I live on a quiet suburban street. In fact, I have returned to the house I grew up in. There is an elementary school and a middle across the street; I attended both. The traffic is insane at drop-off and pick-up for both schools. I do not remember it being like that when I was in school. When it rained, cars would line-up in the driveway of the school, but they did not clog the street as you see here. And they drive like manics. When the weather is bad as it is today, many parents keep their kids home or must deal with this. The school bus from the high school across town also drops off students at around the same time. We need more good urban planners!
Here is what the street looked like lust before the craziness.
FranklyWrite 
8 responses to “Kids Don’t Walk to School Anymore”
I walked to school myself, if you lived in the city limits there was no busing available – besides my family only had one car and it was used for work!
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The parking outside our local primary schools tends to be chaotic, the roads become nearly impassable due to bad parking and parents blocking the road as they do not want to park further than about a 2 minute walk to the school, it is just crazy! The days I am not working I walk my son to school, as it is actually quicker to walk the 1.5 miles than drive sometimes! With my daughters secondary school, a lot of the kids do actually walk as the catchment area for it is so small (about 1 mile).
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That is how it is here. The parents all want to drop the kids off at the door.
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I grew up in Canada. We walked to and from school, about 5 blocks (3 if you took the banned shortcut through the vocational school parking lot). We walked home for lunch.
There were maybe 2 days each year when we would catch a ride to school, but every other day we walked. Even when it was -20. Even though we were 6 years old.
Too many parents see the bogeyman around every corner. These kids are not only missing out on exercise, they’re also missing out on picking up cool stuff on the ground, jumping in mud puddles, and making new friends while they walk.
In my neighborhood the parents sit in the cat with their kids til the bus comes. Then the mothers walk the kids- like 12 year olds – to the bus. Ridiculous.
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Don’t get me started on the parents that drive their high schoolers to the bus in front of my house and sit out there with the car running and the lights on so I can’t see a thing when I’m backing out of my driveway. The high school is only a mile away. If you are going to drive them, why no drop them off at the school?
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It’s sad to see so many kids not walking or riding their bikes to school, their health and school performance really suffers from the lack of exercise.
In Austin, TX if you get a traffic ticket in a school zone you are required to do 2 hours community service assisting the school crossing guards. It’s an effective change of perspective for the parents.
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That is a good idea! The schools here were not set-up to be commuter schools. You can’t move the school and you can’t rezone the area. But it seems that after dropping off their own kids, they don’t care if they kill other people’s kids.
If they all followed the directions sent out by the district, it would not be so bad, but they don’t. Everyone thinks they are special and don’t have to follow the rules.
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A lot of kids don’t walk to school in my neighborhood anymore. I never did as well. But, when I would take the bus to school I would see them walking in. Near where I live the school is too far for some and the snow can be a challenge in the winter. I do agree it can get a bit crazy on the roads when school is not cancelled and there is bad weather.
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