AIBU to be annoyed with middle aged child haters????

[Syrupent]

At a retitement do this week, the conversation turned to the school run. One colleague bemoaned the fact that he has to ensure his newspaper purchaseing trip does not co-incide with the 'school run'. His wife agreed that seeing the cars dropping kids off made him unspeakably angry! Another colleague agreed, saying she believed children are still 'grown with legs'. Well i am keen on cutting down car use, but many of these parents were no doubt dropping off on their way to work, not having the luxury of time to walk. The school run is such an easy target, I don't drive my own ds to school so no axe to grind BTW! But what really annoyed me about their attitude was the fact that they are happy to fly long haul on their numerous holidays, which must cause loads more pollution. None of these people have/want children as if you couldn't guess.
It just irritated me thassorl....

I know what you mean. there is all this tut tutting over driving to school but as many parents now are working, it's a case of drop them then try to get to work in five minutes flat.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we all lived in a world where we could put our green wellies on and walk the kids to school before walking home to take the cake out of the aga before we walk the dog on our way to decorate the church with flowers.....but the school run is actually reality for many people who have to pay the bills. Of course I expect some drive who needn't, but not that many I wouldn't think

You must have realised that everything that is wrong with the world is the fault of mothers!!!

I can't drive so I walk/bus everywhere but some car drivers like to massage their guilt by pointing their fingers at 4x4 owners and the school run.

We'e got one of those at work. 50 next year and no kids. He thinks that basically children should be seen and not heard - and definitely shouldn't take up road space. He tends to mutter quite quietly though as the rest of us all have at least 2 DCs these days

I walk everyday 15 mins to school and back 2 times a day. My nieghbour drives to the same school 2 times a day...

Don't get me started on Baby Boomers, the generation that single-handedly fucked up society for those of us who have to bring up our children now, and are still alive to blame us for everything.

Greedy, smug, bitter, nasty and bound to live to 100 under the mistaken impression that people like me are going to support them just because they paid taxes like all the rest of us.

and yes, as a single friend of mine - single mother of a now adult child who is 50 - says, 'If you meet a man in his 50s who's never had kids or been married, RUN!'

Are these the same people that drive to get their morning paper on a sunday?
I do think more people should walk to the school run but it's not always that easy and I guarantee the same people moaning about the cars for the children are the ones who can't possibly get wet when they have to pop to the local shop and it's raining.
(I don't drive to school either btw, I get two buses because we live ten miles away, btu when I can drive I will and sod anyone who wants to complain)

I agree syrupent - the school run is disproportionately targetted for opprobrium. in particular I can't get my head round people in cars who complain about it - ie they think have more of a right to be using them than parents/kids.

usually dds walk to school and back - 20 minutes -9/10 times a week. The times they don;t walk is either because we're going to the supermarket or because the weather is truly hideous. so no particular vested interest in this for me either.

Obvious arguments about obesity aside, I've never understood why fat businessmen feel that they are entitled to drive to work but women are not entitled to drive their children to school. Everytime I hear someone moaning about the roads being busy during the school run I'm tempted to complain that the journey to school would be a lot quicker if all these prats in their Mercs and Beamers got off the road and walked instead. And my child isn't even at school yet!!

I would class this as misogyny rather than child hating, but I totally agree.

It's OK for an able-bodied man to drive to work in the car on his own but outrageous for a woman to drive multiple children to school.

Really it was a mistake to ever let women drive, since we have no sense of direction and can't park anyway.

yeah, it's misogyny alright.
all the cars on the school run have at least two people in them, usually more.
which is more than you can say for most cars in rush hour

I think it's just a generation gap thing. People from my generation (50+) would have walked to school on their own from the age of about 6 or 7. So, some of them don't understand why children nowadays get taken by their parents in cars. Attitudes have changed, it's just that some people haven't quite caught up with them.

I think 80sMum is right. True - almost all people who are now 50+ would probably have walked to school, reason being that their mothers were more likely to have had the luxury of choosing to stay at home (I appreciate, obviously, that didn't apply to all families, but it certainly applied to more than it does now) so could walk with them. If they didn't want to do that, then yes, much younger children would walk unaccompanied than now .... not because there were fewer paedophiles about then, but because there was less publiicty about it and therefore less widespread fear. Plus, of course, fewer families back then didn't own a car so had no choice but to walk.

These days, as so many others have said, many parents are on their way to work. They simply wouldn't get there on time if they walked to school and back home to collect the car afterwards. Their need to use a car at all to get work is also compounded these days by a crappier public transport system, and, on average, further and further commutes, due to people often not being able to afford to live close to their place of work. I know I am generalising but I am convinced that this generation have, on average, so many more restrictions on their time and money than our parents did. I totally agree with Expat and her babyboomers comment.

I would be tempted to point out to such people that if employers were more flexible about working times then more parents might be able to walk then go to work OR perhaps all employees could consider alternative times so the pressure isn't always on at the same time. The school run does not constitute the majority of traffic; these moaners should ask themselves whether they drive when they could walk.

definately misogony rather than child-haters. Lets be honest here, ALL car owners are guilty of using their car to make short trips sometimes.

So presumably, being 52 this year and therefore a 'babyboomer' I am greedy, smug, nasty and bitter?

Thanks expat, I'd always had you down as a reasonable person up till now, but that remark seems pretty nasty & bitter to me.

It's my opinion and I make no apologies for it.

I'm tired of our generation being forced to pay higher and higher prices and pay through the nose just to breathe and people from the previous generation going on and on about how we never save, have it easy, are in debt through being frivolous, etc.

The word 'some' in that sentence would make all the difference expat.

I have never said anything of the kind about the next generation, having spent the last 30-odd years hearing it from my MIL.

And some people from your generation will be saying the same thing in 20 years time - and so it goes on

Well, that's assuming there is another generation or two, for how screwed up it's been in the past 40 years.

But whatever.

Asa mum of teenagers, I have a policy of never bothering to argue with anyone who says 'whatever'....

okay

i have a policy of not arguing with people who get wound up over comments from complete strangers in cyberspace, too, FWIW.

Fine, no argument then.

I'm a bit bitter and nasty at the moment (ask Mr Bubble) - will I do?

No, bubble, you need to go on the anal sex thread right now.

Moony killed it.