'Walk to school Week'- why, why, why?

[ampere]

What IS the point of this money wasting exercise?

Surely mums (as mums it practically always is!) who drive their DCs to school, by and large either do it because:

-they work and unless they have a very understanding employer who will accommodate them being late for a week, may lose their job over this; or

-mums whom wild horses wouldn't induce to walk, let alone a poxy sticker scheme!

Once again it's attempting societal engineering via schooling rather than attack the 'core' of the problem- if, indeed it IS a problem- being the fact none of us have any time any more and many of us have mortgages or rent to pay! Furthermore, really, why expect DCs to trog to school in all weathers when we, as adults, take the car everywhere?

I wish schools would spend the money on sticking to the point and schooling our DCs not rewarding behaviour 'walkers' already do and guilt tripping those who can't!

Er how is it money wasting when it costs nothing?

or mums who have to drop children at several different schools & nurseries

or children who attend school not within walking distance of home / who do not have a safe walking route between home and school

etc etc etc

i agree with you, its a pointless waste of money

I think it is a great campaign and more kids should walk to school. There were never any cars outside my school gates when I was growing up and yes we are all busy but the truth is sometimes we are all too lazy to walk and we take the car to the shop/drop the DCs off etc.

If it encourages families to change their habits when it is possible then it is worth something. It can hardly cost a thing, although more walking buses would probably be a more practical help for working mums.

If you never walk or cycle with your children to school - or indeed anywhere then you should feel guilty because you are setting them up for a lifetime of inactivity.
If you're driving to work then stop three minutes away and walk that bit with your kids. I absolutely don't believe you have no time at all to do that for one week.
'we, as adults, take the car everywhere' -
Exactly - that's what you need to challenge.

it's worked quite well at DS1's junior school, lots of parents who have no need to drive their children there have actualy walked.

Agree with NorthernLurker with regards to the "we, as adults, take the car everywhere"................I don't.

I couldn't give two hoots about DS1's sticker he got.................he's over the moon with it and has stuck it on his bedroom door.............mind you - it was always obvious he'd get a sticker as he's always walked to school even when we lived further away for a while

Butterfly - that's fair enough, but you could still park a little way from the school and walk the rest of the way

The point is that, sadly, some parents drive their little darlings to school out of sheer laziness and the pester power of their darlings is something that might just make a difference.

DD1's best friend lives 5 minutes' walk from the school, all quiet streets. Her mum (SAHM, perfectly healthy) ALWAYS drives , endangering all the other children crowding the entrance with the bloody great bus she apparently needs for her six-year-old and toddler. Anything that might change that behaviour is to be encouraged IMO. Agree about walking buses though.

Part of the problem is that people have to travel so far to the 'best' schools. If most children went to there local schools, then most would walk and all the threads on MN about appeals would disappear!

yep we have a load of mum's at the infant school who always drive - claiming they have to because they need to be at work..........but then spend anything up to 20 minutes to 1/2hr chatting outside the school gates before going to work as they don't actually start until 9.15/9.30 and school isn't far from where they work

I drop my children off by car five days a week and pick them up too. I have to or i am late for work two days a week or to where i am self employed three days a week. I do not feel remotely guilty - there is no way i could walk them to school, go back to get car and drive off and do the opposite of an evening without losing 40-50 mins of my day.

Not all of us can walk to school, esp if in rural areas.

FWIW - we walk the dogs for 30 mins in the morning and an hour at night so my children are not exactly exercise deprived. This 'one solution fits all' is utter utter bollox...

and walk to school week is the biggest laugh going!! all it means at our school is that the mummies who normally clog up the school gates with their cars park 1 street away (walking time 1/2 minutes at the most) so little darlings get their sticker and dont feel left out (God forbid!)What a waste of time either walk to school or dont but dont play this pathetic game just so your child can have a sticker . Just tell them they wont get one cos mummy drives to school end of!

busymummy - at least 1 street away isn't clogging up the school gates with cars and endangering the lives of the children (and adults) that walk.........

I don't understand why more people don't cycle with children ( I do) - it's safe and quick and you get to feel very smug and have splendid leg muscles. What's not to like?

If more mums (and dads) did this they could then nip back home on the bike and pick up the car thus being on time for work and getting some good exercise in for all.

Walk to School Week is (mostly) the preserve of middle class militant SAHM (probably urban) mums...

Meanwhile those of us in the real world.........

without losing 40-50 minutes of your day?

one of my friends leaves the house every morning at 8am to walk her DS's to school, and then again in the afteroon, she loses 40-50 minutes at the start AND end of the day......and yes - she works.

How our children get to and come home from school is not the most important thing in their lives. They can get exercise in other ways.

I just don't get it.....

It's a pointless argument.

tocc - i can't afford to lose any of MY time between dropping them off and picking them up. 9-3:15 is the only chance i get.

The problem is they don't get exercise in other ways. We are hideously inactive as a nation.

we used to live just under a mile from the schools, took us 15-20 minutes at a leisurely pace (record was 10 1/2 minutes when running late ) with a 5yr old and 8yr old (plus DS3 in the pushchair)

the hill was a killer - but damn my arse looked good

"If everyone attended their local schools then that would be the problem solved wouldn't it?"

Errr no! we don't all (thank Christ!) live in surburbia. For people living in the country side the local school can be a few miles away