Question for those who don't usually walk (or cycle) to school

[zebraZ]

Not to make anyone defensive, am genuinely curious. I live 12-15 min. walk to school and almost all of my neighbours drive it, most of the time. We are trying to encourage more parents to walk to our local school, and since they don't answer surveys, perhaps you gals will!!

Why not? What, if anything, would encourage you to walk more often?

DH takes DD to nursery (and when she starts school there probably too) in the car so that he can get to work on time in a morning. If he didn't he would be late getting into work, after dropping her off. Would be lovely to think we could walk but it doesn't work for us at the moment. Simple as that for us.

Zebra, I take your point but I think all schools who are trying to get parents to walk/cycle ought to take into account that:

a) not everyone wants to for lots of different reasons, many of which cannot change (i.e. the parent has to go on to work therefore walking isn't feasible)
b) it's not the school's business really
c) All you can do is make suggestions, you can't dictate (unless people are breaking the law)

Zebra, I'm not tangling with a buggy board now - DD1 can walk, she's a very good walker, it's just that I don't want to force her either into the length of walk it would be at 5pm, or to hang on for another half hour after school, to 5.30, right from her first term. I've actually worked out a way to shorten the route by using car for some of it. I don't like having to do this. I may think about other options and a buggy board is a good one - but somehow it would actually feel quite infantilising to my very mobile daughter who uncomplainingly covered about three miles on Friday!

MInferior -- why is it infantilising your DD to have her use a buggy board, but not infantilising if you "have to use the car", instead?

People get so judgemental about seeing "big" kids being pushed in buggies, then (sometimes same, sometimes other) people get defensive about how they simply "have to use the car" because it's too far for their child to walk. Lack of joined up thinking, or what!?

I know it's not logical; but if I put DD1 in a buggy or on a board - and in fact a board wouldn't be an option anyway, as I would be pushing an empty buggy with a buggyboard - it would be signalling something very different about her ability to walk.

and obviously I know that walking ability is not always linked to age, by the way.

And I'm not defensive, I think, particularly about my decision to do something which I also know isn't particularly defendable. I hope that within not too long a time - indeed perhaps pretty well straightaway - I will be able to collect DD1 on foot and then walk to her childminder and collect DD2 and walk back. I simply do not know if she will be up to it in her first few months of school; I'm reluctant to leave her at her afterschool club even longer in her first few months, by collecting DD2 first; and even if I do collect DD2 first, she inevitable climbs out of her buggy and wants to walk too, which is again admirable but slows us down. Believe me, it's going round and round in my head. But a buggy board on an empty buggy is not, for me, a solution that I want to take up.

God, H used to cycle dd1 to school every day. But since dd2 started in September (she's on stabilisers still) it would be impossible. And it would take half an important hour out of our morning.

My parents never had a car as they didn't drive so we walked everywhere or cycled

We didn't know any different

We had to walk a mile to school in the juniors

Yes, there is that too. It's currently taking an hour to get the Inferiorettes to their childminder and me back, what with DD2's Insistent Mobility.

But we have a car and use it

WWW but there are statistics which give the % of cars that are on the road a peak hours just for the school run - I'll try and find it but I think it was 10%. We just cannot carry on in the mind set that we are at present - conjestion on our roads is bad and only going to get worse. I believe if there was no choice in Schools and you went to your local (nearest) school alot of these school runs would not be necessary (prepares for huge backlash)

I sometimes drive, sometimes walk. It's often a time thing - I am 20 minutes walk from school, so if we need to get somewhere after school we often don't have time to walk home then get into the car and drive through traffic which is heavier by that time. Plus if we walk home my child has run out of energy for out of school physical activities later on!

Ditto driving to work after dropping child at school - would take 1/2 hour longer each day if I walked - time I could be earning money.

Also walking is horrid in the rain or in sweltering humid weather when you have aircon in the car!

MInf, sorry if i made you feel defensive, didn't mean to pick on you.

Am surprised no one mentioned the other nuisances of walking: bottoms. Dog's bottoms and mess, for obvious reason. And my children's bottoms, they always need the toilet 2 minute walk after we leave the school gate. Have to go back to the school toilets or find a discreet hedge...Drives me crazy

I guess, Zebra its difficult for MNers to come up with the answers as everyone's reasons are so complex -and different schools will have different problems/barriers.

My trip to school is a 4 mile round trip (3 times a day) which adds up to a lot of polution but can't walk it - its a horrible dual carriageway, uphill, constant traffic jams and fumes & lots of accident blackspots. So - put me in a nice cycle path not on the road and I would do it but I refuse to cycle or walk on the disgusting filthy roads here.

I walk to school with ds1 and ds2 as I am on maternity leave at the mo and can do it. However, they have to be collected at different times, ds2 at 2pm and ds1 at 3pm so I walk up to collect ds2 but collect ds1 by car as I can't bear the same walk 3 times in 1 day.