Mammy dropping kids to school in the car

Hehe I have seen adults who probably should not be let out walking anywhere alone :) Let alone children. Context really is everything.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118209272#Comment_118209272

Well that was easy.

I dont see what everyone in the thread is moaning about.

There were lots of kids walking and cycling to school. There were lots of kids being dropped to school in cars.

Everyone got along just fine. I pulled in behind another parent whooshing 3 kids out of the car (a woman driving an SUV, which seems to irritate people here most). She was on her way in about 15 seconds. Any other cars were able to just sail on by as normal. Mine were gone in about 15 seconds too. I pulled off and carried on. I passed another 2 schools on the way where the same thing was happening. Didnt get held up at all. Nobody got killed. A couple of cyclists went thorugh the red light at one of the schools and nearly clipped a child walking across, but they all survived. I dropped the other half off at her workplace on the way to mine. Same thing. 15 seconds stopped. Nobody died.

I really dont know why people get so annoyed about parents dropping a child to school. Just something to moan about I guess.

Flinty997

I dunno why people have hissy fit when an alternative to driving everywhere is suggested.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118209955#Comment_118209955

I know!! People freaking out at me cause my kids walk/cycle/skate to school!

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207491#Comment_118207491

If kids are getting drenched on their way to school then their parents need to research cutting edge things like "coats" and "waterproof trousers" IMO.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118209955#Comment_118209955

Read the opening post again. There is no "suggestion" of alternatives there and the OP is not even remotely interested in discussing the multiple and varied reasons why people drive their children to school. Their mind is already made up.

Their only reason to post this thread was another poorly veiled opportunity to criticise those who choose cars over bicycles, and I think most people can see through that, and it puts their backs up.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210034#Comment_118210034

Thats just your imagination to be fair.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210088#Comment_118210088

Read it again....the OP says "...Why isn't cycling and walking encouraged.."

I think you are seeing what you want to see.

There's been loads of alternatives, suggested, and load of hyperbole from both sides with ridiculous examples.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210230#Comment_118210230

The OP has form for starting these types of thread.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210440#Comment_118210440

It's still a valid observation even if the reason for starting it isn't.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210760#Comment_118210760

It was not meant to start a genuine discussion. The intention of the op was always to have a go at parents who drive their kids to school.

When some parents did engage and gave their reasons why they drove their children to school (on their way to work, distance of school from home, road safety concerns, weight of schoolbags among them) their reasons were dismissed, and in some cases very rudely, as them making up excuses, due to laziness, habit, convenience, etc. Or else, they were "mollycoddling" their children and not making them independent enough.

Like I said, you can expect it to get people's backs up, when essentially you are attacking their parenting choices. That goes both ways.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208620#Comment_118208620

honestly just go away haha

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118212523#Comment_118212523

Why should I go away? I asked you a very simple question and that was your response...."just go away" ?

Maybe choose your words a bit more carefully and you wouldn't have people asking for clarification.

You said that a 6 year old could walk/cycle a mile but shouldn.t "UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES".

Why not? What's your reason as to why they shouldn't? I'm genuinely curious as to your logic and rationale. What would happen if a child of 6 attempted to walk or cycle a mile? Would they spontaneously combust or drop dead of fatigue a step before the finish line? Tell me.

2lazytogetup

it may have changed but remember Cambridge in UK not allowing under-graduates to drive in Cambridge. because of this its a lovely place to walk around.

realistically, it would take a brave politician to suggest some kind of regulations around dropping kids to school. but SUV parents wouldnt stand for it.

id say the schools are too afraid to recommend a 'cycle train', where a parents group organise a route picking up kids on their bikes on the route to school. school would be afraid of getting sued if there is an accident on it and they were the ones that encouraged it.

we have a school bus that is brilliant. sometimes i cycle myself with the kids during spring/summer. the amount of fat kids sitting in cars on way to school eating pastries on the way to school is crazy. and this is secondary school and no excuse for kids not to cycle or walk as route is fine. i think parents would think they are neglecting their kids by getting them to make their own way while they sit and have coffee with the car in the driveway. they forget that the WHO guidance is for kids to have 1 hour of moderate exercise a day.

some parents may use it as time to talk to their kids, so thats a postive to it.

this isnt a solely ireland problem .if the better organised countries like UK cant fix this problem, i dont think we are going to.

2lazytogetup

i think the heavy bag argument is the worst 'talk to joe' tabloid type argument i have ever heard. never heard of any studies to show that it is a health/safety risk to kids. maybe the argument came about for some parents trying to argue for a bus eireann school bus.

the back is a muscle that needs to be exercised. i think its great to have kids get an extra bit of workout carrying a bag.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213025#Comment_118213025

Report of the Working Group on the Weight of Schoolbags (File Format Word 1.2MB) (assets.gov.ie)

Here's one - and the government circular on the matter.

You may not feel its an issue, but it is an issue of genuine concern for some parents.

BurgerFace

I'll reiterate that the arguments against letting a kid walk to school and put forward in the discussion are, quite frankly, laughable.

I don't know what the age range or background are of people on this thread but some are clearly decades older than others. Yet just because you say that you weren't as pampered back in the day as a 2021 kid then automatically you are met with derision along the lines of "Oh, I suppose you walked barefoot in the snow to school and had to share 1 sock with 17 siblings."

Growing up I walked to school everyday. EVERYDAY. We had one car in the family. Rarely if it was chucking it down and my dad was up (he ran his own business and made his own hours) might say "OK, I'll drop you and Dave and Ruth down." Hooray....we.d be at the school in minutes...a mile away.....ADDED bonus we were 20 minutes early. So what did we do? Played in the yard IN THE RAIN because they wouldn't let you inside until 9am. But that was a very rare occurrence. maybe a handful of time a year.

The excuses for a kid not walking to school have just been one pathetic contradiction after another on this thread.

• A 6 year old can't walk a mile. ...a 6 year old can EASILY walk a mile.
• A 6 year old can't cycle a mile ... It's easier and quicker to cycle a mile than walk it.
• A 6 year old can't do the journey alone...well what is it now? They are physically incapable or you Rcommend that it not be done alone? And why not? Will the kid die of lonelines on the way?
• The weather is bad and kids can't handle it. ..then buy them a coat and a scarf, if you can't afford such accessories the don't be ferrying them to school in May. Stick to your weather warning excuse in November or January.
• It's dark in Ireland in December at 16:00....It isn't. It gets dark around 16:45/17:00 and gues what..we have had these things called streetlamps for years. The 13 yeal old can muck about the streets with his mates on a Friday night at 10pm but it's too dangerous to walk home from school when it's beginning to dusk...such bollocks.
• The schoolbag is too heavy....give me peace. The daughter who can't lift the crappy schoolbag wouldn't want to chance jockeyback fights/races then with her mates on lunch hour or in PE.
• The roads are way too dangeous.....The roads ARE dangerous. Then stay on the footpath. Judging by the carnage on Irish roads it would be safer to have your kid walk to school than put them in a car. How often have you read about a car mounting the pavement and obliterating a kid as opposed to a car slamming headlong into a tree or an oncoming vehicle?
• It's too cold to cycle in a skirt in Ireland......FCUKING HELL.

Rant over....I'm off out to teach my 3 year old how to take down a woolly mammoth with a spear.

2lazytogetup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213096#Comment_118213096

The actual wording in report agrees that no weight has been determined as being dangerous so working group just made 10% as a guide they plucked out of the air. You obviously looked for a report and obviously couldn't find it

You said there were no studies, so I gave you the report of one.

I was aware of the recommended limit many years ago as I looked into it when my own daughter was in secondary school, and carrying a bag far over that. I asked her Principal to install lockers, or allow some books to be left in school, and they refused.

There are more reports, but you obviously have your mind made up, so I'm not going to waste time trying to change your mind. Most people realise that packing heavy bags on their growing children's backs like they are donkeys might not be a great idea for their development.

Anyway, I'm done. This thread isn't going to go anywhere constructive in my view.

I have no school-age children anymore, but as I said, if I'm ever called upon to drive any grandkids to or from school, I will be happy to oblige. :)

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118207993#Comment_118207993

Depends on what timeline of the past you are referencing. I never said we should return to a spiritualistic mindset handed down by the corporation of the Catholic Church, a foreign entity which allowed those crimes to happen. That corporation is as foreign to me as the current corporation of materialism that currently infects the mindset of the vast majority of the population at this current time. Ireland had her own spiritual system long before any Roman diplomat brought any Abrahamic religion from the sands of Egypt up in here. Ireland had its own spiritual system and it served her extremely well, you only have to look at The Brehon Laws to see how ultimately progressive it actually was. We have lost our own way, our own natural way that served this island for thousands of years, built temples and structures to match the Pyramids of Giza, and we did it under the watch of our own native Indo-European spirituality. A spirituality that existed thousands of years before the Catholic Church.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213025#Comment_118213025

A quick Google finds quite a few international studies recommending no more than 10-15% of body weight and a few have linked it to studies of back pain in kids.

It's not actually a "bit extra" or just "a bag" It's an extremely heavy bag (very heavy for me as an adult), carried over a considerable distance over the entire school day, and to and from school.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213360#Comment_118213360

Ireland not having proper research into something is hardly a surprise. That doesn't mean it's not an issue. Luckily the worst of it seems to between 1st Yr to Junior Cert in secondary. You mitigate it by driving or cycling of you are lucky enough to have those as an option.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213192#Comment_118213192

Will she jockey back her friends to and from school, home at lunchtime back in after and carry them between classes.

That's the ridiculous comparison you're making.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118212193#Comment_118212193

User the ignore functionality to block the crazy people.

You are seeing it as an attack. It's really a commentary on our society. Is where we are with school traffic where we want to be. If not where do we want to be. How to get from here to there, if we want change. Maybe we don't.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118206839#Comment_118206839

A "cough", a "sniffle".

School trousers dry out in minutes and classrooms have radiators. People are trying to maintain that Irish classrooms are BALTIC and that the kids braved the hurricane season to get there and then sit sodden and shivering until pneumonia kicks in. And the older ones of us are derided because apparently we marched 20 miles uphill both ways.

My school was ALWAYS warm and dry.

I remember in junior infants some of the girls in my class wet themselves. It wasn't exclusive to girls. My friend Stephen wet the bed up until he was 9. I dunno ..weak bladder or just nightmares. Who knows. But in the school they had a basket of little pairs of underpants and knickers in case a child had an "accident" and could be changed.

Probably call Social Services now if a teacher took a little child and put on a fresh pair of knickers.....probably call Social Services if the teacher let the kid sit there in their own urine.

A "cough"...a "sniffle".

Let your kid climb a wall or get stung by a wasp. Let them be around animals and insects and cats. Let them fall out of a tree and land in the mud. Let them learn a few problem-solving skills like getting lost. Let them play conkers or rob an orchard and get sick because they stole cooking apples and thought the things were edible. Let them do these very simple yet educational little things. Let them chop a few slices of cheese for a sandwich. If they fcuk it up they will not make the same mistake a second time round. Which is more pathetic, a 6 year old who cuts his finger making a sandwich and has a bit of a fit..OR an FCUKING 17 year old who does the same thing because he's never tried it before and squeals to Mum?

Which would you rather have...a kid who has been making his own way from school everyday since 6 and suddenly they get lost when you are on holiday and he's 13...or some wanker of a 13 year old who has had everything done for him and in the same predicament?

I'd put my faith in the former as the latter sobbed and prayed for Mum.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213705#Comment_118213705

I've added a few from this thread already..!

I wish there was an option to hide full threads as well as individuals.

beachhead

Shudn't the little darlings be growing legs this century.

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213096#Comment_118213096

10% of one's body weight!

What does a 12 old weigh? Apparently about 40 kilos.

A gallon of water is 8 pints or in and around 4 litres....which is basically 4 kilos....i.e. 10 % of the 40 kilo mark.

A 12 year old CAN'T carry a gallon of water? A 12 year old can't cycle a bike because the weight of a gallon of water is cause for incapacitation? A mother can't lift a gallon of water over her head and her head now and her daughter needs an osteopath?

Maybe a bit more exercise rather than developing a weak back, slumped in the back seat of a car might help.

Don't know what you are paying for an osteopath or chiropractor but you could have saved an awful lot just by having your kid strengthen up a bit. If you drove the daughter to school everyday because the bag was so heavy that one would need a forklift to raise it, then how often did your kid carry this burden until physiotherapy was needed?

BurgerFace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213612#Comment_118213612

Can she not carry a bag that weighs a fraction of her friends weights? Get it into the car and then get it out and lug this 2 ton satchel to class? Why can't it go on the back of a bike?

According to you the bag is so heavy that it can't be transported on a bicycle. In fact according to you it's so heavy that it can barely be lifted. You said that you could barely lift it over your head. That takes about 5 seconds if you can manage it. If the bag is so heavy cumbersome and debillitating then how in the name of BLUE FCUK does she get it from the house to the car? And from the car to the classroom?

Is there a hydraulic trolley where you pull up?

Next question...I would imagine that all the other girls in your daughter's class have the same weight to carry. Do ANY of them carry the bag by themselves or are they all transported to school via mechanised machinery because the bag is so heavy?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118214030#Comment_118214030

You're just incoherently ranting now. You're not even following the thread. We weren't talking about any daughter of mine.

I said carrying a heavy weight like a jockey back (in the example given) for a few minutes is entirely different to carrying around a heavy bag all day. As such its an inane comparison.