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As the school year starts again many parents will be considering whether to drive their child to school or allow them to walk or cycle.
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As the school year starts again many parents will be considering whether to drive their child to school or allow them to walk or cycle.
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When I were a lad my parents didn't have a car, and they couldn't afford to give me 'extra' money for the bus.
My choice was chocolate after lunch, or the bus! 2 1/2 miles isn't that far to walk really...
Was waiting for he bus to Glasgow this morning, watching the traffic go by, lots of cars with kids, who looked absolutely bored. There is so little mental stimulation as a child car passenger.
@Baldcyclist, also had that choice, sweets or bus,time spent walking when a child was of no importance
Didn't have a choice, just walk or bike. But then we were so poor my school dinners (until I got a paper round and rebelled by being able to pay for chips for myself) were paid for by the state (as well as my school clothes).
When ah were a lad etc etc etc...
time spent walking when a child was of no importance
Time spent walking was of vital importance to me, it felt like the only time I got any peace and quiet.
Though I had the longest paper round in the world, from the paper shop at the Junction of Chesser Ave and Gorgie Road right up to the first Calder Road roundabout then back through to Stenhouse. Loved it.
Only downside with riding the bike every where I so rarely get to walk anywhere except for lunch time.
@steveo, my intent on
"time spent walking when a child was of no importance"
was to say that the school walk, particularly homeward was not timetabled in any way, so totally agree it was important for creating space for "peace and quiet"
Ah, fair point.
I grew up in a small town in Wales. We walked to primary school, probably just under a mile (High school was even nearer). There was a slightly shorter route via a footpath across fields that we could have used in summer, but as it involved a railway level crossing with no lights, it was discouraged.
My parents still live in the same house. It's on a housing estate which has just one junction with the main road, effectively a large mazey cul-de-sac with a couple of offshoots. Not dissimilar in layout to The Murrays to give an Edinburgh example.
Was home for a visit last year and walking past the top of the estate, where there were about a dozen cars parked up. Wondered what was going on, when a bus turned up on the main road, and a load of primary school kids got off, and into all the cars, which all turned round and drove back down the estate.
Now the full walk to school, assuming you lived in the house at the very bottom of the estate, is almost exactly a mile. From getting off the bus to that furthest house would be less than 500 yards. Most of the houses even closer. I can't even remember a time when I wasn't allowed to the top of the estate by myself (though strictly no further).
Like I mentioned before, the estate is a dead end - this time on a school day probably sees more traffic movements than the total in the 3-4 hours before that. So what on earth are these mothers worried about, and even if they're not happy with their kids walking from the bus stop by themselves, why on earth do they feel the need to drive that short distance?
It really struck me how much the world has changed in the last 25-30 years.
No doubt these are the same people that "like" every MAKE THE CHANCILOR LOWER FULE DUTY NOW! campaign on Facebook!
Even if there is a fear for some sort of child abduction happening within that 500 yards, could they not walk to pick up their kid?
Anyway, here are some thoughts on the school run from everyone's favourite ADI:
I'm starting to think a lot of it is about commuting and sleep. I have no data to back this up (although I'm seeing if I can find any) so I’m limited to anecdotes.
I was at home on Monday and walked the kids to school. It's two minutes from our house. I watched people that I know are only maybe another five or ten minutes away, certainly not more than a mile from the school, arriving in cars. Now, I know these people and they're neither stupid nor lazy. They’re not unconcerned about traffic, congestion or the environment so I started wondering what else might explain how they come to be putting their kids in a car to get to school because somehow something that people know at one level is wrong keeps repeatedly making sense.
Working patterns have changed substantially. People, in general, live further from their workplace than they used to. They leave earlier in the morning and get home later. They work longer hours. In terms of their relationship with their children, they are less likely to see their children in the morning so time in the evening is more important. I suspect a lot of children stay up later than they should, largely so that a working parent (or working parents) can have time with their children. Those children therefore sleep less than they should. They are more likely to wake tired, be harder to motivate to dress or eat. They are more likely to be cranky and difficult, later to get out of the house, less willing to walk and slower if they do. And that’s how a lot of them end up in the car.
I doubt it is anything that complicated. They are just conditioned to the fact that you have to do the school run. That is what busy modern parents do.
I think its just poor organisation and habit,i.e. not setting out breakfast bowls etc and clothes the night before so everything is a mad rush in the morning.
Re the original article - I love the fact that a system has been developed involving smart cards and electronic trackers with the aim of giving children more freedom. The world has truly gone mad.
I actually liked walking to school (not that I had any choice) - over the years I clocked up a distance equivalent to walking three times across the USA. In my younger years I also had the added bonus of walking up and down 13 floors of stairs - the lifts where we lived being too unreliable and full of wee for a young lad to use (I haven't always lived in Morningside - me an WC only need two more for the full four Yorkshiremem).
But you then have to explain where conditioning and habit come from.
I have a skewed perspective in my day job which involves working with children who have additional support needs. A large majority of them are tired, one I saw today very sleepy,nthe other very, very hyper. my children beg me not to tell their friends what their bedtimes are. There is no doubt in my mind children should go to bed the back of seven. Read a good book then get a good night 's kip and get up at 7 the next day ready for a decent breakfast, some chat with sibs and parents/careers then off to school on foot. My children point out it is not 1950. I could be stretched to 8 pm for the reading of book in bed. I should add this does not occur.
We have posted here before that people are dropping kids then going on to work but if everyone made a pact to get up early, get the kids ready and off walking to school them everyone could just go to work, nonferrous of the traffic. So their is habit round just getting the kidsninnthe car as time is tight and habit about not going to bed early enough and a cultural love of the motor.
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