3 July 2015

The 10 types of drivers you see at Canberra school drop offs

| Jenny Tiffen
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I am a mother of four children and have done a gazillion school runs in my time. My experience to date has been with childcare, pre-school and primary school, so to write this post I morphed a few stories from my mummy friends at different ACT primary and high schools.

This is my list of the ten people you will meet at the school gate.

Carpark

1. The finisher
We all have times when we aren’t quite ready for the day by the time we arrive at school. I’ve often hurled two black Clarks at my son on the way to school, but I also know that if your kids’ school has a drop off line, you don’t dare enter it unless your child is primed and ready to fire. If you need to tie shoelaces, fix hair, re-pack the bag, dish out money or sign notes, you pull over somewhere safe and get it sorted before you enter that line. If you are parking, you can take more time, but remember that those car parks are like hen’s teeth. Keep it quick.

stock-child-crying-school

2. The distressed
Yes, children are fragile and can go from happy cherub to emotional train wreck in a couple of minutes, but the drop off line is not a place for family therapy. If you or your child is in a state of despair as your turn to exit approaches, you need to move along, go back around for another lap and talk your little person down from the ledge in the privacy of your own car. Your mini crisis can not affect the entire school population stuck behind you. Equally, if you like to give your child a pash as they start their day, PARK. It’s kiss and go in the lines, people.

parking

3. The blocker
This is the parent who hasn’t read the signs or arrows and hasn’t realised that by driving the opposite way to everyone else, they are causing an absolute dog fight behind them. Or they have parked their very big four-wheel drive into a tiny side space and their bulky rear end is blocking traffic. Most people hold off on using the horn during school drop offs, but this is one occasion where you are likely to get blasted.

penguin

4. The rusher
The rusher is more important than you. You won’t notice them at first, but all of a sudden the air changes and in flies a flapper with sooo much to do than you or me. They will try and weasel their way into the line. Depending on your mood and the role model you are trying to maintain for your small folk, you might handle rushers differently from day to day. Feel free to stay strong. Make the rusher wait. No cuts. No buts.

stock-kids-children-running-school

5. The tardy
The tardy parent is always five or ten minutes late. One positive is that the car parking area is much quieter by the time school starts, so the children can enter school safely. However, the child then needs to perform an Academy Award-worthy act to blend in and avoid having to sign in on the late register. It’s a tough way to start the day when you are only seven.

story
6. The talker
I strongly believe that there is to be no chit chat in school drop lines. You can RSVP to the kid’s party or get the soccer roster later. This is what your iPhone is for. Use it. Keep your window wound up if you are not sure how to handle a talker. Just smile, wave and send them a text later.

elaine gif

7. The waaaaay too happy
Any parent who is uber chirpy, polished and welcoming at 8:30am confuses me. I usually look like the dog’s breakfast at that time of day, and there’s a good chance I’m still wearing my pyjama top underneath my jumper. I’m envious that some people seem to have all their things together and organised! This person is often the same parent running the fundraising committee. They would never, ever be a finisher.

go go

8. The give wayer
This person is super friendly. They’re always happy to give way and let other drivers in. While they have good intentions, the line behind them never seems to move because half of the school population is going before them. Keep it one for one to make sure the lines move evenly.

giphy

9. The creator
This person is inventive! They create brand new car spots that the rest of us never knew existed! They don’t worry about white lines or footpaths because their car hardly takes up any space at all and they are only going to be there for a very short time. No one will notice. (The thing is though, we do notice. It’s unfair to push in, park in a no parking zone and then expect others to give way to you when you exit.)

Canberra school drop

10. Everyone else
You are the ones that the teachers like. You are kind and considerate. You know how to nail a successful drop off and you should be proud of yourself because getting to and from school can be one of the most stressful times of the day, followed closely by meal times. Especially in the rain. Rain is a game changer. Even more so in Canberra because it hardly ever rains here, but when it does, it is at 3pm and all of a sudden everyone’s driving skills vanish. The danger that a child will get hurt is increased 10 fold. BUT you have your eyes ahead, your phone is no where near your hands and you are focused on the task. Thank God for you.

What do you think? Who have I forgotten? Tell us!

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wildturkeycanoe7:00 am 07 Jul 15

There is only one type of driver I see at our school. They have no concept of depth perception or haven’t got the right prescription for their glasses. The spaces between cars parked parallel to the kerb are easily 3/4 of a car length instead of a metre or so as is the norm. This means that where there could be ten cars parked you only see around half that, with huge gaps between. On top of that, they also cannot parallel park if their life depended on it, taking four or five goes to get into this easily accessible two and half car space whilst getting gutter rash on their mags and going over the kerb onto the grass! That’s after they negotiate by way of pure stubbornness through the narrow street where people park on both sides and turn it into a single lane, then go against the flow in a one way street to exit. Absolutely no idea about courtesy, let alone the road rules.
I have also witnessed a few times the hit and run driver who puts a nice big dent in someone’s boot and then calmly drives off without even realizing they’ve committed property damage.
To be absolutely honest, I do not know how 50% of the parents at our local school got their licenses, or even if they actually have one. What has become of our driver training and license testing system? I know it is racist to say this but it is the honest truth, there are certain cultures that are are the culprits, probably holding international licenses.
All these examples plus the two big scary dogs on the way to school that keep slowly tearing down the fence holding them back are the reasons why I won’t let my kids walk to school on their own, it’s dangerous enough for an adult with this kind of incompetence on our roads, gutters and footpaths.

sepi said :

I have 3 kids so a bike trailor for 2 isn’t really going to work. anyway – I have to get the kids to 3 different places in 3 suburbs, and then to work.

I would love to be the 50s housewife walking the kids to school, but these days I need to drop the kids off as fast as possible and get to work (late).

50’s Mums only walked their kids to school the first day, then the little blighters had to get there under their own steam.

…I know it seems impossible to do without a mobility scooter and a GPS but back then the world seemed full of possibilities, that are now impossible.

I have 3 kids so a bike trailor for 2 isn’t really going to work. anyway – I have to get the kids to 3 different places in 3 suburbs, and then to work.

I would love to be the 50s housewife walking the kids to school, but these days I need to drop the kids off as fast as possible and get to work (late).

sepi said :

My kids are too little to ride bikes, our local school is a huge walk due to school closures. Schools are over populated due to school closures and a baby boom. This all creates traffic issues. I do park a block away from the school – so do dozens of other people – the blocks all around the school are jam-packed with people trying to park close to the school. and I am dropping them off and trying to get to work – like most families both parents work. times have changed – I would love to walk, but I struggle to do enough hours at work as it is!

Good on you for reducing your impact on the dangerous drop off bunfight. Have you considered a bike trailer? We used one that could carry two and it was great!

My kids are too little to ride bikes, our local school is a huge walk due to school closures. Schools are over populated due to school closures and a baby boom. This all creates traffic issues. I do park a block away from the school – so do dozens of other people – the blocks all around the school are jam-packed with people trying to park close to the school. and I am dropping them off and trying to get to work – like most families both parents work. times have changed – I would love to walk, but I struggle to do enough hours at work as it is!

AdelaideLouise10:23 pm 03 Jul 15

Piratepete said :

Secondly, I think all the people on here saying back in my day…….please remember that cars now drive faster, there are more cars (due to population), there are more distractions (smartphones) and so people are much more hesitant to let their kids walk or ride especially if they have to cross a road.

I understand people’s concerns, but you’ve just added another (fairly poor) excuse to the countless ones already floating around.

My final year of school was 2008, in Brisbane. Cars, busy roads and devices were all available distractions then, as they are now, and in order to get to school I had to catch a bus and a train, and walk at either end of the journey (including crossing 6 lane, busy, arterial roads.) Some people were dropped off/ picked up by car, but that was mostly the preserve of kids whose mums didn’t work outside the home (perhaps 1/3 of the school population?)

So what my story demonstrates is that Canberra’s drop off situation is not one created out of necessity, but an option which has been socially sanctioned by overly fearful parents (and I say this as someone who was a kid in the same area, around the same time, as Daniel Morcomb.) Canberrans get away with driving everywhere simply because there are no significant impediments to *stopping* them from driving everywhere.

Other Australian cities manage to cope with the stresses of devices, road crossings, public transport, stranger danger and long distances to school because it simply isn’t feasible that parents do a car drop off, so Canberra could too if it really wanted to make those choices. The world hasn’t changed, your excuse just gives people the cop out they were looking for to prevent their beliefs from being challenged.

watto23 said :

To be fair to parents who do bubblewrap their kids, its not like the perception being far worse than the reality is just related to taking kids to school. Society in general is like that. A freak accident that kills one person can create a whole raft of rule changes, even though its happened once. So many laws are in place because someone may have got hurt once and it may have even been their fault.

People generally do make up some pretty lame excuses as to why they do things and tend to not think there is a choice. Pay car parking is one such argument, where people have made every excuse possible as to why they must drive, when reality is driving is the easiest option and the other options are too hard to make work for them. There are still other choices though!

Spot on!

Southmouth said :

rubaiyat said :

Southmouth said :

And of my 4 who have not walked to school in years ( we moved), 2 are state level athletes and the other 2 just as fit. Childhood obesity is largely diet.

No it isn’t, it is a combination of diet AND lack of exercise. Obviously your kids get the later to excess.

When we were all kids our diet was not the best, not todays processed junk food just plenty of fatty food, but we walked/ran everywhere and were skinny as rakes.

My father is 91 and has cholesterol problems but not weight problems. Never had. Despite my Mum’s Austrian cooking.

It’s bulk quantities of sugar and refined carbohydrates that are the enemy. I doubt your father had anywhere near the amount of these that kids have now days. Fat is not all bad either. There is no way that walking 3km to school can offset the diet that obese kids have.

Maybe/maybe not. He does have a sweet tooth and always kept lollies in jars handy and a steady supply of soft drinks available, which I don’t. But he has lead a much harder life than I ever had.

It isn’t just the excessive amount of calories, of which sugar is one part not the only one, it is the combination of too much food, with way too much calories and way too little exercise for far too long.

You can get away with the calories if you burn them off, but the body is extremely efficient, it takes a lot of exercise to do that. Eventually given all the pressures to avoid exercise as a normal part of life, walking, running, carrying things, the balance between the calories and burning them off tips dramatically to too much unburnt calories, which the body turns into stored fat.

I sometimes wonder which causes which: the excess fat, diet and inadequate exercise or the flawed thinking with all the excuses. My observation is that prolonged activity actually reduces appetite. When you are busy you are also not snacking as recreation.

The habit of avoiding exercise causes the fatigue that leads to further avoidance of exercise, so it isn’t just the walk to or from school, it is being active as a normal part of life, between, during and after.

People overestimate the amount of time they spend exercising when they do little, but underestimate the actual exercise of a busy active lifestyle because it is spread out throughout the day.

There is a similar effect with IQ. People with relatively low intelligence overestimate what they have because they have little comprehension of what others are thinking or understand, whilst intelligent people underestimate their own relative IQ because they think everyone else is the same or similar, and actually know what is going on.

Maya123 said :

For most people who say it is too difficult to cycle or walk, because they have children, I would speculate that most didn’t cycle or walk to work as their main means of transport before having children. Now the children are just a convenient excuse for something they never did anyway.

I think I just fell in love with you.

For most people who say it is too difficult to cycle or walk, because they have children, I would speculate that most didn’t cycle or walk to work as their main means of transport before having children. Now the children are just a convenient excuse for something they never did anyway.

watto23 said :

To be fair to parents who do bubblewrap their kids, its not like the perception being far worse than the reality is just related to taking kids to school. Society in general is like that. A freak accident that kills one person can create a whole raft of rule changes, even though its happened once. So many laws are in place because someone may have got hurt once and it may have even been their fault.

People generally do make up some pretty lame excuses as to why they do things and tend to not think there is a choice. Pay car parking is one such argument, where people have made every excuse possible as to why they must drive, when reality is driving is the easiest option and the other options are too hard to make work for them. There are still other choices though!

Often just harder, not too hard, For pay parking I think of healthy people with no family commitments who live within 6-7 km of work who cannot contemplate anything but driving. Too lazy to seriously consider buses or bikes. Yes, just too lazy.

To be fair to parents who do bubblewrap their kids, its not like the perception being far worse than the reality is just related to taking kids to school. Society in general is like that. A freak accident that kills one person can create a whole raft of rule changes, even though its happened once. So many laws are in place because someone may have got hurt once and it may have even been their fault.

People generally do make up some pretty lame excuses as to why they do things and tend to not think there is a choice. Pay car parking is one such argument, where people have made every excuse possible as to why they must drive, when reality is driving is the easiest option and the other options are too hard to make work for them. There are still other choices though!

Maya123 said :

Piratepete said :

Firstly to all the people saying what about mentioning the alternate ways to get to school – the article is called “The 10 types of drivers you see at Canberra school drop offs” therefore she is writing only about drivers in this article. She was making no statement that she was including the other forms of transport (be it bus,legs,scooters or bikes).
Secondly, I think all the people on here saying back in my day…….please remember that cars now drive faster, there are more cars (due to population), there are more distractions (smartphones) and so people are much more hesitant to let their kids walk or ride especially if they have to cross a road.
I used to walk from Curtin to Hughes from age 6 to go to school, continuing to walk to Deakin, and then on to Phillip for college. Yes I drive my two under age 8 kids to school.

More cars now yes, that statistic increased by all the parents driving their kids to school, but cars don’t go any faster than fifty years ago. Faster than a hundred years ago, but who’s personally remembering that to comment here. If the child is too young to walk by themselves, one of the parents (or local parents taking in turns) should walk the child to school. Some of the danger of cars to children would likely come from children NOT walking to school and never getting the experience of the dangers and where it is safe to walk. Cocoon them and naturally the big bad world of roads is dangerous to them.

Yep. The only significant change since we walked to school has been parental perceptions of increased danger, as opposed to the reality.

Maya123 said :

dtc said :

How many of the whingers (‘why cant kids walk’) actually have kids?

You will find two things quite quickly

a. most kids do walk or ride to their local school (way more than 1/2 if my kid’s school is any sample) or bus in when in high school (most primary schools do not have bus services)

b. of those in primary that don’t walk or ride, many come from several suburbs away (due to things like school closures) or have parents who have assessed the danger from various busy streets etc and decided the risk was too high for the age of the kid. There is a lot more traffic nowdays than when we were all kiddies, for a start (and, as a parent, I’m not scared of the ‘random stranger’, I’m scared of traffic accidents)

There are, of course, parents who do drive, or parents who find it more convenient to get the kids ready at 830 and drive in rather than have them ready by 745 for the bus. Or who drive past the school on the way to work. Or work part time themselves.

How do y’all get to work? Anyone drive? Or just whinge about other people driving?

Answering your question, when I worked (a few years ago), I cycled, or on wet days bused part of the way and then walked 2 kms the rest of the way to work. I rarely whinged (as you put it) about other people driving, because I didn’t experience the stop, start of traffic, although I could see it it times from the distance. And the few times I drove to work, I would think, “This is madness!”. Then I would shake my head in bewilderment at why these people wanted to be stuck in traffic everyday.

I know how you feel. When you’re used to the smooth flow of Canberra’s cycle paths, the very short Canberra peak hour feels like a eternity! Always a relief to get back on the bike.

Piratepete said :

Firstly to all the people saying what about mentioning the alternate ways to get to school – the article is called “The 10 types of drivers you see at Canberra school drop offs” therefore she is writing only about drivers in this article. She was making no statement that she was including the other forms of transport (be it bus,legs,scooters or bikes).
Secondly, I think all the people on here saying back in my day…….please remember that cars now drive faster, there are more cars (due to population), there are more distractions (smartphones) and so people are much more hesitant to let their kids walk or ride especially if they have to cross a road.
I used to walk from Curtin to Hughes from age 6 to go to school, continuing to walk to Deakin, and then on to Phillip for college. Yes I drive my two under age 8 kids to school.

More cars now yes, that statistic increased by all the parents driving their kids to school, but cars don’t go any faster than fifty years ago. Faster than a hundred years ago, but who’s personally remembering that to comment here. If the child is too young to walk by themselves, one of the parents (or local parents taking in turns) should walk the child to school. Some of the danger of cars to children would likely come from children NOT walking to school and never getting the experience of the dangers and where it is safe to walk. Cocoon them and naturally the big bad world of roads is dangerous to them.

dtc said :

How many of the whingers (‘why cant kids walk’) actually have kids?

You will find two things quite quickly

a. most kids do walk or ride to their local school (way more than 1/2 if my kid’s school is any sample) or bus in when in high school (most primary schools do not have bus services)

b. of those in primary that don’t walk or ride, many come from several suburbs away (due to things like school closures) or have parents who have assessed the danger from various busy streets etc and decided the risk was too high for the age of the kid. There is a lot more traffic nowdays than when we were all kiddies, for a start (and, as a parent, I’m not scared of the ‘random stranger’, I’m scared of traffic accidents)

There are, of course, parents who do drive, or parents who find it more convenient to get the kids ready at 830 and drive in rather than have them ready by 745 for the bus. Or who drive past the school on the way to work. Or work part time themselves.

How do y’all get to work? Anyone drive? Or just whinge about other people driving?

Answering your question, when I worked (a few years ago), I cycled, or on wet days bused part of the way and then walked 2 kms the rest of the way to work. I rarely whinged (as you put it) about other people driving, because I didn’t experience the stop, start of traffic, although I could see it it times from the distance. And the few times I drove to work, I would think, “This is madness!”. Then I would shake my head in bewilderment at why these people wanted to be stuck in traffic everyday.

dtc said :

How many of the whingers (‘why cant kids walk’) actually have kids?

You will find two things quite quickly

a. most kids do walk or ride to their local school (way more than 1/2 if my kid’s school is any sample) or bus in when in high school (most primary schools do not have bus services)

b. of those in primary that don’t walk or ride, many come from several suburbs away (due to things like school closures) or have parents who have assessed the danger from various busy streets etc and decided the risk was too high for the age of the kid. There is a lot more traffic nowdays than when we were all kiddies, for a start (and, as a parent, I’m not scared of the ‘random stranger’, I’m scared of traffic accidents)

There are, of course, parents who do drive, or parents who find it more convenient to get the kids ready at 830 and drive in rather than have them ready by 745 for the bus. Or who drive past the school on the way to work. Or work part time themselves.

How do y’all get to work? Anyone drive? Or just whinge about other people driving?

Yes, I have junior primary school kids. Sometimes drive, sometimes ride sometimes get the bus. The kids get driven or ride their bikes with me or my wife. You can mix it up. You don’t have to drive all the time!

rubaiyat said :

Southmouth said :

And of my 4 who have not walked to school in years ( we moved), 2 are state level athletes and the other 2 just as fit. Childhood obesity is largely diet.

No it isn’t, it is a combination of diet AND lack of exercise. Obviously your kids get the later to excess.

When we were all kids our diet was not the best, not todays processed junk food just plenty of fatty food, but we walked/ran everywhere and were skinny as rakes.

My father is 91 and has cholesterol problems but not weight problems. Never had. Despite my Mum’s Austrian cooking.

It’s bulk quantities of sugar and refined carbohydrates that are the enemy. I doubt your father had anywhere near the amount of these that kids have now days. Fat is not all bad either. There is no way that walking 3km to school can offset the diet that obese kids have.

Piratepete said :

please remember that cars now drive faster, there are more cars (due to population).

What like today’s 40km/hr speed limits in school zones and 50km in suburbia? 70km on main roads?

We also had open speed limits on country roads.

The thing we didn’t have was all the crazy excuses that condemn our kids to being kept like precious pets that might run off, and having to run the gauntlet of the car mash up at the school gates, a huge contributor to the “more cars on the road” syndrome.

If your kids are so precious why does half the population now have 4WD and a barrel of excuses when they run over their children in their driveways?

This affects the parents as much as the kids, as they are usually in even more advanced obesity than the children.

I really do not buy the “necessity” argument. It is a choice, a lazy easy way out “choice” supported by massive advertising and marketing, one that you can change if you want to.

You do not have to do what you are told. You manage to ignore all the sensible advise, try doing the same to the sales propaganda.

Southmouth said :

And of my 4 who have not walked to school in years ( we moved), 2 are state level athletes and the other 2 just as fit. Childhood obesity is largely diet.

No it isn’t, it is a combination of diet AND lack of exercise. Obviously your kids get the later to excess.

When we were all kids our diet was not the best, not todays processed junk food just plenty of fatty food, but we walked/ran everywhere and were skinny as rakes.

My father is 91 and has cholesterol problems but not weight problems. Never had. Despite my Mum’s Austrian cooking.

house_husband8:19 am 03 Jul 15

Great list and I’d like to add one more – The Smasher

A close relative of the Blocker, the Smasher has the spatial awareness of a piece of wet spaghetti. Easily identified by the numerous scrapes and dings on their usually small car, this driver somehow manages to hit kerbs and poles even at walking pace. When not being driver you can identify a Smasher’s car as it will be parked straddling two bays.

And of my 4 who have not walked to school in years ( we moved), 2 are state level athletes and the other 2 just as fit. Childhood obesity is largely diet.
My father walk 6 miles to school jumping from cow pat to cow pat as he was too poor for a horse or shoes. Apparently.

Firstly to all the people saying what about mentioning the alternate ways to get to school – the article is called “The 10 types of drivers you see at Canberra school drop offs” therefore she is writing only about drivers in this article. She was making no statement that she was including the other forms of transport (be it bus,legs,scooters or bikes).
Secondly, I think all the people on here saying back in my day…….please remember that cars now drive faster, there are more cars (due to population), there are more distractions (smartphones) and so people are much more hesitant to let their kids walk or ride especially if they have to cross a road.
I used to walk from Curtin to Hughes from age 6 to go to school, continuing to walk to Deakin, and then on to Phillip for college. Yes I drive my two under age 8 kids to school.

Southmouth said :

shellcase said :

The world has changed for the worse. Why can’t the little darlings walk, ride their scooters or bikes to school? It’s all just too precious.
My horse knew the way to school, I didn’t have to handle the reins, Pete knew the drill, he did the driving and I sat in the saddle with the Lithgow across my knees popping rabbits, foxes, anything feral that came within range. Great days.

So where was this school that had stables and gun racks for the students?

No gun racks, but my uncle rode a horse to school. The school had a paddock for the horses.

How many of the whingers (‘why cant kids walk’) actually have kids?

You will find two things quite quickly

a. most kids do walk or ride to their local school (way more than 1/2 if my kid’s school is any sample) or bus in when in high school (most primary schools do not have bus services)

b. of those in primary that don’t walk or ride, many come from several suburbs away (due to things like school closures) or have parents who have assessed the danger from various busy streets etc and decided the risk was too high for the age of the kid. There is a lot more traffic nowdays than when we were all kiddies, for a start (and, as a parent, I’m not scared of the ‘random stranger’, I’m scared of traffic accidents)

There are, of course, parents who do drive, or parents who find it more convenient to get the kids ready at 830 and drive in rather than have them ready by 745 for the bus. Or who drive past the school on the way to work. Or work part time themselves.

How do y’all get to work? Anyone drive? Or just whinge about other people driving?

HiddenDragon5:01 pm 02 Jul 15

The scene outside too many Canberra schools (and, no doubt, schools throughout the country) often reminds me of this French and Saunders gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc7t5zGrWlw

Southmouth said :

shellcase said :

The world has changed for the worse. Why can’t the little darlings walk, ride their scooters or bikes to school? It’s all just too precious.
My horse knew the way to school, I didn’t have to handle the reins, Pete knew the drill, he did the driving and I sat in the saddle with the Lithgow across my knees popping rabbits, foxes, anything feral that came within range. Great days.

So where was this school that had stables and gun racks for the students?

In Texas they call it ‘kindergarten’.

shellcase said :

The world has changed for the worse. Why can’t the little darlings walk, ride their scooters or bikes to school? It’s all just too precious.
My horse knew the way to school, I didn’t have to handle the reins, Pete knew the drill, he did the driving and I sat in the saddle with the Lithgow across my knees popping rabbits, foxes, anything feral that came within range. Great days.

So where was this school that had stables and gun racks for the students?

The world has changed for the worse. Why can’t the little darlings walk, ride their scooters or bikes to school? It’s all just too precious.
My horse knew the way to school, I didn’t have to handle the reins, Pete knew the drill, he did the driving and I sat in the saddle with the Lithgow across my knees popping rabbits, foxes, anything feral that came within range. Great days.

ChrisinTurner2:57 pm 02 Jul 15

Kids are driven to school for “safety” reasons but they are at more risk of injury as a result of being driven.

Maya123 said :

Funky1 said :

Wow! Talk about hijacking!

What is obviously a light-hearted original post is suddenly turned into a “justify you life choices” thread.

I’m sure most school have a mixture of kids who walk or ride to school by themselves, those who walk or ride with a parent and those who are driven (for whatever reason that needs no justification to anyone, let alone strangers on an online forum).

Please let’s try to keep these sorts of thread light-hearted, as the OP intended.

But this offered no alternative to the car drop-off, implying that only this is the normal thing to do. It might be the common thing to do, but it isn’t normal, not when it deprives children of exercise, and teaches by bad example. If alternative drop-offs to the car were included your argument might have had some basis, but as it was limited to cars this made a statement that needed replying to.

I’m also not sure that I like where this “I’ll make whatever choices I want, and I don’t give a rats about the impact on other people, and certainly will not justify them to anyone” attitude is taking our society. We could do with a smidgin more consideration and courtesy towards our fellow community members, and this is not consistent with “I’ll do what I want, wherever I want, to whomever I want”. We live in a city, not alone on 100 hectares.

Funky1 said :

Wow! Talk about hijacking!

What is obviously a light-hearted original post is suddenly turned into a “justify you life choices” thread.

I’m sure most school have a mixture of kids who walk or ride to school by themselves, those who walk or ride with a parent and those who are driven (for whatever reason that needs no justification to anyone, let alone strangers on an online forum).

Please let’s try to keep these sorts of thread light-hearted, as the OP intended.

But this offered no alternative to the car drop-off, implying that only this is the normal thing to do. It might be the common thing to do, but it isn’t normal, not when it deprives children of exercise, and teaches by bad example. If alternative drop-offs to the car were included your argument might have had some basis, but as it was limited to cars this made a statement that needed replying to.

Maya123 said :

Southmouth said :

The buses are genuinely zoos on wheels. My 4 are all at different levels of the food chain so their experiences are varied.

Tell me then, how does this vary between how they are treated in the school yard to the bus? From my experience at school, the school yard was a far worse place than the bus to be mistreated.

I haven’t been to school in a long time and have no kids but I think the school bus can create a more claustrophobic environment and thus a more “condensed” and intense type of environment for bullying. It can provide bullies with an uninterrupted teacher-free window of opportunity to pick on people.

We sit here and panic about the public menace that is obesity, while offering parents pick-up and drop-off valet service. Most of them could use the regular (short) walk to the carpark.

Wow! Talk about hijacking!

What is obviously a light-hearted original post is suddenly turned into a “justify you life choices” thread.

I’m sure most school have a mixture of kids who walk or ride to school by themselves, those who walk or ride with a parent and those who are driven (for whatever reason that needs no justification to anyone, let alone strangers on an online forum).

Please let’s try to keep these sorts of thread light-hearted, as the OP intended.

Maya123 said :

Southmouth said :

The buses are genuinely zoos on wheels. My 4 are all at different levels of the food chain so their experiences are varied.

Tell me then, how does this vary between how they are treated in the school yard to the bus? From my experience at school, the school yard was a far worse place than the bus to be mistreated.

My school sounds similar to yours but for my kids things are pretty tame once they get to school. Given that the only adult on the bus is the driver, not much oversight

Maya123 said :

Southmouth said :

The buses are genuinely zoos on wheels. My 4 are all at different levels of the food chain so their experiences are varied.

Tell me then, how does this vary between how they are treated in the school yard to the bus? From my experience at school, the school yard was a far worse place than the bus to be mistreated.

Another manifestation of Canberra bus phobia?

Southmouth said :

The buses are genuinely zoos on wheels. My 4 are all at different levels of the food chain so their experiences are varied.

Tell me then, how does this vary between how they are treated in the school yard to the bus? From my experience at school, the school yard was a far worse place than the bus to be mistreated.

Number 6 is sad.

Maya123 said :

Rollersk8r said :

Ahh yes, no.9 Friends of ours HAD TO buy two 4WDs for climbing gutters at school drop off! That was their honest reason!

My two wheel drive can climb gutters. You only need enough clearance, which my car has.

But seriously, why don’t more children walk to school? I was walking to school by myself (insisted) at age four. Fortunately in my case school wasn’t far. But then very few children were taken there by their parents. That would have been ‘so’ embarrassing. Those further away would ride a bicycle, as I did when a later school was some distance. No good examples are being set here for the children by driving them. No wonder many children are unfit and overweight. (Likely like their overweight parents.) The example being set is, the world is dangerous, you must never walk or cycle anywhere that you can drive to.
The world is not a more dangerous place than it was when I was a child; only that we hear about incidents more often. I am not advocating four years olds walk to school by themselves; that was too young, and I believe my mother would stand at the gate and watch me get to school safely. But parents could get off their lazy behinds and walk/cycle with their children. If this is too difficult; pick a school closer to home, not across town.

I have this conversation with people all the time. As much as I love to ridicule the parade of European 4WDs at Radford – I also drop my 5 and 7 year olds at their school.

I walked to school from day 1 myself, although we had safety in numbers (about 10 kids in my street) and didn’t have to cross a single road to primary school or high school.

Times have unfortunately changed – and I also don’t trust my kids yet (and drivers) when it comes to crossing a very busy road.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:57 am 02 Jul 15

Strange.

I pick up and drop off semi-regularly and we never seem to have problems with traffic, parking, etc. There’s plenty of room, people generally behave considerately and children have designated points for crossing streets, etc.

The (primary) school has about 900 children attending. Surely not all schools have the problems described in this article?

Southmouth said :

I have 4 that ride the bus. They hate it, and i would too given what they endure. When i’m on leave i drive them. I am surprised by the number who are driven. I’m also surprised by the number who insist on turning right across the traffic, into one of the school carparks. I always go around the block to be on the left turning side. The other side is backed up for 100m and single lane. Why

What is it that they endure? I too would like to know. For several months at the end of high school I lived on a farm out in the country and caught the school bus to school. There was nothing from where I caught the bus for me to endue, as I was only about six kms out, although after I was picked up, the bus would turn into a side road to pick up there too (unless the road was flooded, which happened at times, such as the day over 380mm of rain fell). My bus trip was only half an hour. But some poor kids had to catch the bus at 7am each morning to get get to school, and then had another long trip home in the evening. They came in from fifty or so kms away; plus the bus likely added more distance by covering side roads too, making the trip even longer. The buses were old, with matching hard bench seats and the road was winding and hilly. I doubt your kids have anything like this to endure. But please tell us what you mean.

The buses are genuinely zoos on wheels. My 4 are all at different levels of the food chain so their experiences are varied.

Southmouth said :

I have 4 that ride the bus. They hate it, and i would too given what they endure. When i’m on leave i drive them. I am surprised by the number who are driven. I’m also surprised by the number who insist on turning right across the traffic, into one of the school carparks. I always go around the block to be on the left turning side. The other side is backed up for 100m and single lane. Why

What do they endure? Our kids say they hate riding to school. But I think because the other option is being driven.

I have 4 that ride the bus. They hate it, and i would too given what they endure. When i’m on leave i drive them. I am surprised by the number who are driven. I’m also surprised by the number who insist on turning right across the traffic, into one of the school carparks. I always go around the block to be on the left turning side. The other side is backed up for 100m and single lane. Why

Holden Caulfield11:13 am 02 Jul 15

Clearly, as noted, this is a generational thing. Back in my day I walked or rode to school if possible.

When I was living too far away to make my own way and was dropped off it was at an out of the way location that wasn’t right by the front gate. If a school bus was possible at the time I dare say I would have been on that too.

I assume school buses are still a thing?

bryansworld said :

Maya123 said :

Rollersk8r said :

Ahh yes, no.9 Friends of ours HAD TO buy two 4WDs for climbing gutters at school drop off! That was their honest reason!

My two wheel drive can climb gutters. You only need enough clearance, which my car has.

But seriously, why don’t more children walk to school? I was walking to school by myself (insisted) at age four. Fortunately in my case school wasn’t far. But then very few children were taken there by their parents. That would have been ‘so’ embarrassing. Those further away would ride a bicycle, as I did when a later school was some distance. No good examples are being set here for the children by driving them. No wonder many children are unfit and overweight. (Likely like their overweight parents.) The example being set is, the world is dangerous, you must never walk or cycle anywhere that you can drive to.
The world is not a more dangerous place than it was when I was a child; only that we hear about incidents more often. I am not advocating four years olds walk to school by themselves; that was too young, and I believe my mother would stand at the gate and watch me get to school safely. But parents could get off their lazy behinds and walk/cycle with their children. If this is too difficult; pick a school closer to home, not across town.

Welcome to the new Australia. A much more dangerous world of big people in big cars and big houses, and their mollycoddled children.

LOL!

Maya123 said :

Rollersk8r said :

Ahh yes, no.9 Friends of ours HAD TO buy two 4WDs for climbing gutters at school drop off! That was their honest reason!

My two wheel drive can climb gutters. You only need enough clearance, which my car has.

But seriously, why don’t more children walk to school? I was walking to school by myself (insisted) at age four. Fortunately in my case school wasn’t far. But then very few children were taken there by their parents. That would have been ‘so’ embarrassing. Those further away would ride a bicycle, as I did when a later school was some distance. No good examples are being set here for the children by driving them. No wonder many children are unfit and overweight. (Likely like their overweight parents.) The example being set is, the world is dangerous, you must never walk or cycle anywhere that you can drive to.
The world is not a more dangerous place than it was when I was a child; only that we hear about incidents more often. I am not advocating four years olds walk to school by themselves; that was too young, and I believe my mother would stand at the gate and watch me get to school safely. But parents could get off their lazy behinds and walk/cycle with their children. If this is too difficult; pick a school closer to home, not across town.

Welcome to the new Australia. A much more dangerous world of big people in big cars and big houses, and their mollycoddled children.

You too can help solve the mystery of childhood obesity and diabetes.

Millions are suffering throughout the first world from an ailment that has puzzled modern medicine since it first appeared a decade or two ago.

Possible causes are children eating too much vegetable and fruit. Also could be a sports related affliction, or exposure to the outdoors. There are even theories that merely thinking about Light Rail could be causing both the children and their parents severe mental anguish which is leading the body to defensively build fat reserves to get through the long hard winter when civilisation as we know it ends.

Whichever of these likely causes is the real culprit, you can do your part by donating at your Macdonalds, Service Station or local Car Park. Every bit counts.

Rollersk8r said :

Ahh yes, no.9 Friends of ours HAD TO buy two 4WDs for climbing gutters at school drop off! That was their honest reason!

My two wheel drive can climb gutters. You only need enough clearance, which my car has.

But seriously, why don’t more children walk to school? I was walking to school by myself (insisted) at age four. Fortunately in my case school wasn’t far. But then very few children were taken there by their parents. That would have been ‘so’ embarrassing. Those further away would ride a bicycle, as I did when a later school was some distance. No good examples are being set here for the children by driving them. No wonder many children are unfit and overweight. (Likely like their overweight parents.) The example being set is, the world is dangerous, you must never walk or cycle anywhere that you can drive to.
The world is not a more dangerous place than it was when I was a child; only that we hear about incidents more often. I am not advocating four years olds walk to school by themselves; that was too young, and I believe my mother would stand at the gate and watch me get to school safely. But parents could get off their lazy behinds and walk/cycle with their children. If this is too difficult; pick a school closer to home, not across town.

Why are there now “drop off lines”? I don’t ever recall there being that much vehicle traffic at my primary school or high school. What has changed in the 18 years since I was at school? And why can’t kids just be dropped off at a convenient road nearby the school, and walk the rest of the the way?

Any room in there for the mother who lets their child walk to school or catch the bus?

Or is this only for future contestants on The World’s Biggest Loser?

We’ve had lots of problems at our school with the sub-species of “creator” that thinks its OK to mount the kerb and park on the grass. For some reason they don’t understand why it’s dangerous to have herds of cars and trucks moving around on a lawn that primary school children are trying to walk across. This sub-species perceives itself as unable to walk the extra ten or twenty metres from a legal and safe parking space.

Ahh yes, no.9 Friends of ours HAD TO buy two 4WDs for climbing gutters at school drop off! That was their honest reason!

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