Walking to school

[Kinnane]

Is 2 miles too far for a four year old to walk to school? I would like your opinion please. I am also worried that walking back home after school will be a problem.

Allegedly a child can walk 2 miles for every year of age. We tend to divide this by 2 - so at 4 years of age a child should be able to walk 2 miles.

My SIL had a very long walk when her DS was in YR/ Y1 and she found that keeping the push chair available for the walk home was a real help, because he was often very tired out at the end of the day - so her arriving with the push chair, a drink and a bit of a snack meant he could relax whilst she enjoyed the exercise (she's a very keen walker).

HTH

Thanks for your help. I didn't know that.

My sister also has a one year old (will be 16m in Sept.). Probably a new push chair might be good. It probably will work out OK but it is worrying me at the moment.

I personally think it is a bit far, everyday, when running around at school etc, some of the poor creatures seem hardly able to drag themselves out of the gate. It does depend on the child though. They seem to be able to scoot for miles, so maybe a combination of scooter and pushchair might work. Also strict instructions to school to limit the size/ days junk modelling can come home, you don't want to be walking 2 miles with a grumpy 4yr old dropping bits of their space rocket which is made out of 4 cereal boxes and 15 yoghurt pots. They and you will get used to it.

2 miles will be fine for walking to school and shouldn't be a problem as the child will get used to the walk like any other activity.

Making the activity interesting will help things to look out for, numbers on doors, counting fences, bugs beetles, red cars etc on the way home.

If you have a scooter for your dc then taking this to school to collect them may help on the way home as it will be easier than walking and quicker for you to get home.

Is there a park on the way home you can visit to break the journey?

I would certainly take a banana/apple and a drink for the way home.

A buggy board might be a more grown up alternative to a double pushchair.

Thanks again everyone! Will pass on the good advice: snacks, keeping it interesting,time in the park and no space rockets :). I don't think the scooter is for her as most times I'm witrh them her dad ends carrying her and the scooter. Will pass on the buggy board idea (i think they might have one already,not sure.

No way my 4yos would do that.
Oh, they would, I guess. With tantrums, crying, especially in poor weather. Frozen fingers, sodden trousers, soaked school shoes, all that fun.
People I've known who tried to get a 4yo to do that sort of distance daily in all possible weathers, generally needed sweets & buggy boards. Not that they worked that well.
I've seen parents with kids on bike seats & in trailers make that sort of daily journey fairly reliably.
I presume no other children, so it won't matter if it takes hours to get home.

Also, if parent is limited to walking, what happens when parent gets back home & sees child's lunchbox on the table? Or when parent reaches school & heavens open & parent doesn't have a waterproof for themselves much less for the child?

With a buggy board and snack it will be fine (The first term is always hell after school, even if you drive). Once he is in school, it might be possible to find a friendly mum willing to help pick up/drop off if the weather is really bad.

My 5 year old has walked the 5 miles to school several times and home after school when the car has been in the garage. It does depend on the child, mine will walk miles as long as she has snacks, music and something to distract her like the dog and its ball. She needs to start walking the 4 year old lots before the start of school though as otherwise they won't be used to it day in day out.

Obviously we don't do the 5 miles every day but we did walk 2 1/2 miles every day when we were at a different school and she was in the nursery with older DS in the school so she did it there and back twice a day as she finished at lunch time and him at 3. It only becomes a problem when they are slightly off colour so not ill enough not to go to school but too ill to walk there

My 4 and now 5 year old can walk 3 or 4 miles no probs and more. BUT this is always in school holidays when we have all the time in the world/in the countryside etc. Personally I wouldn't have him walk more than about a mile to school (ours is half a mile away so no probs) but it is very personal, how much walking you normally do/how you and he spend your time/get on/cope with bad weather etc.

By the way buggy boards can be hell for the grown up, well was for us with our super big 3 year old- gets your back, but some get on with it ok.

My nearly 4 year old walks 0.70 miles to and from school fine, although he grumbles a lot on the way home. With the right motivation, I'm sure he could do 2 miles each way. Walking with school friends, snacks and drink all helps. As does having an umbrella to swing when it's raining.

Definitely have the scooter, buggy, buggy board as an option. You can get small scooters than fold up or can hang on the buggy.

2 miles for me to walk everyday to school would be the problem.

That means you will be doing 8 miles a day!!

be prepared for it to take a while, especially on the way home
dd1 walks a mile to school, which takes 20mins
it's more like 30 on the way home.

before I get leapt on for being lazy, honestly no-one overtakes us, and in fact we often catch people up, so we are setting a reasonable pace for a reception aged child.

That's true for us too Charlotte - takes 15-20 minutes walking to school (just under 1 mile) & 30 minutes walking home. We do take it more leisurely in the afternoons chatting etc but that's because he's more tired & if I tried to speed him up, there'd likely be a tantrum of some sort!

I personally think 2 miles is a bit too far, but agree with other posters that snacks, buggy board & keeping it interesting should help.

Charlotte how could you imagine you will get leapt on for being lazy ! I applaud your walking

One other thing to consider. Presumably your sister will want her child to have friends? So while your dn will get used to the walk after a few months, what about when they want playdates? May br difficult dragging another child who is unused to walking that distance.

Also things like a play or disco that's on 6-8, that means several return journeys often in the cold and dark.

Or when the child is sent home poorly from school?

Do you have a car ? Or would you always have to walk consider ToryLovell very true .

Yes she will have to walk almost all the time except when her husband gets home early on Fridays. She loves walking and running so no problems there.

School seems very nice and not worried about that - it was third choice - they did choose a school neared to them but didn't get it.

By bus, to get to school they would need to take two buses (change half way). Where they live there are actually problems getting on the bus because the bus drivers are very strict on safety about buggies and if more than two (i think) they won't allow it. Also something about low rise step ..not sure about that.

:)I think I'm more worried than they are! :(

i think im right in saying that if you were not given the school close to you and the allocated school is 2 miles or more you can apply for home to school transport, we were offered this last year, but as we are so rural and there would be no other children in the taxi with our then 4 year old dd and traveling 5 miles we declined

I'd be tempted to get her into cycling (if only to speed up the journey time). Lots of DC at DD's infants school have siblings at the juniors a mile away and walk/cycle between the 2 very regularly (2 mile round trip as the juniors start earlier and finishes later).

Yes, as long as it is fairly flat a bike would work well. Dh took dd(7) cycling and ds (2.5) on chair on back and they did 8 miles in one go, and we are just weekend cyclists. It does of course depend on terrain/traffic, but she could start off with chair + one of those things to clip kids bike on back, and then when dn older she can cycle there and back herself, bring a padlock to leave the bike at school (if allowed), much quicker and cooler than walking.

My DS is 3yrs 7months he has been walking 1.6 miles to the KG at the school he will be going to for the past 2 months. He is full of energy at the end of the day. Just allow plenty of time to start. It used to take 50 mins, now its 35.

Cycling fine if you have good quality mudguards, and if OP's sis wants to cycle it with her baby (& she has good mudguards). And OP's sis doesn't mind wearing a backpack to contain all the school kit. And somewhere dry & safe to store bike at school. And baby can be wrapped up to stay dry & warm in all weathers.

Oh, and cycling not so good when there's ice on the road.
50 minutes to walk 1.6 miles every day, each way, would make me go mental.

It is a question that will have a variety of answers... DD (late Aug born so had just turned 4) would have struggled to walk that distance twice a day, 5 days a week. We did sometimes walk 1.1 mile to nursery, but much of it was with me carrying her or in her buggy.

What would also concern me is our weather, I wouldn't be happy for my 4 yo to walk for over an hour in terrible weather, day in day out. I'm probably being soft, but it isn't something I'd be comfortable with.

It is definitely worth checking with the LA as to whether they qualify for free transport (over 2 miles for under 8, but has to be the nearest school with a place available - i.e. the LA could not have allocated a nearer school) as that would be a better solution in my eyes.