For wanting to avoid walking home with other parents because they're soooo slllloooooowwwww!!!

[SweetMaryJesus]

My house is roughly a 15 minute walk away from the school. Walking fast I can get there in 10 minutes.

I HATE this walk to school. It's just boring, long and stressful with everyone elses kids under my feet. So I set off at 2.50pm to get their for 3pm ... this is so that I don't have to wait around the school playground listening to who got "pissed up" saturday night and who's husband is "inside" this week etc etc ...

On the way back home, I like to walk alone but the other parents just don't "get it".

They walk so bloody slow and I just want to get home.

For instance, tonight 2 parents set off from the school five minutes before I did. By the time I had got my DS and set off home, they had only just managed to get out of the school gates! so I ended up having to walk past them, they pulled faces and said "wait up" etc so to be polite I walked with them ... begrudginly ... it took us half an hour to get home. Had we walked alone, we would have been home in 10 minutes.

I know I am anti-social but does anyone else see my point here?? is it unreasonable to want to walk home alone so that we actually get home the same bloody day?!

its ok to say ' cant wait im in a rush to get back today' - they'll get the message

If you don't want to walk with them then don't. Your choice and free-will to do what you want. Just make an excuse up, like you've got guests coming or something.

I know what you mean, some days its nice to dawdle along having a chat and others you just want to head home. But its nice isn't it that they wanted you to join them?

Why not just say, sorry would love to chat but got to get home for .....and invent a reason that doesn't make you look like you just dont like the other parents!

YANBU but personally I love walking home with other parents. I normaly arrive at my door far less stressed than if we walk home alone

I kind of know what you mean. Also different people have different ideas of the amount of "freedom" they let their children have walking home. There is a little boy in ds's class who lives our way, but he dashes off across roads etc regardless of cars, thinks nothing of diving into bushes in peoples gardens to "hide". My ds will stop at road crossings and wait for me, I call my ds back continuely so he is not too far down the road ahead of me, but the other mother doesn't.

Actually I am beginning to think I like walking home alone too!

Some days I do some I don't. Just give some reason why you want to rush back or make sure you leave first.

Some days I make my excuses and some days I dawdle with the rest of them

Tell them you are power walking/left a pan on/grandma coming/etc etc

Make them realise that some days you just need to get home quicker because you've got interesting things to do.

I walk my boys home from nursery and the other parents know that most days we walk fast, and when I've dropped them off in the morning I'm building up to jogging home.

We walk to school, and there's a mum in our street who I am convinced waits until she sees us coming out before she comes out with her kids...

Like you, I'd prefer to walk on our own because:

• she is a crashing bore, and only talks about herself and her children
• she has a very young child who is very

S L O W

• her DD is in my DS2's class, but he doesn't like her that much, and doesn't like being seen walking to school with her

• I actually like walking and talking with MY kids - it's one of the few times we get to have a good chat!

AND

then when I come away from the school gate, she's loitering to walk back with me

Aaaargh! What can I do?

Wow sorry I think YABU you sound a right miserable git
Whats the hurry if you need to get home to get out for an activity etc fine, but otherwise you dont sound like someone I would WANT to walk home with TBH!

Sounds familiar!

Is there another route you can take? If I'm feeling particularly miserable grumpy unsociable I do often walk the long way so we can walk on our own. I use the dog as an excuse and say I need to give him a longer walk. Or we take our bikes.

Sometimes the brisk walk to/from school is the only exercise I get, so I like to do it fast enough to 'glow' a little

Also I feel good/ happy/ destressed etc after a brisk walk...

But I feel worn down after a slow crawl with whingeing companions

Sad, but true...