AIBU.. Reactions to walking to primary school?

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Due to a house move, we had a hard time getting a suitable primary school place for DS in September. Thankfully we've now managed to secure one which is 1.3 miles from our new address.

I have a car but I fully intend on walking to school with him. We currently walk to nursery which is about half the distance, and I love our walks and chats together.

The thing that has really surprised me is the amount of negative reactions from other parents about our plans to walk. 'What about in the winter! What if it's raining! They will be so exhausted!' Some of them so dramatic like I'm commiting an awful act against my DS!

We are an outdoorsy family and have plenty of warm winter gear, decent waterproofs, scooters (with pull along strap if needed) and even a bike with large seat if he's really struggling in the first term.

Also it's a big school with absolutely notorious issues for parking/ driving at school run time so I plan to avoid the stress of that! And I will still have my car if there is an emergency/illness etc, but don't plan to use it otherwise.

AIBU to be a bit miffed at everyone's reactions?

We did that distance on foot as kids.
You might want to use the scooter to start with, as they are often tired out the first term - mine used to stand on the scooter and hold the handlebar with one hand and my hand with the other, so I could pull her along.
I would recommend having a snack with you to eat in the playground before heading home.

The problem comes when the school decides that everyone should do a "daily mile" before lessons start, as yours will already have done his and 2.3 miles is really quite a lot!

You need to learn the art of vagueness.

After the first person or two asked, the conversation should have been:
"how will you get to the school?" "we're not sure yet, we'll see what works best once he starts"

No need to have the same conversation over and over as then yes you could come off as being a bit smug!

I'm amazed people aren't congratulating you. Children don't get nearly enough exercise these days, what a great way to have quality time and exercise. DS will probably be calmer and able to sit still in school unlike a lot of the other kids who have had no movement.

You may enjoy this book, I haven't read it but I've heard about it. You can lend it to all the naysayers when you are done. 😉
There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids
'An exploration of the importance of the outdoors to childhood development'

Where was that? Our village organised and paid for a school bus ourselves. Children at a school where I taught caught public service buses, and paid for their season tickets.

The Tories? It’s been been that way since the 1944 Education Act! Free transport at 2 miles for under 8s and 3 miles for over 8s. In rural area, if a bus is provided anyway, they sometimes have space for those living nearer. How parents who live under those distances get their kids to school is their own business.

They're usually in a rush to get to work so they can pay the mortgage.

But OP hasn’t done anything to be congratulated on yet. She might find it a breeze, she might find it pretty tedious doing 1.3 miles at 4 year old pace, who knows!

Maybe that rule applied in 1944, but certainly in the 70s and 80s there were school buses. I remember when it changed and secondary school age students were told they had to walk even if they were 2.9 miles away and there were no pavements because I was effected. It was an impossible situation for many then as not all parents had cars.

It was Surrey. Were you a teacher in the 70s?

Yes I got that. OP seems to have the luxury of taking leisurely walks to school with her kids.

It’s the same rule today; the law hasn’t been changed. There is provision for those who have no safe way of walking to school though what is considered safe is open to interpretation. There is also scope for local authorities to provide something more generous.

I always walked and I worked full time.

Maybe the local authorities changed the rule then. I lived in more than one county during my school years and there were certainly school buses until the early 80s as I remember when it changed.

The rule is that free transport has to be provided for over 2 and over 3 miles for under 8s and over 8s respectively. There’s no rule to say that LAs can’t provide it for other groups.

you do you.

my children attend the school I work at. I’d love for them to walk but it’s 5+ miles.

Love walking but mine do find it hard work, 1.5 miles means leaving 40 mins before school in case someone feels tired or spots something interesting they want to look at and it is up a massive hill at the end of the day so if they have been at after school club none of us have the time or energy to spend an hour walking home when it is dinner time. Hill makes cycling problematic as well. An looking forward to new house which has a slightly longer but less steep hill option plus an easier bus partway so we can walk the rest. Always impressed at people's young kids that can walk far and think it is great that you are going to do it.

Good for you. Don't listen to others. Usually the ones who drive live 10min walking distance and are too lazy to walk. I mean they need to be up early to layer their faces in make up before they even step foot out of their house. You carry on.

We do a similar walk. Prepare for complaints if your dc notices their classmates all travel by car but if it's not up for negotiation it's easier because there's nothing to discuss. Get a big golf umbrella for drop offs, this was life changing for me after a lifetime of telescopic ladies umbrellas. It doesn't matter so much if you get soaked coming home. We love when the rain is awful and we have to strip off as soon as we're in the door, jammies on and a hot chocolate. We have lovely chats on the walks to school and I'd be devastated to have to swap that for sitting in traffic. Enjoy it!

The walk is short. We are 1 mile from school. We used to walk when the weather was nice. Son never batted an eyelid at distance. However I couldn’t make it back home on time to get to work as I ended up back home at 9:10am after drop off but start 9am. We also do his reading and maths practice before we leave as he’s too tired getting home at 530pm from after school club. I imagine many parents do this so walking and saving 30 minutes is a lot, rather than done from laziness.

To your question in hand yes you are being unreasonable….to be miffed about responses. Who cares what peoples reactions are? You know it isn’t far so why are you bothered if people are shocked or whatever? If you’re miffed over this reception will be a long year, so worth shrugging it off and not letting peoples opinions bother you as this is really trivial.

Ignore them. 1.3 miles isnt a lot for a normal healthy 3 + year old.