How far do you walk?

[secondfavouritesocks]

I've been deeply shocked at some of the expectations on threads recently, that a child can't manage a couple of miles to school, etc, when in my day we all did it, without exception.

I do think that younger generations are incredibly out of the habit of walking, and missing out on so many benefits, social, physical health, mental health, enjoyment, being in touch with your environment, etc. Walking home together was a daily social event at my school, we walked around 3 miles home from primary, and maybe 3.5 miles from secondary.

My own children went to a school 4 miles away, and there was a bus, but they mostly preferred to walk, and are all fit, healthy young adults now who regularly do sport, as in team games a couple of times a week ( in their mid/late 20s)

I walked 7 miles to school during the pandemic, as our school didn't want staff on public transport, and we all had to sign to agree the policy to avoid public transport as far as was reasonable - this was not a problem, I enjoyed it

I have cancer now, and cant do as much, but still enjoy walking the 7 miles home at least once a week, instead of getting the bus - highly recommended by oncologist

A week or two ago at school I witnessed a school boy being challenged on his lateness, and he had a complete temper tantrum at the suggestion that he could walk to his train station while his usual bus was on diversion. It was less than a mile and a half, he was totally outraged at the suggestion.

AIBU to say that walking regularly is life enhancing, and the current generation are really missing out, and it is a habit that needs to be built up, and encouraged, rather than avoided?

My eldest used to walk two miles to school and two miles home to avoid using the school buses. He hated how stuffy they were. He preferred walking. At a new school where he cycles and it takes him twenty minutes by bike each way. He does get a lift in bad weather though. But in good weather he gets on with it.

I walk a fair bit as part of my commute - about 2 miles (then I get the bus, train and either another bus or the tube). But I'm on my feet and walking for about half my working day, if not more. And up and downstairs multiple (50? 60?) times a day.

I couldn't walk to work, as it's 17 miles (Google maps tells me that would take over 6 hours, but I do find they over estimate how long it takes to walk!). If I'm meeting someone in my local area for coffee I always walk, it's only about a mile (Google thinks that should take me 25 minutes, but I do it in about 13 or 14 minutes).

I take the youngest out on "dark" walks in winter, everyone gets wrapped up after dinner and wears head torches. It's great fun. They love it. Makes it an adventure. Glad to read others do this 😂

I said YABU, not because I think walking is bad per se (I've always walked loads and me and DS covered mile after mile when he was younger), but because I think the chaos of modern living doesn't always make it a realistic option to walk to school. Parents rushing kids to more than one school and then rushing themselves to work in another direction is a way of life for many people, then throw in after school activities in another location, and it's a necessity to drive/use some form of transport. It's just not always possible to walk to and from school. Of course these families should try to incorporate walking into their schedule in other ways, and those who can walk to school should try to do so.

I would walk places where we lived 2 years ago because it was relatively flat terrain; would walk kids to nursery (2 mile round trip) with them in double buggy and that was twice a week; we’d also walk into the small town and up to the park, maybe 1/2 mile each way. Rarely used the car unless going to do a big shop or if weather was bad.

Now we live at the top of a hill, town is on to of hill the other side of the valley and only a mile away but the terrain makes it impossible for me to walk it as going uphill is a complete no no - I get so out of breath it triggers my asthma, if I walked uphill 1 way I’d be so stiff and sore the following day that just moving round the house would be a nightmare. Local school is just over 1/2 mile away but, because of lack of pavements, 60mph limit and single track lanes between fields, there’s no way I would walk my children to that school, even if my health allowed it so the route is down the hill, round a roundabout then back up other side of the same hill. Because of the situation I never leave the house if I’m not going in the car; this also means I’m increasingly isolated and have no social circle whatsoever.

But, before people say move somewhere better, there isn’t the opportunity and nowhere we could move to as every property has 50-100 applicants plus most places the same size as this house (3 bed ex council 1970’s build) cost at least 60% more than we currently pay. It all just contributes to a life I hate living.

Fair enough, that's such a shame. I couldn't cycle when I was pregnant (SPD) and I hated it, I felt so trapped.

I should have said, we do walk to school but we're lucky and it's only a four minute walk away. Plus one of us is usually WFH, so we don't need to rush off to the train station after drop-off. My son walks to his childminder's after school which is about a mile, and then back to ours which is another mile. He whinges about being tired, but that's fair enough as it's 6pm.

I think most people would like to walk more, get more exercise, be outside more, but modern life is not set up for it.

True.
DD always walked to school but it was only 0.75 miles primary and just over a mile secondary.

Last job of mine was too far to walk (10 miles!) but the job before that, which I had for 7 years, was only 1. 5 miles so I always walked.

Whilst walking I would often see families on my route who were setting off in the car to take children quite short distances to school. I would usually recognise the uniforms so knew which secondary they were headed to.

One in particular I noticed because several times saw this teenage boy sitting in the car with his headphones in while his mum scraped ice off the windscreen. The uniform was the same school DD went to and from their house it would have taken 10 minutes to walk at the outside. By the time his mum had got the ice off and navigated the one way system and traffic lights it really would have been quicker to walk!

I would love to walk more but time is the major constrictor for me as I have 2 children to take to different places and also work. I try to minimise sitting and have more general movement in the day. Currently doing a wall sit whilst writing this!

As a kid I walked to shcool and back.

Primary school was about 20mins away.
Secondary started at about 45mins away, but we moved closer (25mins) during my 2nd year.
6th form was split across two sites, one of which was about 1h 15mins away.

It's didn't seem such a big deal at the time but it did set me up for a lifetime of walking. I've never minded walking and often chose to do so when the option presented itself.

I now WFH, but walk around 4-5 miles a day with the dog and love it.

I often think how glad I am that I walked when I was a child, because it's a habit that's kept with me for life and done me a great deal of physical and mental good.

I'm lucky that I can walk to work - takes me about 25 mins. If it's chucking it down I'll sometimes get the bus but the traffic is so bad here (esp. when it's raining) that it honestly doesn't get me in much quicker. I have some waterproof trousers so don't have to get wet. Might not look too great but I don't care - I have a podcast on and feel so much better for a walk, it's a great way to start the day.

If I've had a bad day I've had time to calm down on the way home too so I don't come in raging at DP!

I think it’s great to walk and I would generally quite enjoy it if it was just me I had to take to and from work and I didn’t have kids to factor in.
I used to walk 2.5 miles each way to the office most days but I stopped when I had to start managing nursery drop offs & pick ups as OHs working hours meant he wasn’t available for either

The thing is, you know from their uniforms what school the kids go to - but, do you also know where the parents work or what they do after dropping said kids off? They might have a commute ahead of them and work flexi time so they can drop kids off as they go past the school. It’s not always just a matter of ‘these people live closer to the school than I do yet I see them packing the kids in the car for the school run’!!

I love walking everywhere. And my older children are very good walkers because when they were little they were walking everywhere from a young age. Walking to school and back was a no brainer.

But walking has changed a bit now as my youngest dc struggles with walking a lot. She has suspected Autism so this may be why. We’ve had to rely on buses and taxis more than ever before. I’m hoping it will get better over time and she will enjoy walking more as she gets older.

When the kids are all at school I go for walks on my own to try and get the steps in and get the fresh air.

During the week there simply isn’t the time. Monday to Thursday I work 8am to 6pm. On 2 of those days I have an hour’s commute each way. The other days I WFH but have to take my child to and from childcare. Then there’s the usual requirements of cooking, cleaning, resting etc crammed around the edges of the day.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I walk every day, it’s one of my favourite activities.

We ditched our buggy pretty much as soon as our child could walk and he now has excellent stamina. He’s 3 and will walk between 3 and 4 miles quoits happily. I agree that lots of children are out of the habit of walking and would struggle even with fairly short walks. It’s very hard for parents - with the pressures of the world as it currently is, few people have 40 minutes spare to walk to school / work etc.

Being able to walk there was my main deciding factor between job options recently, I find it such a good way to start the day! I only have a car so I can get to my dads in ten minutes rather than an hour+ (2 buses or walking), so my DS gets to see more of him, and for when I have too much to carry.

@secondfavouritesocks I think you are being a bit martyrish and melodramatic to have signed an agreement not to use public transport when schools were open tbh. I'm physically able to walk 7 miles to/from school but it's a bit of a luxury to be able to do it as part of your work day rather than leisure isn't it? I'd have to leave at 6.15 to walk 7 miles to work. Also I have kids, as do many people.

I think plenty of people do walk places - my general rule is if we can physically and reasonably walk or cycle then we'll do that. If timings or extreme weather mean that's not possible then we'll drive. I live in a small, walkable city so it's generally not a problem - I walk the kids 10 mins to school, then the half hour to work. Walk into town at the weekend (also around half hour walk)

Surely if they live close to the school then it doesn't matter where the parents work or what they do - the child can just walk and the parents get on with whatever they are doing? That poster was talking about a teen, why was he sitting in the car waiting for his mum to drive him a short distance? Madness.

I love walking but don't walk as a mode of transport. It's very rarely convenient time wise as I'm work full time and am a single mum.

My dc can walk to school or the bus stop but they don't always.

I couldn't walk to and from work as I wear business dress and it would be totally impractical.

I often get up early and do a 4 mile walk before work with a friend or my partner and go for long walks at the weekend when I can.

Parents probably drive their children short distances to the school when they have work because they’ve never taken the time to try the walk themselves.

We both work full time and took the time to walk to prospective schools, making excuses doesn’t cut it. It’s a daily commute for your child when it’s a new school, it’s important.

I assume those who add to the dangerous parking outside school because of then driving to work never bothered.

i walked ds to nursery and then walked to pick up our one car, from dh.
school was a bit far to walk but often used to park halfway on pick up,
we always had a dog so that was part of our dog walk

There are many reasons why a parent might drive a child to school and most are nothing to do with being lazy.

There are several shades of grey in life and as long as people aren't hurting you let them be.

As far as I'm concerned I lead a healthy lifestyle and model that to my children. They are all fit, heathy and active. Whether they decide to walk to school or not is irrelevant to that.

That poster was talking about a teen, why was he sitting in the car waiting for his mum to drive him a short distance? Madness.

I mean, there could be all sorts of reasons from laziness to health issues, to heavy bags of equipment, to bullying, to an unsafe walk due to a rural location, or maybe because it's just easier to put everyone in the car in the morning rather than have them all doing the same journey in different ways.

My older children went to a primary school almost 2 miles from home. This was not my choice, that was the only school with space for them. The school run was often unpleasant, particularly on the way home when they were tired after a long day and I’d essentially have to deal with three tantrumming children for 45 minutes. I can walk the 2 miles in 25 mins on my own but when they were small it easily took 45. It was particularly bad when the weather was shit, despite having winter gear and umbrellas it just isn’t fun walking that distance in a storm.

Now my younger DC has a place in the school on our street and it’s honestly life changing. We set off 5 mins before he starts and he’s never very moody because it’s a 5 minute walk along our street. Even in a storm it isn’t the end of the world, I love it!

I personally do walk a lot. I have an active job and I spend the vast majority of my day standing, pacing or rushing around. My average step count is 18k a day, I sometimes do as many as 30k. I’m a runner as well so I try to run 3x a week which ups the steps. I love walking personally but with children it’s a different ball game entirely and isn’t always pleasant.