Walking to school.

jellyhead

we only have one or two roads to cross (depends on the route, school has 2 entrance gates and the route to each is different once we get a hundred yards from our house), choice of route, park on the way, allotments or field to walk past, etc. and i only have 1 child, and there aren't any boys within a few streets of us so we only see girls on the journey, so he'd rather talk to me than the girls (at the moment, he's nearly ten though so that will change). i think it's our best time together really, the baby loves being outdoors looking at birds and trees so it means i can talk to spud properly without being interrupted by the baby.

but i don't think i'd like a 2 mile walk, especially not when i was pregnant in the heat of july :rotfl:

pdoff

ds1 starts part time in september & has got into our nearest school, despite us being in the catchment area of another! luckily it is a nice walk over a main road with a lollipop lady & then through the park. it's near the church he walks to every week so he'll be fine. i won't be when he wants to stay & play in the park in the rain on the way home though!! he has loads more energy than me but i agree with the others if u get him used to it gradually he will probably be fine, if you're chatting & looking at stuff on the way he won't notice how far he's walked. hope he gets in there.

culpepper

I used to walk mine 2 and 1/2 miles.DS was 5 and DD 3 and 1/2 so we took the pushchair and DS would stand on the basket if his legs got tired.
Ours was mostly uphill too.We would occasionally use the car if we were late but the walk was such fun especially if it had snowed as they arent allowed to go out in it at playtime ,so miss the fun.We even managed to stroke a squirrel once which they told everyone who would listen.When both went,I took my bike and rode home afterwards.

cheekymole

It's what they're used to. If you get him in training now, his legs will easily cope when he's 4.
It really annoys me when people drive there kids everywhere.
They need exercise and wlaking to and from school is a good way of getting it.
I always take my DD a treat to eat at hometime.
You can also play games which would take his mind off the walking ( eye spy, word association etc)

liney

You could walk him to school and pick him up in the car? Then when he's older he could bike both ways.

nadnad

my mum always tells us of the times she used to walk 7 miles with my brother then agred 8 and my sister aged 6 with me in the buggy! oh oh times have changed and i'm only 25! from the age of about 8 I used to cycle 3 miles to and from school each day. me and my friends have been discussing this - i shall shortly be moving house which will be about 2 miles from my former primary school and I thought how lovely it would be for my kids (when I eventually have them) to be able to walk to school - but that just won't happen - i would be worried for kids of any age to walk to and from school now by themselves, and most likely I would be working and so woudn't have the time to walk with them. Its a very sad time we live in.

Poppy9

cheekymole wrote:

It really annoys me when people drive there kids everywhere.
They need exercise and wlaking to and from school is a good way of getting it.

Don't bother getting annoyed about it, there are loads of reasons why some children are driven to school or to after school activities. The main one being time constraints.

If like me you work part-time, there isn't time to walk to school and then either back home to collect the car to get to work. Same on way home. I would only manage to work about 2 hours a day. Luckily DD gets a school bus as we live just over 2 miles away. On my days off we tried walking a couple of times but no matter which route we took we had to walk for about 10 minutes on a lane with no pavement. Far too dangerous as there is two way traffic and the lane is very narrow.

Other parents who may not work may have family committments to attend to. You don't know other peoples circumstances so don't fret about what they do. If they were impacting on your life then yes get annoyed but they are not. Every parent does what they think is best for their child.

jellyhead

culpepper we have squirrels on one of our routes too, i used to walk that way with my son before he started school, just because it was a nice walk. the children who go to a local childcare facility get to walk through the woodlands that the squiirels live in too.

i'm going to get one this kind of thing next year for my bike, the baby can sit in it, and my son can ride a bike now too, we can all go for family bike rides. if little gingham is one of the older children then at nearly 5 he might not want to go to school in it much past the reception year .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jogger-and-children-s-bicycle-trailer-in-one-NEW_W0QQitemZ7239124185QQcategoryZ98932QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Spendless

GR-this is now the 3rd attempt to reply to you. I have a problem logging in:mad:
Look under the council education dept under 'admissions' and ruing them to find your catchment area.

Gingham_Ribbon

Thanks everyone, and thanks for persevering, Spendless.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it a go by walking to nursery with him in September. And he's walking further and further every day. I suppose hills won't be much of a problem to him since it's all he knows!

We are just outside the catchment unfortunately. But by yards by the sound of it. I'll just have to wait and see...but I have offered to join the PTA there!:D