It’s no secret that I HATE the school run. Last year, I only lived 3 miles from the school, but due to heavy traffic, it still took over half an hour to get there every morning and evening. Now, I live about 8 miles from the school and the school run takes about the same amount of time as before. Which when you add it all up, means I spend two hours of every day doing the school run.
This is two hours I could be blogging, writing, doing housework, or more importantly, spending time with my two year old twins. Toddler time is precious, because one day, they will be at school and I won’t have this time with them.
For the eco-friendly amongst my readers… There have been occasions when I used to walk the three mile school run… that took an hour each way and stole four hours from my day, which is just not practical with twins who don’t like sitting in their pushchair!
The school run is just about tolerable in the summer, but in the winter… with toddler twins… the school run is horrible! When the weather is bad, blowing a gale, pouring with rain or even snowing, getting the twins in and out of the car, is a real hassle. We have to put their socks and shoes back on (which they take off every time they get in the car). We have to put their coats on (because they don’t fit in their car seats with them on), then we have to fight through the crowds of parents who never look where they are going. We drop Bunny off and then we have to get everyone back in the car again and do the same again to get back in the house when we get home. Then dry off if it’s been raining. And all the same again to pick Bunny up from school.
We are now going on a waiting list for the school round the corner from our house, so we can walk to school and get over this in-the-car, out-the-car charade four times a day.
It turns out though, that I am not the only person with an extreme loathing for the school run. The Car People recently did a survey on how many parents think the school run should continue and a whopping 65% said no. For most though, there are no alternatives. School buses seem to be a thing of the past. We ourselves tried getting the bus… that involved a ten minute wait, ten minutes on the bus, then a twenty minute walk… each way. Plus the bus fare of £3.00 for me and £4 per child, meant it would have cost us a fortune to get the bus everyday.
It’s really good to know I’m not alone in hating the traffic, hating the bad weather and hating the school run every morning and evening, five days a week. I hope to be able to give it up soon, in favour of walking to a nearer school!
Disclaimer 2
i’ve got used to the 15mins walk a day now. We play games and talk about school on the way.
It must be lovely to be able to walk to school and not have to worry about a hectic school run.