Parents parking cars right by school entrances probably making DC unable to walk moderate distances

[nfg]

Where I live, schools are starting the new school year this week. Start date depends on school and the school year.

Parents want to park as close to the entrances to make children walk less.

As well as the dangerous parking which can endanger children. I believe children develop a concept of they think they can be dropped right by places. They probably can’t cope with walking moderate distances such as visiting a shop inside a shopping centre, theme parks, tourist attractions, airports etc. As i have seen kids in supermarkets complaining that they have to walk. They are 8/9 years old and then resort to sit inside the trolley.

Parents let your DC walk further!

School once called me in about ‘concerns’ as ds was still in the pushchair at drop off and pick up throughout reception. I was told it was bad for him to be sitting in it and to be wheeled to school and home. I mentioned the parents who were driving their children - in cars with wheels and those children were also in a sitting position so perhaps they could deal with the majority not the minority (and he has SEN and hypermobility!)

I agree. I'm appalled at how unfit a lot of children are these days. My 9 year old niece could barely manage a 10 min walk from the car and around a shopping centre the other day! Same with my friends son, got tired after about 20 minutes walking around the lake. They should be running rings around me at their ages 🤣🤣

As a retired teacher let me assure you that children get plenty of exercise running around at break and lunchtimes! Most likely they don’t want to walk to and from school because it’s boring. I collect my DGC from school regularly and we have a chat about their day as we walk. Often parents are on the phone and not engaging with their children, but that’s a completely different topic!

I agree in principle BUT my dd school didn’t let kids in until 8.40am. That meant getting into your car at about 8.42am if you were poised ready to sprint back, and then I might actually make it to work at 9.05 or 9.10am which was acceptable. If I’d had to walk ten mins back to my car, I couldn’t have made it to work in a reasonable time frame.

It sounds ludicrous but that 5-10 mins makes all the difference.

Not so many parents drop off by car where I am but enough do that they turned it into a one way system to make it safer. But the vast majority walk or cycle which is lovely. My DD was used to walking 5km each way to nursery so the couple of km to primary school was nothing for her. DS was driven more often so wasn't as prepared but now he's started school and manages the walk alright. Yesterday he was moaning a lot but when I checked his watch he had done 20k steps so perhaps had a reason to moan! He wants to bike instead though.

I think the same when I see kids using scooters all the time! They literally never walk anywhere !

I Saw one parent with a laptop. She was not WFH - wfc (work from car). Won’t be good for her back etc later on. Plus if her employer finds this out- she might be in trouble.

Think they are just self entitled idiots

I think some people do genuinely think it's harmful to make kids walk. Ours are very used to walking as we don't really like driving so walk where we can. People are sometimes horrified when I mention places we've "made" them walk to. Weirdly a lot of these kids do active things like football but apparently couldn't cope with walking.

I wonder if it comes from that extreme gentle parenting style. If mine complain about walking it gets ignored and they are made to do it, I wonder if some parents believe in that acknowledging and discussing all emotions including this.

You’re just not very imaginative. Unfortunately I had to do this for most of Autumn term last year for my SEN child who was struggling with school and needed to feel that she could leave at any time. Not lonely, unemployed or otherwise needing your scorn. But thank god she got through it because it was driving me insane doing it.

Our school even has what they call “beep n bye” where parents can drive right to the gates and TAs are on hand to open the car doors and extract the little darlings so parents can drive off with a toot of the horn. Meanwhile the pedestrian provision to walk up to the same gates is shockingly small and doesn’t account for parents wrangling younger siblings and everyone needing to go back the same way. Daily carnage with foot traffic spilling into the path of the beep n bye.

Back at the road there’s the usual double parking, parking on lines – my favourite is the parents who park on a blind corner, hill and double yellows, even when not 50 yards further up that road there’s plenty of free parking. I’ve seen them pull over in the most dangerous spots to let their kid out, then drive off up the hill past said parking – so it’s not that the parking is out of their way. Their teens just won’t walk the additional 50 yards. Mental.

Surely better than being driven? (If not an electric one).

Totally- mine are past primary age now but I used to park in the pub (permission given by the landlord) and walk the last 5 minutes to the school but the actual school road was absolutely rammed with cars parked all over. The head used send emails all the time, to no avail!

My pet peeve is when they swing open the door (roadside) and unload their little darlings straight into the road. I often wonder how terrible the child must’ve been for a parent to think that unloading them into traffic is a risk they’re comfortable taking.

My DCs school is at the start of the village, so you come from a national speed limit country road, round a corner and there's the school. There are zig zags in front of the school but only on one side of the road. About 20 cars park up on the opposite side of the road morning and afternoon. Meaning anyone coming into the village, at whatever speed, round the corner are suddenly greeted by a line of parked cars in front of them and children crossing the road directly from their parked cars, often with the parents still sat in the drivers seat.

I've witnessed several near misses.

We are just a 3 minute walk from school but my next door neighbour has sometimes driven his kids up and then drove back home again.

if you are dropping your kids off and then driving on to work (which the majority will be) you want to drop your kids off at the school.

many parents are on very tight timetables in the morning.

Many use breakfast clubs for that reason.

I pushed my Asperger’s son, years ago, too tired to walk at 4, soon stopped

Breakfast clubs exist for people who need to be at work.

Also I’m not sure the people round us are on that tight a timeframe. If you park round the corner, yes you’re a 3 min walk away, but you can get in your car and go. Trying to get the car away from the school round all the other cars that are double parked blocking the road and a stream of parents and kids meaning you’re waiting at the zebra crossing for ages takes far longer than 3 mins!

Agree, OP. By all means drive your kids to school if you live somewhere rural or very hilly or far out of the catchment area, but don't drive when you don't need to, it's just lazy, bad for your kids and bad for the environment. And if you do have to drive, park a few streets away at least to give your kids some exercise before they sit at a desk all day!

I'm grateful we raised our DD in London where she walks everywhere and loves it.

If the school don’t bother to come out and monitor the situation and the council don’t send parking wardens, people will park on the zig zags etc with impunity. People do that at the secondary school at the end of my road. There’s a park with a free car park where kids could be dropped and walk for about three minutes but it’s empty at the beginning and end of school while the school gates are clogged up with cars. It never used to be like that.

My kids school has an actual car park which is maybe 30 seconds further away than parking on the road and blocking cars and pedestrians- yet parents still park on the road 🤯🤯🤯🤯

I think it's a bit of a downward spiral. It's dangerous around schools because of all the cars; so parents then want to park as close as possible so their kid isn't the one with the dangerous walk. It then compounds the problem.
It's the "as long as I'm alright" mentality that seems to cause so many issues now.

Same problem at our school. Entitled parents parking on the zigzags and across peoples drives. So many emails from school asking them to stop. Teachers out there in yellow jackets asking them to move. They just get ignored. Council don’t do anything, despite complaints from residents.

It's just what it is. Some people have to drive straight on to work and often, there is no 'good' place to park nearby. Not everybody can reduce working hours or give up work. I totally understand why it's annoying and frustrating but what do you suggest?

There are traffic wardens outside the school my child goes to. Doesn't always make much difference.