4 year old legs and what they can manage

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Would love some advice please! We're trying to decide in which order to put our three primary school preferences for dd1 (applications due today) and it may boil down to the logistics of getting her to and fro. Our catchment school is a 20 minute walk away, or a short drive but thru heavy traffic and with nightmare-ish drop off as it's down a tiny road with loads of cars parked all along both sides. Her grandfather has offered to change his working hours to do the school run for us, but do you think a 20 minute walk is too much for a 4 yr old before school? She won't need to make the return journey as an after school club will pick her up by bus. Alternatively he could take her in the pushchair but do school children still travel by buggy really??

'Especially with your first and if you don't know how far other children walk, it can be difficult to gauge what your child can manage on top of a full day in reception.'

most people take their children for walks penguin, or at least I thought they did.I was shocked when my first child started in reception and they had a whole school walk of about 4 miles alongwith parents, members of the community etc .Some of the reception and yr 1s were sitting down and crying and saying they couldn't go on! Their parents should be ashamed at raising such couch potatoes!

Snack after school, build up stamina by walking from the Spring before school starts, and it'll be fine.
It's about 1.5 miles for ds via nursery to get to school and it's been fine, though some smaller friends struggled with the last hill home. And I've lost all my excess weight from pregnancy finally!

My 4yo walks 1.6 miles to and from school with two killer hills on the way back. Takes c 40mims. No option, no car or public transport and I was really worried about it but after a week she was fine, esp as we join other school friends on the way. We have a mini micro scooter which really helps. I also have a baby and keep waterproofs in the pram. One thing though - school shoes, esp girls ones, get trashed on a scooter school run. She now wears wellies or trainers in and changes into her school shoes at school.

And always carry snacks!

Scooter? Mine 4 year old walks but the return journey is tedious. Much less so with a bike or scooter.

Way to miss the point Choc. It must be wonderful to feel so superior though

My point was that, whilst my 4 year old could easily manage a 20 minute walk to the park and back (for example), it was hard to judge how far she could manage to walk before then managing a full day at school. As others have commented, school wipes them out at first.

The OP clearly asks, not whether a 20 minute walk is ok for a child of this age, but whether it's ok before school.

Actually I'd say 4 miles in one go is a bloody long way for a 4 year old on a school walk though. I'm not surprised some of the little ones were knackered.

Probably does seem a bit mad to wonder about it but she's three and a half now and still on a buggy board, and I know everyone says school totally knackers them out at first (even though she's currently in full time nursery). But clearly a lot will change between now and September. Anyway, I'm suitably reassured and extremely chuffed with new scooter disassembly info also! And thanks TheTrouble, I'll make sure she weetabixes up!

And top tip on the shoes, shimmy - thanks.

Glad the scooter tip helped! Makes them a lot easier to fit in a car boot, under a buggy, etc as well.

Totally - we were those precarious balancers! I will spread the word.

Let's be clear starting reception doesnt knacker all children out. People repeatedly told me this and I didn't notice it at all.

Definitely she can walk, personally I think scooting with school traffic is dangerous, but we all assess risk differently