Less and less kids are walking to school…but are working parents to blame?
In today’s Vancouver Sun there was an article addressing how few kids walk to school these days. It cited working and overprotective parents as the main reason for this.
I think there is another reason that we see less and less kids walking to school. Fewer and fewer of them are attending schools in their own neighbourhoods. With many people opting for private or parochial schools or “preferred” out-of-catchment schools, there is more need for parents to drive their children each morning.
One of the reasons we love our local school (aside from it’s amazing faculty, parent community and diversity) is it’s proximity. Aside from a great education, we wanted our kids to have the experience of walking through their neighbourhood with a sense of purpose and belonging. They are called “stomping grounds” for a reason. However, if our local school was not suitable for what we wanted, we would have likely been driving our kids elsewhere also.
What do you think? Do your kids walk to school everyday or do you drive them?
we’re walkers! Not gonna lie I am gonna be wishing for a car drop off when winter starts I bet lol!
When my kids were growing up, they walked to school, or as they got older, caught the city buss.
Now, my partner has two young children. We just moved and unfortunately, his younger son had to change schools. Of the two closest schools to us, one has a waiting list (French Immersion), and the second one has no school bus drop off or pick up. My partner works too early to drop his son off at school, and I am unable to drive due to medical reasons. So we have to use a taxi service. Lucky for us, we know the owners of the company and have the same driver each day.
But it does make me wonder what other parents in our area do to get their children to school. No school bus service? Ridiculous!
I should add that the school is 13 blocks away and downtown. Much too far away for a 6 year old.
C~A
Kamloops, BC
I’m in an area of “walkers”…having said that, it’s moms (or dads) walking with their children so I believe there is something to the “overprotective” parent. We just allowed our 9 year old daughter (newly 9) to walk by herself for the first time this summer (home from a summer camp a little less than a kilometer a way). It was quite stressful initially but very rewarding (for her) once she started walking daily on her own. Ironically I think several of our friends were looking at us a little funny when we told them she was walking home on her own. The flip side of your post is that more and more parents are moving their children out of the public schools and putting them in private schools…we just did that this year and now we drive (which we really wish we didn’t have to do (we really wish we could stay in the public school system as well))…that would be an interesting follow up (along the lines of your housing posts) as the public school system has been very disappointing.
Once we get both kids into the same school, and our youngest gets the training wheels off, my hope is that I can cycle to school with them in the mornings. Our school is too far to walk but it is the perfect distance for a bike ride. I would then bike to the office. I think it is an option that more parents should consider, at least a few days a week.
I think that’s a great idea!
I’ve heard of American schools having rules that children must be picked up by an adult. They aren’t allowed to walk or bike home by themselves. I don’t know if such rules exist here in Vancouver. Anyone ever hear of that?
The issue of kids going to out-of-catchment schools is probably a big contributor. I imagine somewhere like L’Ecole Bilingue or Nootka’s fine arts program would have a lot of parents driving their kids. For my son, one of the reasons I’d like him to go to a school we’re not in the catchment area for because it’s actually a safer *walk* & only about a block farther away. Walking to the school we’re in the area for would crossing 16th Ave, Kingsway & 12th Ave on his way there.
I really wish we could walk my son to preschool, but living downtown, the waiting lists to get in to any nearby preschools was crazy. I drive over to Mount Pleasant right now. I used to see kids from about 9 taking the tube to school on their own in London. All depends on your child, neighbourhood, etc. Here’s an interesting and related story in the Guardian about this kind of thing… http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/apr/21/lost-child-on-tube
I’m absolutely loving walking my new kindergartener to school! We went to a preschool that was a bus/car ride away, so it’s delightful to now be attending the neighbourhood school.
I dont have kids, but my girlfriend does. And i can tell you the biggest difference when i was a child and her child is friends. This relates a lot to walking your children to school. Because when i was in school, i went to a public school, and walked there and back every day. and had a lot of friends to hang out with. But now, her daughter goes to a private school, which is 2 blocks away from where we live, but only has one friend because all her classmates are all over the city. and this leads to major boredom and staying at home.
We live in Steveston and our kids (now 7 and 10) have gone to the (English)catchment school since they started Kindergarten. They WALK to school. We used to live 2 blocks away, wtih 2 busy roads to cross (one a bus route) (neither with controlled crossings, and only one with a crosswalk). When they started K and Grade 3, we moved one block closer and they’ve walked alone ever since. Husband stays home in the AM so he used to stand on the driveway and watch them (not that that would stop a car speeding through a crosswalk…..). I am always amazed at how many kids are driven, even when it’s just the parent dropping them off and they only live a block or two away – shameful! We eschewed the French Immersion and Montessori public schools just so our kids could walk to school (and not be driven by us). If they went to those schoools, they’d have to ride their bikes or we’d have to drive them.
My kids don’t bike becuase they find it’s a bother – we really are too close to bother biking. They do use their Razor scooters and skateboards/longboards to get to school though (teachers let them store them in the classrooms, thank goodness!).
I second the comment about friends and walkimg…my kids always have playdates after school (their grandparents provide our daycare in our home) and I am sure living right in the neighbourhood is a big reason for that.
The other contributor is split parents who share custody so the kids have to be driven when they are with the other parent. there is no cure for that one