I live a mile away from ds's school...

[twentypence]

And we usually cycle to school on our cool tandem, but today ds said he wanted to walk. So we did.

When we got to school our neighbour was unloading her child from the car and asked us how long it took us to walk.

How do you live just a mile from a school, go every day for over 2 years and have never walked it?

I find that as hard to fathom as people that don't use their recycling bins.

I don't park on zig zags though, I park on the road like most normal people

BRAMSHOTT I take back what I said about not being able to have a trailbike and a bike seat together

see this other thread and excellent links

here

and here

Ooh, thanks IHD. It's not cheap though is it!

not cheap, but these things seem to keep a fair amount of their value.

we bought a fairly cheap bike buggy, and it has not survived well after a year of heavy use, not sure it will have a good resale value, but then when you think of the mileage I have got out of it (use it 5 days a week and 3 times a day) it works out pretty cheap as a mode of transport... still life in it too, but it looks a bit mucky and well used.

Oliveoil I am with you, I still haven't learned to drive, and when I do I will try no to feel too guilty about it.... I really struggled in the winter weather, but I had no option, I would have jumped in a car if I could have done so.

Yes exactly bozza, that?s what I did this am.

I allow 10-15 mins to walk to school with DCs (4-6-8) but 10 mins is enough. I walked home again and was there by 9.03. Didn?t even make haste and I chatted to a pal some of the way home too. The thing that took a long time was not nipping half a mile home but driving 3 miles to work! (In my defence as I normally cycle but bike has flat tyre).

Iheartdusty couldn?t you walk with DS tho and then get on yr bike at school? That?s what I would normally do (if no flat tyre grrr)

TBH I am always a bit when people say they can?t walk in the rain.

I mean fair enough, but how often is it actually raining at 8.30am? I don?t ride my bike into work in the rain and I would say in 11 years now of regular riding in I have left it at home for that reason maybe a dozen times.

Maybe we?re lucky and it?s not very rainy here lol.

yes, could push bike there then zip back home. I may do that from September when DS will start the day at the same time as DD, but it is still an uphill journey in every sense, and harder to drag child along motivate them without hands free. Riding there is more fun than walking with a whinging child.

It's not that people can't walk in the rain. It's just that if you have a choice, wouldn't you rather stay dry?
I used to walk everywhere when I had just 1 dc, but once no2 arrived I just found it difficult. I even had to phone my dp once to come and rescue me halfway home from the 'village' as my ds refused to get onto the buggy board because he was tired, to tired to stand even. That really put me off going such a distance and school is even further.
I would also rather stay in bed for an extra 45 min then get up early to walk. Call me lazy, but I like my sleep and when I work I work shifts and it's nice to get to stay in bed until 7.30 after getting up at 5.30 the day before.
And we do walk, but usually to the shops or the park, both of which are about 1/2-1 mile away. I used to walk to nursery every day with ds, which was a 15 min walk or so, but now they go to a different school, which is much further.

Yes, I remember days when I was at school and had to sit through a whole day with wet feet because I had got soaked walking to school, and it was horrible. I now am paranoid about my kids needing to be dry when they arrive at school in the morning. Yes, if the weather's nice and they don't have much to carry, they can walk, but on the other days, we have a car!

I can't do car share so no alternative. I am the only one living in my area going to my work, and I work under flexible working hours, so finish at a very specific time purely in order to get to school in time for DD.

DH needs his car for work purposes which is adhoc when he visits clients, but has to be an option for elderly and infirm clients, which often his clients are.

Public transport is out of the question on work days. It is impossible to get to my place of work in time for the start of work, and I do mean impossible. It wuld also take hours, rather than 1hr15m in the car.

Not prepared to use public transport on my none work days - firstly DH is passing anyway so why make a second journey? And second, if I used public transport it would cost be £4 a day on the bus for me, plus whatever DD's fare is these days; much dearer than the petrol money. Thirdly one day a week I pick up another child at another school, not on same bus route so I couldn't do both pick ups in time.

And it is a 4 mile journey so walking is not an option; it would not be practical.

That's a long drive, 1h15 min!

The only thing I don't like about our house is the fact that walking to school is not an option. School for DD and bus stop for DS are in the next village, 2.2km of rural roads with no pavements, no streetlights, DCs are 3 and 5 and can walk that far on the weekend but not before AND after school, I have to go on to work afterwards and work part-time in a very small office so no chance of a car share.

But despite this car dependence, agree with the OP that it is unbelievable how many people who could walk NEVER do.

Re Me Time, I find that dropping the kids off to a club they go to which is about a mile away, and then running back home, IS me time. Yes I could drive and sit on my arse with a book (sometimes I do) but tbh I would rather use my valuable me time moving my big fat arse and hopefully making it smaller, as cold weather encourages you to run faster.

I know it sounds preachy, but I really think it's important to teach the next generation of children that walking is NORMAL, not something you only do when the weather is absolutely perfect or someone's sponsored you. A couple of generations ago, the default means of transport was walking and the fact that it is now the car automatically, is a very unhealthy state of mind imo. I know 70 year olds who walk 5 or 6 miles at a stretch without thinking about it; I know very few 40 year olds who do, and when they're 70, they simply won't have the choice, because they won't be physically able to. Good health and fitness isn't about going to the gym for an alloted amount of time, it's about building movement into your everyday life. (I know all that's irrelevant if you need to get to work, btw, I wouldn't argue with that practicality.)

WE live just over a mile from DS school nursery and we walk 95% of the time. We did go through a stage of going in the car but that was because DS was going through a hating nursery phase and was physically dragging him into the school never mind the 30min walk before hand while dealing with the dds.

Othersideofthechannel - yes, long time in the car. It is a 40 mile drive but getting through town to the motorway can take ages. If I leave after 7am it takes even longer. Takes abot an hour to gt home in middle of day.

Clary you must be lucky as it rains quite a lot here just as I walk out the door to take ds..lol

I dropped ds off at school, cycled home got my work stuff then cycled for 40 minutes to get to work, but only had 30 minutes to get back after work to pick up ds so I had to cycle faster. I cycled over 30km and had a wonderful response to any child in the classroom claiming he was tired. It takes 20 minutes in the car anyway, the main drag was getting changed and washed at school, but I would have had to do the getting changed thing if I had gone to the gym.

I won't do it every week (wouldn't take much more wind for me to be unable to complete the return journey before ds finished school), but each time I do I save some money and get a bit fitter.

Belgianchocs no actually, I would rather walk in the rain than drive my kids the 10-min walk to school.

Wet feet - has anyone heard of wellies and taking dry shoes in a bag?

Hula i think both yr 4 miles to school and 1hr15min drive to work are unusual.

The issue in my view (even I wouldn't suggest anyone walk 4 miles to school!) is the people who habitually drive the distances of less than a mile which are much more the norm.

Littlebella, great post, I so agree with your wrt Me Time. My nice stroll home from school this am was one of the best bits of my day

btw nemo we have the traditonal 3.30pm downpour as we all stand outside to pick up lol.

But seriously, we're not made of sugar, I've always taught my kids that it's fine, fun even, to walk in the rain.

Clary, It was the fact that she is so close and she had never walked it. I was helping with swimming today and I would say that 50% of the year 5 girls are very overweight.

The school does actually recommend that children are brought by car "for safety reasons".

I think the two are connected.

Are these parents who always drive to school just turning round and going home again, or just going to/from work?

Yes, I guess it isn't the norm - but it does show why some people use the car - as they have somewhere to go onto afterwards, often work.

Dh could cycle - it would be possible, as it is only 4 miles to school and then less than 2 miles into work. But it isn't practical - by the time he'd dropped DD off, cycles to town, had a shower snd got changed it ould be after 9am. And he really needs to be working by that stage.

I'm getting paranoid now
We live 3 miles form dd1s school
I dont think that my 2 year old could manage to walk that and back every day

Am I wrong?

The one in the OP just goes home again.

Clary, I think you're unusual in that you prefer walking in the rain than driving. Honestly, if it would start raining any other time of the day, would you decide that it's a nice time to go for a walk? I don't think so, so why would going to school be any different.
I must say that I also very often cary on somewhere else, e.g. grocery shopping, or today going into town to exchange a pair of trousers I bought for my dd that are too small, while also dropping of the recycling at the tip. It wouldn't make any sense to walk to and then go back and fetch the car, as it's all either on the way to school or I pass the school on the way to and on top of that I wouldn't manage it before having to go and collect dd and then go to work.
Personally I'd also rather read than walk. I never enjoyed walking. It probably stems from the days where I had to come along with my parents every Sunday for a 15-20km walk somewhere in the country. I enjoy reading so much that I am known to cook or clean with while reading a book.