Who does the school run in your house??

[rainsbows]

Ds starts reception in September and I am feeling really sad / terrible mum guilt that due to work, I won’t be able to take my son to school.

I can collect him twice a week but all other school runs will be either my mum or my husband.

Please make me feel better.

Edited to add, I could take him once a week if he attends the early wraparound care but conscious he’s already going to find five full school days really full on so doesn’t seem fair.

3 children. I have always done most of school runs working from home or parttime NHS. Husband has akways been happy to help out. He is a secondary school teacher and quite often brought children home from after school care on the way home. Now our oldest can walk home on her own.

Sorry I should have said… I’m referring to primary aged children. Better still, reception / KS1 kids.

Dh did most the school runs as he was a night shift worker, he would drop DD at school after finishing his shift (it was a 10min walk so no driving required!), and then would pick DD up before his shift started. I would have liked to done more but it wasn't practical with my hours and commute. Also given dh wasnt around in the evening the school runs/breakfast was his and DD special time together.

I don't think you are missing out on much as the school run does wear a bit thin after a few months!

Who are your little one's top favourite people? Probably you, your husband, and maybe your mum? And those are the people who'll be picking them across each week! Don't feel guilty, you've got a great set-up. It's good that you can manage a day or two as that allows you to get to know the teacher and see other children and parents, but it really doesn't have to be every day. If it was that you'd never do any school pick ups I'd say that was a shame as you'd struggle to feel part of his little school world, but what you've described will work beautifully, don't worry.

Husband used to do 3 mornings and I did 2. Now he does 4 and I do 1. Grandparents used to do 3 picks and I would do 2, that has now changed to them 4 and me 1. On the days he does the school run, I mostly pick up from the grandparents.

Childminder mainly.

We do 50:50. In our school there is a complete mix of mum, dad & grandparents as both parents tend to work with some level of flexibility. Don’t discount breakfast club, ours is run by the most amazing lady and I find that playtime can help settle my DD for the day. I read in a book recently, that as a mum you will always feel guilty for something. It shows you care

DH does 6-8 school runs weekly, depending on his work schedule. It just becomes routine after a while, and honestly they'll be more interested in walking 50m with the friends they've been with all day than with you!

His dad. It's really not that big of a deal or something you should feel sad about.

He also attended wrap around 5 days a week from day 1 like many of his peers and he was absolutely fine.

I think you need to look into why you are feeling guilty that your DS is fortunate enough to have three supportive family members who can take him to school. That's going to feel great for him, he gets a bit of time with everyone.

It isn't 1976, it's 2026. Mums and dads work, and that's ok.

My DH takes them and I collect them. I absolutely love the rare days when I can take them and I know DH feels the same about collecting them.

I tend to drop off Monday to Wednesday, but it’s at 7.30am to breakfast club. DH drops off Thursday and picks up at around 5.15 after clubs finish Monday to Thursday. On a Friday DH drops off and we both pick ip together at the end of school at 4.05. It’s been that way since they started school and they’re fine.

I do drop off, DH does pick up. They attend early (not breakfast, they don’t get fed) club and after school club so are in school 8am-5.15pm. Y4 and reception. They’re fine.

I've worked full and part-time, and it's been a mix of childminder, grandparents, husband and me. I've taken children to lots of parties though and gradually got to know other parents. My kids have never missed me on school run and I've never felt like I've missed out (more than a few cliquey mums).

Oh this is reassuring thanks!

I think I’ll look more into the breakfast club. It does look impressive: purpose built building and breakfast served from 7.30.

So once, maybe even twice a week he’d do 7.30-3 and the rest 8.45-3. All with a mixture of three of us.

I'm a single mum so I have done every school bus run for 14 years except for 6 days when I was doing chemo, and my dsis came to help out. I've had to work locally to get the timings right which has been a bit restricting but I've managed.

Ds is taking a'levels this year, so I have 31 days to go. 🎉

Don't feel guilty OP. My ds went to ASC and I felt awful about it until I realised he loved it and was making lots of friends.

As good as breakfast clubs are I would only use it if you have no way of getting him there at normal start time not to stop you feeling guilty for not dropping off. (There is nothing to feel guilty about!)

I work in a Reception class and would say about half are dropped off by a parent, the rest a split of breakfast clubs and grandparents. Same for pick up with slightly more using after school club than breakfast.

DH and I split it between us. We have no GP help so have to do it all ourselves however we both WFH so it’s OK.

I do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. DH wfh Monday and Fridays so he does those days.

At that age, our nanny did the school run. Now we split it between us. I probably do three days a week as I have flexibility to go in to the office later, and he does it on days he is wfh.

There are lots of dads, grandparents and nannies doing the school run at our school.

School runs are usually x3 me, x2 DH due to working patterns.

DC from the start of reception went to after school club 4 evenings a week & usually me but occasionally DH picked them up at end of the school day on the 5th day.

There's all manner of arrangements Ive seen since DC started school including some kids that are in breakfast & after school club 5 days a week, some with grandparents, some get dropped off by neighbours etc. But theyre all fine & in the big scheme of things it really doesn't matter!

I did it 2 days a week. On the 3 days I worked, it was a childminder.

Your child will be absolutely fine with your husband and your mother.

We split it. We do 50/50 across drop off and pick up. There was a point where he was doing 80% of drop off and pick ups but we changed it as I WFH and found some days I wasn’t leaving the house.
DS moans at me sometimes if plans change and I have to pick him up on a DH day, as he’d rather it was DH!

DD1 I did all school runs up to Y2, then she had a childminder. DD2 childminder for Nursery, then before and after school club throughout the term. They were absolutely fine with this!

I'm a teacher. Loads of dads do the school run. Lots of grandparents collect etc. Please don't worry, your child will definitely not be the only one who isn't always dropped off or picked up by mum.