Mammy dropping kids to school in the car

CreadanLady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118187356#Comment_118187356

Lollypop men/women are generally retired doteens who do it for a few hours a week for the opportunity to gossip with the parents. A lot of them would have little education. It would be an absolute nightmare to try to train them to dish out tickets. And even if they could they wouldn't because they aren't going to want to make an enemy out of the parents who they face morning and afternoon every single day.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206283#Comment_118206283

I would have assumed most people in city go to school in the city not head 25k out of it down a motorway to school. That seems a situation you'd have to go out of your way to create. You must pass a lot of nearer schools in 25k. Regardless of the why, I assume if you're that far out of city you'd hope there isn't gridlock, and in which scenario driving is largely irrelevant.

notAMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207133#Comment_118207133

I guess you didn't read the earlier posts... I'll write it again

School entry policy dictates this in many cases. It's plain ridiculous to me how it works. Locality is bottom of the criteria list for almost all schools, they fill the places before they even get to that item on the list.

My children walk to primary school.

I would like them to walk to secondary school, but the entrance policy changes made in the last few years by the dept of education mean because they are not children of past-pupils, or they don't have siblings in there already, they will most likely not get a place in the nearest schools. There are children driven to the school beside us from 25km away, outside the city, and we will most likely need to drive our children out into the suburbs or further

Same for many of my peers. They drive their children past the door of multiple schools they could walk to, because they could not get a place in the nearby ones.

Note: Govt education policy on school entrance criteria does it's part to create this problem.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206305#Comment_118206305

In my recollection if the heating wasn't functioning we were sent home. This was in the 80's. The blizzard of 82, the pipes burst and we had 4 days off. Nobody ever sat in class soaking wet with no heating. If you got drenched on the way to school the teacher had you sit by the radiators.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207121#Comment_118207121

I thought to have ANY responsibilities whereby a child's welfare was involved one had to be trained and vetted. Or did you just make up your post ?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206628#Comment_118206628

Of course I know small kids can be accompanied by adults. I'm not talking about that situation.

And why are you pointing out that your older children walk or cycle on their own? They're older kids, not small ones.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207024#Comment_118207024

Yes, a six-year-old is safe walking to school with a group - not on their own though.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207086#Comment_118207086

Most teens won't wear a jacket? I've never heard of that.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118205731#Comment_118205731

you are too lazy to walk to school with your 7 year old child, would ya stop

If any of what you say is true, I do hope those kids learn a lesson from you alright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206697#Comment_118206697

Im not celebrating it but Im not annoyed about it either.

I have encountered 19/20 year olds who do seem almost mollycoddled and their demeanor seems quite monotone and lacking in personality? and they speak in meme language but it could just be me getting older and not understanding the younger generation.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206576#Comment_118206576

Yes there were junior infants on the bus too. I had to cross a main road though and number of reasons I started getting the bus at that time.

buried

Life has become too easy. So easy that we can't imagine anything crashing into our sphere of existence that could, would or will cause us harm. Including our life, and the lives we have created, which means our own children. This is happening at a time when all semblance of spirituality is completely gone out the window, so we have no way of dealing when something bad does come crashing in, so we must "protect" what we have in a materialistic sense. This is the ultimate problem and the main reason we can't let our children roam free. As a parent myself, this is what I see happening because it is happening to me.

Galwayguy35

Doesn't bother me parents driving their kids to school, I walked or cycled the 2 miles to school because we had no car growing up but I get things are different now so thats no big deal.

What does annoy me is when I'm on the way home and the last town I pass through at about 4pm parents block up the whole place near a roundabout thats not too far from the school and the Guards let them away with it instead of making them move.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207911#Comment_118207911

No, people look out for their kids because here in the past those with a spiritualistic bent had their eyes on abusing these children and the parents, for the most part, well the ones clouded by spirituality anyway, let this happen

Is this the hard life to which you wish to return?

Anyone who would turn to god in a time of hardship has a weak mind

So lessons learnt to protect rather than neglect, we look at what might cause problems and put steps in place to remove these, the essense of parenting

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207470#Comment_118207470

Oh I read the earlier posts.

But 25k is a massive area not to be able to find a school in. It's like saying you can't find a school between O'Connell bridge and Ashbourne in Meath. Actually sightly further than that. Considering they are in a city.

I'd bet strong odds is the majority of people are only going a very short distance to a school out side their area. I say this someone two buses across the city to school.

If you were in the country fair enough. But then you wouldn't have a traffic problem, or any other option anyway.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207911#Comment_118207911

I found it hard to reconcile a more active lifestyle hiking, MTB, surfing with a very risk adverse approach to daily life.

We've got the blinkers on.

What kinda tough life is being lived by those who pine for the olden days?

notAMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208031#Comment_118208031

You aren’t getting the point. It’s not about finding a school, it’s about being accepted into their list.

What criteria number did your kids get into their school on?

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118203933#Comment_118203933

Things aren't different. Times don't change ...only people change.

You did your babysitting at aged 12. The kids were in their pyjamas at 7pm. They were given an hour before you marched them to bed, finished your homework in the living room and the parents were back by about 11....slightly tipsy...you were given your 10 quid and "IMAGINE" you walked back to your house in the dark.

But today...you wouldn't be allowed to make a fcuking bacon sandwich at the age of 12 because you might kill yourseld or burn the town to ashes.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206600#Comment_118206600

Why?

Under ANY circumstances? Would that include ANY circumstances like a parent watching them scoot off with a few others...racing to the gate?

What are your "NO CIRCUMSTANCSS"?

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206576#Comment_118206576

And you know...I bet they love it. In fact they probably climb aboard and battle for their favourite seats. I remember ..you all looked out for each other. Everyday was an adventure.I used ti give Jim Fleming one of my scones everyday. Not because I didn't like them but because they were everywhere. My Ma and Granny would cook these things with sultanas. Christ...the house was full of them along with barmbrack and wheat bread. So...my fcuking cheese sambos were fine at the age of 6 or 7 and Jim got the bun.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208359#Comment_118208359

Oh I get the admissions criteria. Had many long unfair battles with that myself. I also mentioned it earlier in this thread as reason why people drive.

I'm just saying a radius of 25k is vast area considering the center of it starts in a city. You'd have to pass a lot of schools before 25k.

ED E

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207024#Comment_118207024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YrN8Q2PDU

Its 100% possible.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207679#Comment_118207679

That's not the point. The point IS that a 6 year old cannot cycle a mile, as so many here have maintained.

Now let's move on from that...since a 6 year old can physically manage a mile either on foot or on a bike (during the Summers I cycled with my mate Dave and his mother from Whitehall to Dollymount...dropped off the bikes by her blanket and then ran to the sea if the tide was in...if not we waited for a few hours and fcuked around in the dunes.) Then cycled back. What distance is that?

Now I know what you are going to say...you're going to say "But the mother was WITH you".

Irrelevant! we could do the distance, People on here are trying to maintain that a 6 year old can't make that distance.

A 6 year could do 5 times that distance.Might be knackered and in dire need of food but I'm pretty sure the pups could hack open the sliced pan and make a cheese sambo

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207694#Comment_118207694

Go to a dance...most girls will not even bring a jacket because it cramps their style. Go out on a night in January and you will see kids in t-shirts. You will see girls in miniskirts in the snow...you will see 17 year olds girl walking in their bare feet with the stilletoes in hand because they would look like **** having a spare pare of flats in the handbag. My mother tried to have me wear a woolly hat and I ripped the thing off..

It must have been a while since you were a teenager because the girls in my local school NEVER wanted to cover themselves up.

JimmyVik

OK, im heading off to the school in the car in about 30 minutes.

I'll be watching out and trying to avoid all the bad lady drivers in SUVs that people seem to hate in this thread.

After I drop them off i'll be going straight on and into Dame street. This could be dangerous. Wish me luck. I hear its a jungle out there from this thread.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206791#Comment_118206791

Fair enough :) But in fairness I responded to you on the content of your posts. You have only responded to me deriding the post content of others. So apples and oranges really :) I too miss the selective quoting I have to admit. But being honest - I was always guilty of it's overuse too.

But it is always interesting to watch the direction "tolerance" goes on the threads of this nature. The other thread where I mentioned how we never did "Santa" in our house is another one. Some people go into such threads and talk about what they do in their situation. Other people then follow in saying what people other than themselves should or should not be doing. The value judgements tend to go only one way.

When the reality is that - how a child should or should not be sent or brought to school is too contextual on too many things - and any sweeping generalisations about what should or should not happen - or sweeping generalisations about how "lazy" this must mean the parents are - are pretty poor form from either extreme in the conversation.

I use myself as an example here again. My kids go to school under their own steam. Usually walking but they have the option of bike and bus too. But the choice they make is usually by foot. And nothing to do with that is me being lazy or a poor parent. It was a carefully considered decision based on a number of factors evaluating their well being, personal development, autonomy, self pride and generally what I felt is good for them.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207679#Comment_118207679

Again it really depends on many factors like the child themselves - the route - and much more. By age 7 nearly 50% of children are walking to school without parents - and it varies from what I have read between walking alone and in pairs or groups. My personal experience is groups are less safe than walking alone in fact (personal anecdote not evidence, but mentioning it all the same) as things get more boisterous and energetic and end up with kids falling off pavements into the traffic and the like. Walking in groups of three can also have weird dynamics as sometimes two can leave the other one out and walking 10 paces behind for example.

So the ideal in my own experience is either walking alone or in pairs.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207715#Comment_118207715

As I said before - laziness is not something anyone has ever had a valid basis for accusing me of. At least not in the last 15 or 20 years. I was absolutely a layabout slob in my college years and I hated myself for it. But I turned it around.

Now I spend every waking moment on self improvement, work, and my family. In fact you will rarely find me on this forum outside work hours because during work is the only time I find for things like personal emails and forums.

I am out of the bed at 4:30a.m every morning and starting my day with a 10k run.

I spend hours with the children. And love every minute of it. I have trained them Jujitsu since they were toddlers. Arts. Crafts. Cooking. Science experiments. Walks in nature. Horse riding. Archery. I drive my daughter who is 11 many kilometers every other week to train in the use of rifles with a friend. We hunt together. Garden and farm together. Do homework together. We do so much together we do not even own a Television because no one needs one.

So sure - by all means tell me from behind your keyboard having never met me and knowing not a single thing about me - how lazy my parenting has been :-p I do enjoy comedy as much as the next man even if it is unintentionally funny from someone who blatantly has no idea what they are talking about :)

Flinty997

What choice do you have. There are so few options to get to Dame street if you don't have a car.

It's very hard to have decent discussion on Boards with all the hyperbole.

Just dropped one of mine to school because they were running late. They cycle most of the time. But because they didn't today it will have the knock on effect of causing another journey later to pick them up. Cause and effect.

@[Deleted User]

@[Deleted User]

When the reality is that - how a child should or should not be sent or brought to school is too contextual on too many things - and any sweeping generalisations about what should or should not happen - or sweeping generalisations about how "lazy" this must mean the parents are - are pretty poor form from either extreme in the conversation.

I actually agree with you here.

The ages at which this happens, is also dependant on the child themselves. Some children might be ready to be allowed more independance at a younger age than others - the only people who can be the judges of that readiness, are the child's own parents.

Its what I've been saying all along. Leave it up to the parents to decide what suits them and their family best.