School Runs

[iain]

I was taking my son to school this morning.
I noticed that some people are lazy, they take their kids in the car and they  live less a mile from the school they still use the car.
I am not against cars but what I hate is when they live so close to school they still have to use the car, 4x4's people carriers just to take 1 or 2 kids

[iain]

[Robert_Brenchley]

All they're doing is turning their kids into couch potatoes.

[Tulipa]

It's a difficult one if Mums are rushing off to work for 9.00am say, and school starts at 9.00am which I think happens in a lot of cases.  Our local schools are taking away parking spaces to try and stop the school run but it needs more thinking out than that as it has made cars parked more haphazardly in the area of the schools and created more chance of accidents.  It is a nightmare.

I think there needs to be more discussion with parents in each area and decide on a strategy, it is easy for the local councils to come up with ideas but it is a huge problem these days with both parents working and the rushed lifestyle most people lead.

[Jeannine]

Personally I think it is difficult to generalise on this subject. I agree there appears to be many people living close to school who drive their kids in,but..I as don't know where those parents are going after they have dropped off their kids  I would feel uncomfortable making a judgement  on them. I should add that some parents with two or three or even more little ones to organise,feed etc in a morning find it difficult to get their kids to school on time,especially if the littlies walk slow. Driving them in avoids the stress of hurrying them along all the time.XX Jeannine

[greenscrump]

I'm one of seven and we were never late and all walked to school........ I do think in most cases it is plain old laziness and ignorance of the consequences

[Tulipa]

Jeanine, you put it better than me, there are so many factors in why people drive.

One of my sons has Asperger's Syndrome and the only way to get him to school was by car.  He was hugely stressed by school and the extra time taken walking just wound him up so much.  I used to feel very guilty about driving.  We have "Walk to School Week" in our area and trying to cope with that was bad enough.

I always walked to school before he started and was aware of people judging me.  One Mum said to me she was glad I drove to school as it meant she could too!

People have lots of reasons for driving though and we shouldn't judge them all.

[emmy1978]

Iain - Don't get me started on the private school mummies and their 4x4's for one child! Although do agree with J and Tulippa that you can't generalise I do know what you mean!!!
I walk all the blimmin time and would appreciate a drive to school week sometimes!

[DadnDom]

Teacher across the way from us drives her huge 4x4 thing to school. The school is literally 300 yards away.

[Mrs Ava]

Loathe 4X4 and people carriers unless you have a reason to off road regularly or have more than 4 children. 

As for mums/dad/aunts/uncles/nans/grandads/babysitters etc driving to school, you can't call them lazy unless you know the reason why they are driving.  I'm a mum of 2.5 and yes, I drive to school mostly and yes it is under a mile away.  I drive because I need to start work at 9, school bell rings at 8.50.  I take the children, then straight on to work.  I pick them up on the way home from work, in my work gear, covered in mud and plant life, hence the other parents tend to stand well away from me.  An awful lot of the mums I know are going to work straight from school.  What do you expect them to do?  Sprint home, grab the car and drive to work, only to arrive late?  If the parent isn't going on somewhere, then yes, why not walk.  In our village we are lucky, we have a walking bus scheme 3 days a week and because we are a small village, probably as many parents walk as drive.  Today I have my daughter home sick after having an operation on her face yesterday.  We walked this morning, took is leisurely.  Now she is feeling like rubbish, sore and grouchy.  Do I walk to collect son?  No, her health comes first, so we will drive.  You cannot generalise on this one, and it is one I can climb happilly onto my soap box about.

[kt.]

My OH drops kids off at school 1 mile away, for the bell at 0850hrs. She then has a two mile dash to get to work for 9am. When I get the occasional mid week day off work, I always walk these times. Traffic street wardens regularly appear outside our schools at peak school times. More so the pick up than the drop off though.

Mondays - I start at 11am, leaving home at 0930hr. I always allow my kids to ride their bikes / scooters to school this day. (Then muggins has to carry them all the way back home again as the child-minder picks 'em up). If it is raining - they love walking in it and take their kiddies umbrella.

[Ceratonia]

It's a difficult one if Mums are rushing off to work for 9.00am say

I walk one of my sons to school, walk home again and then drive right past his school a few minutes later, on the way to work. I do it because the exercise is good for both of us and it's nice to have a chat with him on the way and with other parents at the school gate. 

Large majority of mums and dads dropping their kids off at our village school are in a big hurry because they have to be at work in Cambridge by 9 sharp. If I had a job with inflexible hours, I'd be one of those driving a child a couple hundreds of yards to work, too.

The sad part is that it becomes a vicious circle - one of the reasons few people are willing to let primary school age children in our village walk themselves to school is that there is so much dangerous traffic at that time of day. I feel safe allowing my 8 yr old walk home from school at 3pm, but I wouldn't be happy letting him (or any of his friends) cross the roads by himself  to walk to school at 8:30.

I also think that there isn't too much schools and local councils can do about this - they can't put the clock back to an era when mums stayed at home and there was little traffic on the roads.

[Mrs Ava]

I wouldn't let my 8 year old daughter walk home alone from school.  Maybe we are over protective, but within my lifetime I have known 2 children vanish from school, a lad in my sisters class at school aged around 10, and a girl the year below me at primary school, aged about 8 or 9.  She turned up dead, killed by the caretaker, he has never been found.   My mum accompanied my sister and I to school until I was old enough to drive and I never minded and never received any ribbing from other kids.

[emmy1978]

I always allow my kids to ride their bikes / scooters to school this day. (Then muggins has to carry them all the way back home again as the child-minder picks 'em up).

KT - I whizz home on Moo's scooter, carrying Frou's over the handlebars!  ;D ;D ;D
Do feel bit silly sometimes but I've lived here long enough for nobody to be particularly surprised!

[ACE]

Why is it always 4x4's that get the stick. They brake better, stronger bodywork in the event of a crash, the diesel versions are economic.  Thanks to all you wingers I now have to pay extra road tax on my 4x4 single cab pickup which is an essential tool in my work. So do a lot of tradesmen who use them. So keep on wingeing and your bills will keep going up as we pass the extra expenses on to our customers.

[iain]

i know what you are all saying but i have seen 1 lady just jump in the car drop the kids off then drives home again like I said less then a milepartner, mainly walks to the school with the little 1, unless she is taking the others to school and  college, or going to the shops. we did have a people carrier, but there is 5 of us in our house, so I think that is acceptable !
We don't have the people Carrier now and we now have a small car

[emmy1978]

Why is it always 4x4's that get the stick. They brake better, stronger bodywork in the event of a crash,

That is fantastic provided you're the one driving it and not the person in the wee little car who's just been squished.
4x4's are fine if you really need one although i'm sure tradespeople got along fine before they came along!

[Trevor_D]

We have two large secondary schools up the road from us. Most school days our main road resembles a car park till after nine. We often can't get out of our drive.

We walked to school alone (in the '50s); our son walked to school alone (in the '70s). I know we live in uncertain times, but if we have to protect kids that much we've lost the battle! (We both worked as teachers, so had to be in work earlier than our son; no chance of either running him to school or picking him up. And I never saw him play for his school or do a class assembly.)

Children are more robust than most adults care to think.

(Sorry - don't mean to offend anyone, as I know all circumstances are different. I nearly didn't post this, but as an ex-teacher it's important to me.)

[asbean]

We live near a school and it's hell.  The mothers don't drop their kids off (they all drive people carriers or 4X4s and a lot come from the next street).  The have to drive up to the top of the road, turn, then drive down again so they're facing the right way, park, walk their kid to the school, then back to the car and then drive off the estate.  If we time it wrong in the mornings it can take 10 minutes to get out of our road.  The school is addressing the problem, as most of the residents are up in arms about it, but don't know what they'll do.  They had a walking bus, which was great, but don't know what happened to that.  My two walked to school a mile down a country lane (and, as my son always reminds me - carrying a trombone)

[Mrs Ava]

Trevor, I feel the battle was lost a long time ago.  I will protect my kids for all I am worth, the same way my mum and dad protected me.

[iain]

stronger bodywork

That's the point if a 4x4 hits a child, it will most certainly kill due to the height of the 4x4