Walking to School

[Earlybird]

Thought it would be interesting (for me anyway! ) to ask who walks their children to school every morning? If you do walk, how old are your children, and how long does it take? What do you do when the weather is terrible?

Thinking ahead to the school run in September, when dd will enter reception, and our mornings will need to be structured differently. Even if dd can manage the distance (and she is a good walker), it would entail getting out of the house with 30 minutes to spare...and for dawdling dd, I'm not sure how realistic that is!

I have 3 kids age 7, 5 and 2.6. It takes us about 20-30 minutes to walk to school. Ds (2.6) is in the buggy but dd2 really dawdles.
Plus we meet up with other kids and parents along the way and we all walk like snails then cos we are talking.

If it's raining we walk quicker, or try too.

On my own I can walk it to the school in 10 minutes.

I walk when the weather is nice. I have dd2 (14 weeks) in the pram and dd1 (4) walking, (sometimes on the buggyboard).
I am lucky enough to have a park between our house and the school so it's a lovely run for dd.
If weather is awful or we're running late though, i drive

I have allways walked dd to school (9)as i dont drive. 15 mins each way. have 4y twins starting rec. in sept. They have been walking this distance since i stopped using the buggy at 3y.
at the moment they are walking it 4 times aday same as me. They are so used to walking everywhere with me I am lucky they dont complain.

Walk to school with dd1 who is in Reception, it takes 15 minutes on a Monday morning and about 30 mins on a Friday afternoon when she's knackered. DD2 (age 2.1) is still in a pushchair, but would like to walk!! We'd NEVER get there, too many cats / dogs / birds / puddles etc.

Oh and it always waits to rain until 2.45pm when I set out of the door! Hence my coat is permanently wet from October to April! Oh the joys of living in Manchester.

Yes. it always rains when I am waiting at school for daughter. Without fail.I just accept that in winter we will get wet and dress kids and myself appropiately. (hats wellies etc)

OK We walk. Its about 10 mins and we di it rain or shine. When its rain we have lots of moaning but quite honestly with such a short distance it would be more hassle to get the car out and park at the other end, and we would probably get just as wet. We just make sure they are wearing wellies so they can spalsh, and waterproof trousers, and change into shoes when we get there.

Think it will be pleasant to walk when the days are long and reasonably warm. The time it will be most challenging is when we're setting off in the half-light of winter, and when it's freezing and/or raining. But, as I said before, I suppose it's all down to changing our routine/mindset.

We usually walk as it's less than 5mins for us. But I will confess to donning my 'tin overcoat' if it's raining and I'm going out in the car anyway.

We cycle and walk... the 5yo is good to make the journey in almost any type of weather, but the 3yo whines even if she has a raincover over her.

We walk to school and always have, neither dh or I drive and it's not far only a 15 minute walk, we're actually quicker walking sometimes than people driving.

dd1 was 3 when we first started walking to the school for her morning nursery class, we allowed 30 minutes for that since she was only 3.

Now she's 7 and we can make it to school in 15 mintues, sometimes even 10 if we walk really fast and we're running late, lol

When it rains/snows/sleets/blows a gale we take umbrellas/raincoats and get on with it. We have no other way of getting there and no buses run past our house so we have to walk.

Its not possible for us to walk to nursery. Its just over 7 miles across a dual carriageway and takes around 20-30 minutes by car (more in rush hour). I reckon it would take a couple of hours to walk.

When dd is older, maybe from around age 9 onwards I may let her go on the school coach but that is a long way off yet.

approx. 15 minute walk uphill ... I walk rain or shine as it is more of a faff getting DD out of the car and into the buggy in the rain than it is starting off from home with the rain cover already on ...
I am convinced that this is the only reason I have lost over a stone since we started walking every day since February. I had been dieting for ages before that but not much was happening. Started walking every day and the weight started to drop off.
So even if DS begs that I drive I won't

15 minutes walk 4 times a day (there, back, there, back) = 1 hr exercise a day

mine are 7 and 5 and we walk to school everyday,is 1/2h to get there,15 min. to get back on my own,then 15 min. to go and get them and 1/2h to come back,i did 3 hours walking a day when dd was in nursery,walk in all weathers but last winter was pretty good and we had very little rain,i can't stand umbrellas so we all have good raincoats and the children wear wellies and then change their shoes at school

As a childminder I always walk my children & the minded children to & from school. It's very rare for me to use the car, mainly because i know the walking is good for all of us, and also although I drive a people carrier there is invariably too many of us to fit in! (don't worry it is all legal as a lot of the children are over 8 and still within my capabilities & insurance cover). We have to walk to the junior school 15-20 min walk & back to the infant school ,10-15 min walk back the way i've come) in the mornings (the older children are allowed to go onto school by themselves & do not need to have parents there, mainly becaue it is known that parents have to get younger children back to the infant school). At present I mind two 3 yr olds & a 1 yr old, the baby is in the puschchair & the 3 yr olds walk everywhere with me. Once I have dropped at the infant school & stayed to watch that mindie go in, Twice a week we then walk into the town centre which is another 15-20 min walk in another direction. Because the 3 yr olds have been used to this they both walk very well and are often out for three quarters of an hour to an hour & a half in the mornings. We walk whatever the weather & I just ask that the parents make sure that they have suitable waterproof coats and warm ones in the winter. Saying that I have accumulated a supply of spare coats & wellies over the years, because there is invariably one who hasn't seen the weather forecast!

NOt possible for me, 3 miles to the school, down a road with no footpaths and then a dual carrageway. It takes me 15 minutes in the car on a good run. Once I've dropped the kids I then have to go to work and that is another 30 min drive (and I have 30 mins to do it in!), so I couldn't walk them in.

I then walk miles in school, in between the desks

We walk every day - it would take longer to travel by car - and have no excuse not to walk as school is just a three minute walk away.

We do have a gate at the bottom of the garden that leads into the school grounds but were told upon buying the house that we would have to have an arrangement in place with the school in order to use it.

When dd1 started reception we walked in every day (about half a mile) - now I'm back at work and we've moved house to a good mile away, we tend to drive her in but walk back (if we're tired we take the bus ). There is a walking bus, which is great, but I want to wait until she's in year 1 before we start using it.

On non work days I walk the 1mile round trip to school am and pm. On work days I have 20 minutes to do the school drop-off, childminder drop-off and get to work!!! Not so much fun!

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We decided to walk to school for walk to school week. Day 1 I walked them there in the morning. We had to leave the house for 7.45 and just made it for the bell - its about 4miles and all uphill. The children loved it though and everyone cheered when we got there (DS is 6 and DD is 5). When I got there I realised I'd made the mistake of taking the dog - he was all muddy so I couldn't scrounge a lift home so I walked back again. We then walked home again in the evening. It was fab. We walked home again a couple more times that week and DS walked in with his dad on the Friday. Walking in is a bit pressured but walking home is fab and now we do it at least once a week. We feel really privaledged to have a lovely walk across fields and past ponds and woodland. Not sure I'd feel as enthusuastic if I lived in a town though.

we nearly always walked ours to school, been to a number of different schools but walk always been between 10-20mins, even in the rain i figured they would get wetter getting out of the car and brolly's up than they would walking from the begining.

in the last 12 months or so i have walked the school run less and less, one at senior school and the other big enough to walk herself yr 6, but i have really missed the walk, talking to other mums, the exercise, talking about school day.

Never mind another two years and younger ones will start and then will prob walk unless school is too far away

I can't walk all the way to school, but ds and I walk to the station to catch the train which is about 7 mins away and then a quick cross the road and 100 yds at the other end. Dh takes him on the bike a couple of days a week, which he loves and it's nice for Daddy to get involved in a bit of school stuff, meeting teachers etc. I do quite often take the car on Mondays as bloody Oyster pre-pay cards don't work on overland trains and the queue for tickets on a Monday is ridiculous and we end up missing three trains while we are waiting to pay. It makes me . This Sept will be harder as dd will be at nursery probably three afternoons, which finishes v. close to ds's reception finish, so there will have to be a car pick up probably one or two days a week, which is annoying.

I walk to nursery/work and push ds2 in buggy, ds1 walks most of the way. Its 25 mins at fast adult pace and about 35 mins with ds1 walking.