Can your children walk 1 1/2 miles?

suki1001

My goodness, what a shame. 1.5 miles isn't exactly a great distance. I'd be quite happy if mine went to their friends house that way - much more fun than in the car.

Is their any possibility they view the walk as dangerous - crossing dual carriageways or anything, or are they just plain lazy?

balletshoes

Marshflower wrote: »

My daughter is 3 and a half and will happily walk that distance and further....

my daughter is older, but when she was at primary school yes, she would have walked for a mile and a half - but she wouldn't have been particularly happy about doing it regularly. But thats down to me, we live near her schools so she's not had to do it.

She would happily walk that far to have a fun play at a friends house though, and I certainly wouldn't say no she couldn't go because its too far to walk .

aliasojo

suki1001 wrote: »

Is their any possibility they view the walk as dangerous - crossing dual carriageways or anything, or are they just plain lazy?

Oh at last! Someone actually sought to clarify something first before jumping to call young kids lazy (or worse!)

OP you didn't mention how long the kids would be with you? Is it just an after school play and they'd be walking home again after? Are they staying over?

If the kids have been driven everywhere all their life then this would be a lengthy walk for them regardless of whoever else would do it blindfolded! It's not their fault if they have been brought up this way so some of the comments are pretty unfair.

**professor~yaffle**

35 minutes is not that far, and for the friends it would be a one-off, it's not like you're asking them to do it every day there and back. I have a feeling the children would probably quite like the adventure of walking rather than being ferried about in the car all the time, but I don't know what you can do if the other parents say no. It does seem a shame. No wonder the poor kids of today are suffering from weight gain!

Gloomendoom

Northern_Princess wrote: »

Unless the children have a disability that they couldn't walk then I'd say they are just lazy.

I doubt it is the children. They probably have no concept of how far 1.5 miles is anyway.

delain

squirrelchops wrote: »

Perfectly acceptable. What would parents do who think it is too far when the Department of Education guidance I believe says that a primary school place for children of this age can be up to a 2 mile walk away and that that is deemed an acceptable distance to have to get to school?

It's 3 miles not 2.

That's why you only get free transport (here anyway) if you are 3 miles or more away (calculated with the shortest walking distance)

It only takes us 25 ish minutes in the mornings.

balletshoes

delain wrote: »

It's 3 miles not 2.

That's why you only get free transport (here anyway) if you are 3 miles or more away (calculated with the shortest walking distance)

It only takes us 25 ish minutes in the mornings.

When I was at school in Scotland it was 2 miles for primary school, 3 miles for secondary school (we were 0.1 miles inside the limit for both ).

kjmtidea

suki1001 wrote: »

My goodness, what a shame. 1.5 miles isn't exactly a great distance. I'd be quite happy if mine went to their friends house that way - much more fun than in the car.

Is their any possibility they view the walk as dangerous - crossing dual carriageways or anything, or are they just plain lazy?

There are a couple of main roads but they have crossings and a few little roads but nothing dangerous.

aliasojo wrote: »

Oh at last! Someone actually sought to clarify something first before jumping to call young kids lazy (or worse!)

OP you didn't mention how long the kids would be with you? Is it just an after school play and they'd be walking home again after? Are they staying over?

If the kids have been driven everywhere all their life then this would be a lengthy walk for them regardless of whoever else would do it blindfolded! It's not their fault if they have been brought up this way so some of the comments are pretty unfair.

They would be coming round for dinner and time to play, would probably be going home around 6.30pm - I would be happy to walk them home but parents have said that they would collect. One of the mums acted quite horrified that we walked and said that there is no way her son could manage to walk that far. The other mum just assumed that we got the bus and she didn't think her son would walk that far. I said to both that their children would probably enjoy it because they are with friends and just to let me know if they are able to come or not.

I could get the bus but it just feels so unnecessary and the 25 minute wait with 8 children doesn't sound fun :eek: my youngest has special needs so I find it easier to just keep walking rather than hanging around :rotfl:

delain

We catch a lot of buses too and with 8 kids it could get expensive! Is here anyway. I agree it sometimes is easier to walk... Esp if they are getting bored and playing up.

Balletshoes we're in England so probably why its different! We were 3 miles on the dot so got a school bus pass. Though after the age of 11 or so I was so fed up of the other kids I would rather have walked

suki1001

aliasojo wrote: »

Oh at last! Someone actually sought to clarify something first before jumping to call young kids lazy (or worse!)

OP you didn't mention how long the kids would be with you? Is it just an after school play and they'd be walking home again after? Are they staying over?

If the kids have been driven everywhere all their life then this would be a lengthy walk for them regardless of whoever else would do it blindfolded! It's not their fault if they have been brought up this way so some of the comments are pretty unfair.

I agree. Children don't have a choice. I live a 10 minute walk from our school and it's nice to be able to do that, before we lived 4 miles away from the school, so walking was just not possible, because I didn't have the time to walk 16 miles a day. However, on Wednesday, I work in an office, which can be an hour away, so I drop my son off at school, because the time it takes to walk back means I can be late for work.

Working mothers often get a lot of flack for this, but if you've got half an hour to spare walking in a morning then great, but the world we live in means many don't. It's not just down to laziness.

I can't see that it's as simple as the ops putting forward. It is also quite possible that the parents don't have the notion of exactly how far 1.5 miles is - it isn't far, but perhaps they think it's a lot further than it sounds - perhaps, it is the actual walk itself?

We don't actually and there are some assumptions. I really can't see most parents objecting to this distance, as we've seen on here, so maybe there are other reasons.