To make the kids walk 3miles to school?

[DHdoingmyheadin]

Due to ongoing roadworks, the main road through the village to my kids school is closed and will be for c. a month. We are right at the edge of where the roadworks are so we have two options:

(A) A 15 mile detour by car, down the road all the traffic is being funnelled down (a main A road that is congested even when the road through the village is open). Which I trialled yesterday, and took me 45 minutes each way. This was with no school traffic as schools go back tomorrow. So I’d be doing at least 90 minutes of driving each morning and DH 90 mins in the afternoon.

(B) The kids walk to school and back. 3 miles each way.

DH is adamant I can’t possibly expect them to walk. It’s hilly. It’s due to rain. I think they walk. I think it would be insane to drive when it’s literally faster for them to walk. It’s 3 miles. I’m not asking them to swim the channel and then scale Mount Everest. Kids are 12 and 13.

AIBU to put my foot down and refuse to drive?

You can tell the people who don't actually walk much because they have no actual concept of distance/time/impact.

A six year old (and probably the older ones) walking ten miles on every school day is total bollocks on a number of fronts.

For one thing, why are you giving your dog two three mile walks after 3.30pm? (Unless you're suggesting that you drag your children out of bed for them to walk a total of 5 miles every day before school?). NO dog needs that and if yours appears to, it's understimulated and more exercise is not the answer.

There’s no way I’d expect any of my children to walk 6 miles a day to get to and from school.

They may be older, but they will also have homework and the weather is bad in the autumn term. I’m assuming one of them will be embarking on GCSE work this year?

Is it worth considering a hire car just for the month and then either use that one yourself to visit your parents, or sit it the other side of the roadworks? Former if your DH will be doing some of the pick-ups/drop offs (that way you only need to pay for you to be a driver for the hire car). This seems likely to be cheaper than the extra petrol of doing the detour.

A couple of more general points:

(1) if your tweens/teens are anything like mine, a suggestion of a 'walking trial' would be the perfect way to get them to agree that they'll walk. Mine would hate the risk of anyone seeing them walking with a parent!
(2) I appreciate all the 'drive them if it's bad weather' etc, but in my experience you need to be extremely firm. Yes if it's a blizzard or an actual storm, but once you start to allow an exception for 'bad weather' it very quickly turns into a negotiation every day on whether they have to walk (or in my kids' case cycle) or not. Learn from my experience - I now have my kids looking at the temperature and trying to negotiate over what counts as 'too cold'. Every bloody morning.

Thank goodness it's not just me - reading these posts like 😳🙄😂
Maybe because I don't drive anyway and am used to walking, I think it's fine for 12 - 13 year olds!
Surely most usually go to school by themselves at that age anyway? Mine did.
Obviously if it's chucking it down, give them a lift.

I think it's fine for them to walk. It's a short term solution and great for their ongoing fitness. If they were playing a sport they would be covering more than that distance in a couple of hours training.

Have they got ear buds or whatever to listen to their music on the way? that helps pass the time.

Just feed them up with plenty of fuel and let them lie in at the weekend if they need the extra rest.

Park your car at the other side of the roadworks. All three of you can walk to the car and then drive the rest of the way

OTOH, I very very rarely get coughs, colds or any other illness, and I put it down to an active life - walking in all weathers does absolutely no harm. I’m in my mid 70’s.

It might be worth saying, the only part that would make me think twice about them walking would be if they are small, and are being required to carry 50% of their body weight in books on their backs. Mine have lockers at school, so don't need to do that and I can't imagine why they'd need to bring so many books to/from school even if they didn't have a locker, but I know schools work differently.

Ask tbe School.what they suggest. Ask other parents what they are doing. Maybe you can set up.a rota so only one family at a time does the drive. Say a week.at a time. Also ask the Authorities who's stupid idea this was and why it wasnt done dirty g the Summer holidays.

Sorry about the predictive text I was so annoyed at the Council for not seeing sense.

Full road closures should be the exception not the norm and for a maximum of 2 weeks https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-highways-signals-bold-new-approach-to-roadworks

Challenge it op. Tell them to use 2 way traffic lights like everywhere else.

Average walking speed is 3mi/h. Have those claiming that 12yo do it in 45min, really? Cause pre-teens are slow. Not that they are not capable of walking fast. They just don't. Every 12yo I've met can't just say buy to their friends and take the main direct route.

My walking distance from school was 0.5mi unless I had training in the evening, me and my bff would take forever to walk just chatting, taking alternative routes etc. Whenever we plan scouts we need to plan double the amount of time for walking cause everything is slow-mo.

I walked 1.5 miles to and back from school, every day, at four years old. I’m not that old now, this isn’t a ‘back in my day’ situation, but mum liked to walk and felt it did me good. Which it did. We just dressed appropriately.

I was incentivised with sweet treats at times.

The people describing 3 miles as a half hour walk have clearly never actually done it

3 miles in half an hour is a perfectly respectable jogging pace.
If carrying a rucksack, 45 minutes walk would be a good guess. I'd allow an hour.

Also, how can the main road in a village be closed for a month during the school times and designed alt route is 15mi detour?

Agree

You walk a half marathon 3 days a week?

And the average walking speed is 3 to 4 miles an hour taking in carrying load the 3 is much more likely!

They can walk it will be fine.
I walked 2.4 miles to school and back again. A bit of a pain when it was raining but my parents went to work before i got up and came home after me.
They will survive

Agree. I can walk quite quickly. It’s a mile from my house to town and it takes me 22 minutes if I walk quickly.

I do 4.5miles in an hour, as I’m a fast walker! So less than an hour to the station, then 40 minutes the other side. It saves me ££ on the underground and on parking and petrol! I can’t afford an extra £60 a week (once you add in petrol, station parking at £6.50 a day, and tube costs) when I can walk.

It's only for a month, and it will be an adventure and tale to tell. Also, they'll become invested in making sure the council finishes it quickly.
Send them off!!

Exactly.

*also, if make sure that school are aware, and that they have a locker at school.
I think it's great!

When did it become ridiculous?? Obviously some time in the last 35 years. I was walking that every day for school from age 11 and up. Sorry it was 2.98 miles, just under the limit for getting a bus pass. We didn't have a car so I had to walk it in all weather's, more than once I had to change my clothes when I got there.