5yo - what distance is ok to walk to school?

[treedelivery]

What do you think? Assuming ok-ish weather and a good nights sleep and big breakfast etc etc. On a day with no afterschool clubs etc.

cast your votes please.

[CarGirl]

they cycle on the pavements!!!! Actually the police told us that our road is so busy and dangerous with the school run mummies that even the adults should be on the pavement!

[HennyRettaBadaBada]

I meant how busy the roads are for me. I am a wimp about cycling on roads. We live on a main one, and I ride (carefully) on the pavement...

[Bonsoir]

My DD (5.3) can manage 1.4 km to school easily now, at quite a cracking pace.

However, we do use the bus when it is very wet or she is very tired. Thankfully we have the option.

[legalalien]

DS is 5.3 and we walk a mile each way every day. He's been doing it for over a year now without complaint - he particularly likes the rainy days as he gets to jump in puddles (I am less keen). Although he's the smallest in his class I suspect he's the fittest - I'm amazed at the amount of whining, huffing and puffing that his classmates carry on with at the shortest walk!

[roisin]

We are big walkers and dss walked (relatively) long distances from being tiny. But I still found the school run a real drag at first. It was only 0.6 mile, but ds2 had to do it 4 times a day for the first year when he was 3. The last journey home - when they were both shattered - was a killer and always took ages.

[CarGirl]

My youngest walked the school run there and back twice a day (1 mile each way) from about a month after her 2nd birthday, she had turned into a pushchair refuser . Once she got to 3 she started using her scooter instead but they all walk briskly as I can't bear walking slowly so they had to either keep up or sit in the pushchair!

I am mean I suppose. I was shocked when escorting reception class to the church at Christmas at how many of them struggled to walk half a mile - some of them kept wandering off it was just bizarre.

[roisin]

At our primary school they have a 'healthy living' policy of walking whenever possible. So a local trip - say 4 mile round trip - that might have been done before in a morning with a bus, will now be done as a whole day trip, with the children taking packed lunches and walking.

[Builde]

Snow is hard if you have a younger child; pushchairs don't work in snow! If you can persuade younger one to sit on a sledge then you're ok...

We walk a mile in most weathers. A mile seems very little distance for a five year old; she skips home. The bigger problem is the younger sibling who - not being at school - has to be pushed/carried/cajoled twice the distance.

[SpawnChorus]

Mine are 3 and 5 and it usually takes about 45 mins to walk 1.5 miles. They are slow lazy buggers.

Scooters definitely help, and you can even pull them along while they ride the scooter if they're flagging.

2.3 miles would take blimming ages with my kids though.

[UniS]

2 and a bit miles will be fine. you all need proper waterproofs tho or you will wimp out at first excuse. Stick the school bag on the buggy and splash in puddles, look at cows, hit hedge with stick etc.

[onlyjoinedforoffers]

Riven i hope you dont mind me asking why does the school not lay on transport for dd?

[Gubbins]

Only you know how it'd go. We are lucky enough to live about 100 yards from the school, but used to walk everywhere with my elder daughter, who would be absolutely fine with a walk like that twice a day. My younger just wouldn't manage it at all though, although she'd probably be ok scooting for the journey in, at least. Coming home would be a nightmare.

I'd cycle, with the small one in a bike seat and the elder on the pavement.

[fernie3]

we walk about 1.5 -2 miles (depending on if I have to go the long way around with the double!).she did moan at first and so sat on the front of the pushchair but now (after a few months) she is used to it.

[fernie3]

oh it is annoying in the rain (like today) but it just means a good layer on her in the morning plus wellies etc and changing into something dry at the end of the day. The only real problem I had was ice, the roads were clear so the school opened but it was impossible to get there walking as it was just ice the whole way and we were all falling over!

[chixinthestix]

Its about 1.5 miles to DCs school and we bike it as walking takes too long - more than 1/2 hr. DS has been riding his bike since he was 5 and DD now 4 rides a tagalong behind me. Before that I had a trailer and towed them both since they were babies.
Admittedly we don't do it as much this time of year and if it wasn't along country lanes I might feel differently. We used to push the last busy bit near school until I was sure DS could cope with riding in traffic. They love cycling and beg to ride to school not drive.