Walking to school.

jellyhead

my furthest school was only one mile away so i couldn't say. is the hill very very steep? there's a girl at our school who rides a bike and she has her tinies in a covered trailer at the back, it looks really cool and all the other reception children want a go in it. another has a bike for two, the child bit is at the back and there are pedals but the bike would still work if just the adult was doing the pedalling.

if this was me it wouldn't be the child i'd be worried about, sometimes i can barely crawl to my son's school half a mile away if it's snowing, i have to take a mobile and call the office if i have an asthma attack on the way to collect him from school.

julesgr

OOh just thought does the school have a "walking bus?" it's quite popular in our area and kids pick it up en route so the group gets bigger , adults take it in turns to supervise etc and it's very sociable

http://www.walkingbus.com/

Broken_hearted

My children have always walked, but the school is just around the corner.

Gingham_Ribbon

A walking bus sounds like a nice idea. I'll ask when I apply. I think that would make the journey more fun and that makes everything easier! Jellyhead, you're right about trying to do it in snow/cold winds etc. It would cause me problems. But I'd be prepared to take the car rather than risk getting ill. I just think that should be the exception rather than the rule.

chugalug

I used to walk mine to school every day - 2 miles. It took half an hour there and half an hour back but after a while you don't even notice it - in all weathers, when I was pregnant (yep up till the last week). At first the youngest was 4 so she had to go with me when I took her brother to school - he was 5. It was what they were used to cos there was no alternative. I have to say, with them walking 4 miles a day and me walking 8 we were fit, healthy and no problems sleeping or bad behaviour etc. Our bodies are made for walking - its only when there's an alternative and they have to then change kids moan a lot. Dont give them an alternative I say!!!

jellyhead

there was a meeting at our school on friday (but i didn't know about it until afterwards because my son forgot to bring the letter home) about the walking bus scheme, the council are encouraging schools to set them up. my son (despite being nearly ten lol!) was really confused and thought it was an actual bus with legs!

apparently only two parents turned up for the meeting, so i doubt we'll get one set up, but if your school has them it might not cover your area.

do you know anyone else whose children go to that school? maybe you could carpool in bad weather?

black-saturn

They usually only do those walking school buses around the catchment area though. Anyone further afield is required to make their own arrangements.

Gingham_Ribbon

I've spent ages trying to find out whether we're actually in the catchment area or not. I haven't been successful. Only one school comes up when I do a search but there are several near us. This is the third closest. I think we may be borderline. I'm going to call the school to find out what I need to do.

If we were a little further away than most of the kids, there'd be no reason why we couldn't join up with a walking bus further along.

bonnie_2

are you sure you can put his name down early, round here you cant do it until the march before they start.

Gingham_Ribbon

Yes. Someone I was speaking to tried to put her daughter's name down before she was born but they said they like them to be born first. LOL