Can your children walk 1 1/2 miles?

heretolearn_2

Tell the parents it's walk or not come.

And then I probably wouldn't be able to resist adding 'I'm sorry, I didn't realise X had a disability' lol.

suki1001

kjmtidea wrote: »

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



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:

Wow, perhaps you just need to reassure then that they'll be fine. It's not far.

claire16c

kjmtidea wrote: »

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



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:

Seems pointless to stand up for 25 mins when you could walk home in 35! If they cant walk for that long how will they stand up for that long?

How ridiculous. At 7 and 9 they should be able to walk a hell of a lot further than 1.5 miles!

We took my niece around a country park type place at the weekend. She is 4 and we must have walked for about 3-4 miles.

Spendless

I think if you point out how long the wait for the bus will be and in that time you'll be nearly home, they'll be fine. It's not that I'd object to child walking that distance, it's that mine don't do it. I live round the corner from dd's Primary school, have a lot of facilities we use on the doorstep, more than 1 on our street and relatives either live in the same village as us, so minutes walk away or driving distance. They'll be some families I would have thought like us, so they are wondering how they'll be for a first time.

Sally_A

1.5 miles is nothing, make it fun for the kids; use google directions to find the average walking time, set your stopwatch on your phone and get the kids to try and beat it - loads of methods, eg.run a lamppost, walk a lamppost; play follow my leader, so all in the line have to do what the lead walker does, and swap over after say 3 minutes. Do an "I Spy" on the way home, eg. spot 4 cats, 12 blue cars, 5 holly bushes etc.

Make it fun, and the kids will soon be asking their parents why they can't walk more often.

silvercar

Heavy school bags?

kjmtidea

suki1001 wrote: »

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.

I think that's a good point actually, I remember having a conversation at slimming world once and everyone was really shocked that I walked so far to school every day. It really isn't far and they would probably be surprised if they walked it.

I am hoping that the parents will let the kids walk home with us because I am sure that they will have a great time, my children haven't had many friends round before because of one reason or another and I am hoping that we can now make it a regular thing.

kettlefish

My little girl is 16 months and can walk around half a mile (to the local park) already. Downside is she then needs carrying home :rotfl:but the upside is she sleeps like a log that night! However, this is our "normal" - I don't drive, and DH doesn't like driving, so we walk for pretty much all journeys under 2 ish miles each way.

I can see how a 35 minute walk can sound like a lot for families who just *don't* walk - I often get friends insisting they give me lifts to places which must only be about a mile away, or asking me "how did you get here?". Perhaps give the parents your address so they'll realise the actual distance isn't that far? I'd also take a few cartons of juice and perhaps some biscuits (even just boring old rich teas in cling film) as many children do need a snack within a few minute of finishing school.

koalamummy

My four year old walks 2.5 miles to our local pool, attends a 40 min swimming lesson and then walks the same distance back home twice per week and thinks nothing of it. My 20 month old however only manages to walk to the pool and then sleeps the whole way through the lessons and part of the way home, but I would think she walks at least 1.5 miles on the way back.

We live in a densely populated area surrounded by busy roads but my four year old already has a firm grasp of road safety and the little one will probably be the same as this is their normality.

clairec79

All of mine walk further than that - and have since aged 3 - the 2 year old can but he does moan a little at the end

One of dd2's friends though wouldn't walk from her house to school (past our house) because 'it's too far' - yet when DH took them all the the park (little bit further in opposite direction) she walked it no problem