (WFH now and can't remember the exact times when I did my 25 min commute, I think about 6.15 to 6.30am), DH gets the DC ready for school. He works in the town we live in and cycled to work after dropping off the primary school aged DC. The secondary aged DC walk or cycle to school, it's just under a mile. In the afternoon pre-pandemic we had one day a week when DH or I WFH so the secondary DC didn't come home to an empty house (primary child went to after school club), the other days one of us finished early so we could pick up the primary age child from school and then are home for the secondary DC getting home from school.

Now we both WFH so are always around.

Leave home 7.10am to drop the kids (age 4 & 8) off at breakfast club for 7.45am. Kids are then picked up at 4.30pm and we usually get home just after 5pm. Primary school is in the city centre, close to my office, so we have a slightly longer commute using public transport. Kids usually chill for a bit whilst we get dinner on and/or catch up with any work at home.

All things going well, the commute won't change as the feeder secondary school is on the same grounds.

DH WFH permanently.

I work 4pm-9pm, 15 minute walk to work.

DC age 10, primary school is a three minute walk, secondary will be a ten minute walk for them when the time comes.

DH walks him to school with the dog. I collect him for lunch and then drop him back, and head to work. DH collects him later.

I am very lucky that my commute is about a 10 minute walk. DD's school is on the way, so drop her off to breakfast club then continue to work. Same thing at pick up.

The downside is that I'm on a very low wage.

What time are you leaving home in the morning?
8.30am

1. Who oversees your kids getting ready for school

Me

1. how old are they and do they get to school on their own?

14,12,10 - older two leave for bus at 8.05am. Myself and 10 year old walk to school (15 minute walk) then I power walk home get straight in car and drive to work for 9.15am start.

1. How far is the child's secondary school? How do they get there? How long does it take them?

Bus.

1. At the end of the school day? Are kids home alone? What time do you get back?

I collect 10 year old at 3.30pm (finish work at 3pm). Other 2 get home by bus at 4pm

I wfh except for one day a week and am out roughly 8-6
That day dh deals with them. He wfh full time

I think that’s extremely lucky but not that unusual post covid

PS my commute is 12 minutes door to door by car

I've always worked from home so have been able to oversee getting ready for school until it was no longer needed (probably around the start of year 8). But my daughter has been getting herself to and from school since year 5. She's now in year 10. She has an hour's journey to school and a longer than average school day so leaves home at 7:20am and gets home at 5pm. I'm home when she gets back so no issue there.

Since secondary school age my children have been responsible for getting themselves up, ready for school and getting themselves to school.
We don't live in London, but still in a large city. Where we are virtually all the kids get themselves to school either bus, bike or walking.
I have changed my hours so I'm at home after school but before that they were home alone for about 1 and a half hours.

I have two teens. The council recently did away with school bus travel if you didn't use the closest school.

This means that I leave the house at 8. Drop the youngest at 8:20 and the eldest at 8:30 to the 6th form campus.

I would then (pre Covid) go straight onto appointments or drive into the office for 9.

On appointment days the lady who runs my diary ensures that I am back for my son at 3:15 and pick my daughter up at 3:30.

Home at 4 to work on laptop for several hours.

Lone parent and no contact with my parents and in law.

You will find a way to make it all work 🙂

I can't leave for work before 8 as that's when breakfast club opens so I'm quite restricted as it's an area with heavy traffic. I work part time so finish at 3 but full time would be tricky as no after school club opens past 5.45 round here and again traffic is likely to be problematic and would limit work to a very small radius.

Dd2 is 8 so I've got a couple more years of restrictions on that yet. Dd1 doesn't need to leave til 8.15 so leaves after us, locks up etc she's been doing this since just before her 11th birthday although we have neighbours with a dc the same age who wfh on hand if there is any problems (there hasn't been and she's 12 now)

To add primary and high are next to each other about a 10 minute walk. Dd1 used to collect dd2 but the timings for that no longer work so I had to check he my hours. Dd1 walks and is quite capable of coming home and being alone although not needed as I have to collect her sister anyway. Dd2 gets thrown out the car on my way the send breakfast club opens its doors and is usually the last child collected as I desperately find somewhere to park and leg it to the school gate

DH will be home after school, I was more anxious about a newly 11yr old who has never traveled without us going on 2 different trains in London even though for very short journey.

Plenty time to get him used to this. Dd is lucky enough to have a short walk but plenty of her friends have to get busses (although generally only if they are out of catchment - Scotland so most go to their local school as as we are in a city centre the catchment isn't huge). Growing up though I lived quite rurally and had a long journey via public transport to school and round here many of the private school kids often get themselves there via busses from quite a young age. Definitely pre secondary. Does he have friends he can travel with?

Dad, North London

1. What time are you leaving home in the morning? 8:15 to walk to school

1. Who oversees your kids getting ready for school? Me

1. how old are they and do they get to school on their own? Six, so I walk him most days, sometimes my husband his step dad walks him.

1. How far is the child's secondary school? How do they get there? How long does it take them? Primary school is a 15 minute walk, his secondary school when the time comes will be a 15 minite walk in the opposite direction.

1. At the end of the school day? Are kids home alone? What time do you get back? Monday my husband picks him up at 3:30, Tuesday to Thursday he is at after school club until 4pm, on Friday I pick him up at 3:30.

Before I started working from home ( five years ago), my routine was as follows:

Leave the house between 5.30 and 6 am.

Take a bus, two trains and (regularly but not always) another bus to work. - 2.5 - 3 hour commute.

Work

Return (2.5 - 3 hours commute).

Husband looked after children and it was an enormous strain on him because they had SEN.

The commute would have been 1.5 hours each was (possibly 2) if I could drive.

On the commute, I prepared for work, answered e-mails or studied.

My three DC are at secondary school. My commute is 35-50 minutes by car (depending on traffic - occasionally longer). We all leave home at 7.45, I drop them at the bus stop and get to work around 8.30.

Evenings vary a little, but typically I leave work at 4pm and drive to school to pick them up at 5pm (it's slightly further from work to school than from work to home). They can get the bus home if they finish at normal time, but if they do an after school club then the timings don't work (it's a public bus not a school bus).

I work 0.7 FTE, which for me means I do four slightly shorter days and have Friday off.

I commuted an hour when mine were in primary. I got them ready and they went to wrap around care, getting home around 6-6.30pm. Secondary they got the bus. I am grateful now that no childcare needed. I work at home now and generally drive my daughter to school as she goes through a woods, but she gets the bus back (lots of children in woods at same time)

7.30
Me
13. No I drop them at the school bus stop
20 miles so no, they can't get there alone. The bus takes 30 mins
School bus drops off at 5.30 and I collect them from the bus stop.

I wfh 3 days a week, commute into London on the other two, but leave at 3.40 to get back in time, and then make the extra hours up in the evening.

I used to work locally and share school runs with another mum, which worked quite well.

He'll be fine OP they grow up a lot after starting secondary.

I grew up in London and was a latchkey kid.

1. 7.30am-7.45am, with DC

1. Me

1. Y3 and Y5. No, I drop them to breakfast club

1. Both in Primary, but about a 15/20min walk. Their primary is on the way to the secondary school, so when DD1 moves up, I'll probably drop them both to the primary and DD1 will walk with friends from there. Or I'll drop her to school

1. No, DH was able to change his working day to facilitate pick up. I'm usually home between 4pm-4.30pm

Ok, for primary-
7.30
DH or au pair, changed to neighbour we paid for final 2 years.
She walked or cycled with au pair, often walked with DH or got a lift occasionally, neighbour drove as had bad back
She went to after school club in primary until 6th class, when she went home alone after ECAs every afternoon in school (and we had built up to that before bullying issues in the after school had forced our hand - it started in 4th class with her leaving afterschool but walking when I collected her, and I drove, and building up to letting her leave at 5:30 when I was due home at 5:45 from my train so we'd arrive roughly the same time, and had pushed back to her leaving at 5pm before she needed to leave the club permanently - so she was used to the walk, unlocking the door, ringing me to say she was home, safely using the kettle for a drink, getting herself a snack, and getting started on any homework left to do, and she had a phone for the purpose of that walk and the walk that she made with a group In her class (about 8 of them) for the school senior hockey afterschool group to a different local school once a week about a mile the other direction).

She's now secondary, occasionally walks or cycles but as a hockey goalie, has a very (very) large bag of gear as well as sports uniform and books to carry. So usually is driven, it's about 1.5 miles.
(And yes, gear needs to travel as she has club or province training a few nights per week outside of school).

1. Depends on the day - earliest is 7.15
2. Mostly me but dh on early start days

3/4. All are at secondary school level which makes things so much easier! They all walk or bike. It takes ds17 about 10 minutes by bike and the younger two have a 15 minute walk.

1. Depends on my timetable but sometimes ds17 is in charge for a few hours.

Leave home at 7.20 and drop toddler DC at childminder at 7.30, then at work (1 hr commute) by 8.30.
I usually get the older DC (year 1 and year 5) dressed and sort their stuff ready for school, and then DH gives them breakfast and takes them to before school club at 8am.
I finish work at 2pm (work 21 hours a week over 4 days) then get back in time to pick up DC from school, then childminder, and do all the after school care.
Obviously they are not old enough to be home alone yet, and won’t be for a while. When the eldest go to secondary school, it’s a 10 minute walk away and they will probably walk themselves (or walk part way with DH and other child, as it’s along partly the same route as primary school). They will either walk home and have maybe half an hour alone, or else walk to primary school (also 10 mins away) and meet me there.