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 walk everyday unless it is really really foul. I take an umbrella and we wear raincoats if it is drizzling. It takes less than 10 mins though. dd1 is in reception and I push dd2 in the buggy - she would walk but then it would take more like 30 mins to get there, shes 2 btw.

We usually take the car. ds doesn't get up in time for the bus but gets the bus home. However we have walked also. Did a 6 week stretch last Aug/Sept when dh had my car for work and also a week stretch just recently. It is about 1/2 mile and takes ds about 20 mins, depending on how quick he is. One day he ran all the way! Other times he dawdles. Its a single track road between fields and its nice on a sunny day picking wild flowers. I have dd too who is 3 who I push in the pushchair.

I think its nice to walk if the weather is good and you have the option but not something you necessarily want or have to do every day, particularly if its a fair distance.

we walk every day but it only takes 10 mins, i feel so virtuous tho. no secondary schools for miles around, but she's only 5 so i won't worry yet.

we dont walk to school it is a 30 minute walk down a main road but when we move house the new school will be 10 minutes away I will walk then

we walk most of the time. It's a 20 minute walk at adult pace which means I need 30 minutes to get there on time with dd2 (age 3) in tow. dd1 (5) is fine with the walk, but it is an effort with dd2 sometimes - I tend to vary it, sometimes I take her in the buggy (but want to get her out of it before she starts nursery in Sep), sometimes I let her take her toy buggy (which has mixed success), sometimes we get the bus, and we do sometimes drive. I try to only drive when I have a time-related excuse - I did it more when dd1 was part-time because sometimes it really was impossible to get from school to whatever activity dd2 was doing and back again for lunch-time pick up. I console myself with the idea that it's pretty much the only exercise I get

DD is in reception - 0.76 miles away according to the education authority. Takes 15-20 minutes at dd dawdle speed! Get some practice in before school starts! Weather is not really much of a problem.

We walk as school is on the corner of our road, approx 300 steps (according to my pedometer!)

its approx 1mile to dd1 school. we walk it most days, usually with me pushing a double buggy. dd2 is starting preschool in sept which is another mile away from the school. by the time i've dropped her off, walked back home,sat down for 30mins it'll be time to pick her up again. so am hoping and praying i will pass my test before she starts.

I walk my children to school everyday it takes about 10-15 mins to walk.My children are 6 and 7.They walk everywhere as i dont drive,i also have a 3 yr old in tow who waiks to school twice a day to take and pickup.if the weather is bad we just put waterproofs on and wellies and take spare uniform in case wet.We leave at 8.20 school opens at8.35 and the bell gos at 8.45.

I WALK DD TO SCHOOL - WELL PUSH HER TAKES ME 20MINS WITH HER - 15 WITHOUT

We're the novelty family at school and nursery too Binkie. Big catchment area so some have to come by car, no doubt, but I am so glad we are able to walk, rain or shine. About five minutes to school, ten more to nursery door to door. Both in same direction luckily.
When ds was at nursery we were considered totally bonkers by all except the staff for walking just over a mile to get there, always in the morning and often in the evening. Ds did this walk from aged 3.

Marina - just curious...how long did it take to do the walk? From September, our walk to school will be just under a mile...

I suspect we'll have about a mile walk too come September, as I can't see an alternative to dropping off DD2 at the childminder and then walking DD1 to her school. Unless I drive. And then I'll have egg all over my face, won't I', having gone on and on and on about the need to walk in the mornings - not to speak of DP's new job which involves equal eco-selfrighteousness

Not sure how I'll cope with the pace when DD2 finally clambers out of her buggy and adds more egg to my face

It's tough being self-righteous sometimes, you know.

Earlybird, for little legs, about 25 mins. Straight run with not too much road-crossing so we built up a reasonable turn of speed.

They rev up quite a speed, I find.

Hmmm...that means we'll have to leave home at 8am latest - which is the time we now begin eating breakfast. Our mornings will need to start much earlier....

Yes - early mornings are an issue, definitely something to bed in before term starts. We start off at 10 to 8, which means I have to wake them just before 7. And so bedtime has to be correspondingly earlier - all a bit difficult to match with my long working hours.

But of course that's a huge part of why I take them to school, and why we don't drive - as it then is my special time with them.

Yesterday morning we had the lovely surreal experience of a troop of cavalry, fresh from their exercise in the park, having cups of coffee on horseback in our square - the officer's auntie is our next-door neighbour. Ds and dd got to pat the shiny horses. That sort of thing is a perk of school walking.

My dd's school is about 2 miles away and ds1 goes to a nursery near it each morning. If I walked that would be 12 miles each day for me, 4 for dd and 8 for ds. I would also spend about three hours each day on the school/nursery runs!

My dd's school recognises that it has a wide catchment area and walking to school is not feasible for a lot of families. What it does is try to encourage families to "park and stride", whereby people park in a nearby car park and walk the rest which takes 5/10 minutes.

I did used to walk the whole way regularly at one stage, with ds1 in the buggy and dd on a buggy board. This was when dh did shiftwork and generally I only had to walk either in the morning or evening and ds1 was not yet at nursery. It was miserable when it was raining though. My dad used to walk to school as a kid (quite a few miles I think) and he always loved when it rained as they didn't have to go then!

We always walk to nursery, unless it is REALLY chucking it down, when I get DH to drop off DS1 (4). It's funny how things aren't so different, half way around the world. I arrive at school with my two boys in the 3 wheeler buggy (they both fit in!) looking like a drowned rat (it's about 85 degrees and really steamy even at 9am) and get half- smiles from immaculately coiffed designer-clad women climbing out of their viciously air-con 4X4s. I don't make DS1 walk all the way as it would take ages, the pavements are pretty awful and children do get tired really quickly in this heat. We don't have a car but the boys love walking regardless. Singapore is a non-stop building site so they can spot concrete mixers, diggers and trucks to their hearts content (and get waved at by all the drivers!).

We walk when the weather allows and the boys don't have too much to carry. It takes about 30 minutes, which, to my mind, is too long when it is raining. I can come home and get changed, but they can't. Sometimes they simply have too much to carry, backpacks, music bags, musical instruments (heavy), etc., so on those days we drive (5 mins).

I take the car as it would be about an hours walk. The thought of taking a 3 and 4 year old on the bus sends my stress levels soaring just thinking about it.

So many people I know slate children being dropped off by car at school usually the ones that don't have kids.

walk. about 10-15 mins away.

We've been walking 30 mins each way since ds started school in Sept. It's much less stressful than driving or using public transport. OTOH ds was already very used to walking in all weathers, and over the summer I deliberately took him on longer walks to build up his stamina. A friend who lives around the corner always drives her kids in her 4X4 and used to stop and offer us a lift if she saw us, and think I was crazy to refuse; neither of us ever refers to the fact that she is a bit overweight, and the reality is that walking is very easy way for you and your child get fit and slim. I am used to walking to work, often with heavy work papers in a backpack, so I carry ds's stuff often. You should go for it! The UK weather is never extreme if you buy proper outdoor coats or sunhats.

I try to walk but sometimes end up taking the car even though its a very short walk, depending on how long ds3 (nearly 6 months) has taken to bf. At the moment our school has "Walk-to-school-Wednesday" and if you use the school car park on Wednesday you're asked for a donation.