Society & Culture Getting yourself to school as a kid

[fairdinkum]

Read an article today about statistics showing that the majority of children are now driven to school by their parents, with less than a third of Aussie kids now walking or riding to school by themselves.



http://www.theage.com.au/national/e...ing-their-bikes-to-school-20120320-1vi0f.html

A Heart Foundation survey of how today's young Australians get to and from primary and high school shows a complete reversal in transport use has taken place in the past 40 years.

A 1970 study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that 84 per cent of all students in primary school, high school, university and TAFE travelled by public transport, walking and cycling, with just 16 per cent using cars. The new study shows that 63 per cent are driven to and from school while active transport use has plummeted.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/e...ing-their-bikes-to-school-20120320-1vi0f.html

Doesn't surprise me one bit. When I used to live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, it would always amuse me how choc-full the roads would be around schools at 830-9am and 3-345pm, given that the majority of kids at these schools lived within the same housing estate area in which the school was situated.

So I thought I would start a thread where we could discuss

1) Our own memories of getting ourselves to school (for those of us who did), and

2) Wtf is going on with parents these days that they chauffeur kids to and from school ostensibly for fear of 'safety'.

As a kid I used to love riding to school, it gave me a sense of independance that many kids (at least, used to) cherish. My mum wouldn't let me ride to school by myself until I was in Grade 1 but as soon as she thought as I was old enough to get myself there and back, that is exactly what I did for the rest of my schooling years, and I loved it. I still remember as early as seven years old I would wake up, make myself some weet-bix (used to put sugar on my weet-bix; couldn't imagine eating that today but I digress), brush my teeth, chuck my uniform on and out the door I went. Often I wouldn't even see either of my parents in the morning but if I did, it was just to say, 'see ya (love you too )'.

We laugh at the Chinese 'Little Emperors' but what sort of mollycoddled princes are we bringing up ourselves?

 

[Cthublhu]

2) Wtf is going on with parents these days that they chauffeur kids to and from school ostensibly for fear of 'safety'.

I read the same article and I reckon that slant is a crock of shit.

Our kids got bikes a few years ago, learnt to ride in quick time, and asked if they could ride to school. No probs, we said. Only problem was there's no bike rack at the school. We asked the principal if there was anywhere, anywhere at all, the kids could just leave the bikes during school time. Nope. Not possible.

 

[Igloo]

I used to ride my bike. I didn't have to wait for a certain age to ride by myself, because I rode with my brother, who is 3 years older.

It was pretty funny how you always saw the same people in the same spots on the way to school. I miss morning school routines

 

[Xtreme]

Child of the late 80's, 90's through to year 12 in 2000.

I walked to school and home from school with my mum in the early years. It was basically 10 minutes or so. We moved a further 20 minutes away from the school itself in my last 3 years of going there, so i was driven to and from there from that point onwards (i could have transferred to any of the 4 other schools that were within a 5 minute walking distance, but all of my friends i grew up with were at my old one... so i wanted to stay there).

High school was far worse, i was extremely lazy. I lived on the same street of the school and depending on walking pace you could get there from the house within 5 - 10 minutes, yet i was driven there 99% of the time . Going home was completely the opposite, i walked home 99% of the time.

My sister used to whinge at me doing this, however she did exactly the same thing (including when she was in year 12 and i was in year 7).

 

[Silent Alarm]

My town had a handful of primary, and another handful of secondary schools. Some were private, some were trashy, and I just settled for the 'norm' in both cases – but there were reasons these schools were the norm.

When I was about year four, I'd ride to school every day. It was good fun. I still remember one kid, who always thought he was tough, wasn't allowed to ride. My mate and I went to his at about 8am, and his mum was absolutely petrified. "My Nathan isn't going anywhere on a bike!", she repeated like a mantra. So I did that until I finished primary school, I guess.

I walked every so often to high school, but I'd mostly get a ride. It was always on my mum's/dad's way, so it was more convenient than laziness (or are they the same thing?).

I pretty much walked home every day of high school.

Because everyone went to the one school, most people had a travel. The bus rides always sounded fun. I always felt that I missed out on that real school bus culture –*some of the stories were absolutely classic.

 

[Plugger35]

Used to walk to primary school with a mate of mine who was the same age and lived next door. The school was on the same street that I lived on but we had to make a bit of a detour to use the cross walk across one of the main roads. All up it only took around 10-15 minutes.

Mostly rode my bike to high school which took about half an hour, occasionally got the bus if it was raining or I couldn't be bothered riding. Getting a lift to school from parents was never an option.

 

[Scotland]

I was in primary school 1990-1996 & high school 1997-2001.

High school was 15-20km away so either got a lift or caught the bus. Primary school was mayb 2-3km so was either dropped off or rode my bike.

From about year 4 to year 7 we used to have after school tennis at the local tennis club which was walking distance from the school. Once or twice a week the day would consist of ride to school, ride (walk with bike really) to tennis and play for 2 hours (for the outrageous price of 50c) then ride home when it started to get dark.

If I could transplant myself from 1995 into 2012 I'd be the toughest mean streets kid out there.

 

[Caesar]

Caught the bus from K-2, walked with my younger brother from 3-6 (it was only about a block), caught the bus in high school.

Was having this discussion with my parents the other day and found out that mum used to tail me the two blocks to the bus stop in Kindergarten. I'd either forgotten or never noticed.

Looking back I'm surprised she let me catch the bus at all when I was in infants. I probably would only let my 4 year old catch the bus to school if I walked him to and from the bus stop, and he travelled with another kid that I trusted. That said, it only caused a problem once when I was so engrossed in reading a library book I missed my stop and ended up at the bus terminal half an hour after I was supposed to be home. Mum just about died that afternoon.

I can't see any problem with high school kids making their own way to school, or even older primary school kids if they're not alone. Younger primary school kids it would depend on the distance.

One of the problems my brother had in high school was that there was no 'normal' bus that went anywhere near our house. He went to a private school and the only option was the school-owned bus that cost a whole heap of extra money. Ended up being easier for dad to drop him off on the way to work and mum to pick him up in the afternoon.

It's a bit stupid when schools discourage kids from taking public transport.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

I caught the bus from Prep to year 12.

Primary School was 6km away. High School 15km

Even then it was a 5-10min walk to the bus stop. Although until grade 4 the bus picked us up 2 houses down from my place because it was one of those mini-buses and went right into the estate.

 

[hoianbulldog]

Walked with my older brother in early primary school and then by myself or anyone heading in the same direction. Walking home was much the same with the mandatory stop at the Milk Bar.
This was the ealy 70's and a very different world.

Once I had a bike that was my transport through high school. Being at school on time was my resnsibility from the get go, it doesn't seem to be the case these days.

I don't have kids myself but often am amased at how the younger ones these days have ife handed to them on a platter or at least thats how it appears to me.

 

[Caesar]

It is something of a self-perpetuating problem, particularly in primary school. The more parents drop their kids at school, the busier traffic gets around schools. The busier traffic gets, the less comfortable parents are about letting their kids walk/ride to school alone so they drive them. Rinse and repeat.

I guess that becomes a habit for parents and kids that continues into high school. I mean, if you've driven your kid to and from school for the first 7 years of their schooling you're probably accustomed enough to it to drive them for the second 7. Especially when high school is almost always further away.

It's interesting. I can't imagine driving my children less than 2kms to school, and seemingly neither can anyone else in this thread. Yet these days, almost everyone does it. It makes me wonder how my perceptions will change when I have kids.

 

[Selective Retention]

Read an article today about statistics showing that the majority of children are now driven to school by their parents, with less than a third of Aussie kids now walking or riding to school by themselves.

The school hour traffic 3pm-4pm in Melbourne is fair dinkum worse than peak hour. At least around where I live.

2) Wtf is going on with parents these days that they chauffeur kids to and from school ostensibly for fear of 'safety'.

I can understand it in Melbourne. There was a news story this week about some teenage girl that was stalked by the same pyscho repeatedly and the guy escalated what he did each time. There are a lot of crazy people out there in the city.

As for me. Grew up in a small town where the school bus was exclusive for school kids all going to the same school. Mum walked me to the bus stop until I was in grade 3 or so. I went to high school on the other side of the city so had to catch two buses, one into the city and then another home from there. When I got my P's it was heaven. 20 min drive instead of an hour and a half connecting bus trip.

 

[Igloo]

It is something of a self-perpetuating problem, particularly in primary school. The more parents drop their kids at school, the busier traffic gets around schools. The busier traffic gets, the less comfortable parents are about letting their kids walk/ride to school alone so they drive them. Rinse and repeat.

I guess that becomes a habit for parents and kids that continues into high school. I mean, if you've driven your kid to and from school for the first 7 years of their schooling you're probably accustomed enough to it to drive them for the second 7. Especially when high school is almost always further away.

It's interesting. I can't imagine driving my children less than 2kms to school, and seemingly neither can anyone else in this thread. Yet these days, almost everyone does it. It makes me wonder how my perceptions will change when I have kids.

My high school was directly across the road from my house
I had a nice 1 minute walk every morning (if I got a good run with the traffic light, that is).

 

[Caesar]

I bet you were still late.

 

[Igloo]

I bet you were still late.

Only sometimes . Getting up at 8:20am sure was good though.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I walked the 20 or so mins to primary school (late 80's) with Mum or Dad from prep and then walked by myself from about grade 2 or so. Then I got a bike and rode.
My secondary school was a lot further away, but I still rode (early to mid 90's), often with a friend or two. It was about a 20min ride if done at a comfortable speed (on a racer/racing type bike), but as I was the exact opposite of a "morning person", I was usually running well behind time and would do it in about 12 minutes, by riding like crazy, to get there by 9am. I was often late and would get there in a bit of a sweat, especially in warmer weather.
It certainly helped me to keep fit, though and I would definitely encourage others to walk or ride, especially to secondary school, unless you're miles and miles away.

 

[Messenger]

I walked or rode to school from Prep to 12; from the age of 10 I was responsible for my younger siblings as my mum worked in the evenings.

No harm befell us.

 

[Cruyff14]

I live on a corner, primary school was literally a 3-5 minute walk if that down the street. Would walk with mum until grade 5 I think.

High school was an 8 minute walk. Would walk there and back every day.

 

[Smoooothy]

my kids now live only 3 houses from their school, so my daughter whose 8 walks her and her brother to school

i went to a country school for most of my schooling, generally rode or walked there, or caught the school bus if it was wet. my brother who went to the same school never did that and always caught the bus

 

[Maroon Goon]

Only child here but still walked to Primary School. It helped that Mike lived two doors down a friend. Used to swing by and get him to walk together.
The walk home was great. Mike,Brett,Howard,Colin a whole lot of us used to get up to some tricks.
Secondary school was a LONG bike ride by my standards with a three speed bout four kilometres with a guy Ross and his older Brother,Colin and who ever we ran into on the way.
Couldn't get out of Tech School quick enough ;-(

 

[Papa Juggs]

There is a bus that I don't bother catching anymore because it has to sit and wait around 10 minutes in a traffic jam as it goes past a high school in the afternoon.

The only time I ever got a lift to school was when dad got to have the work car overnight and was not paying for the fuel and that was a long time ago lol

 

[Brad Goodman]

Bung is/was a bus catcher.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Lived withing 2 streets away (often always the next street) from all my schools yet got driven to both primary schools regularly.

High school, no dramas.

Live directly opposite the school so there were no dramas although I did manage to get myself late often cos I couldn't give a shit about going.

 

[BotsMaster]

From Kindergarten to Year 12 i took the bus to school.
Primary School was 15km away and High School was 45km away, until we moved when i was in year 9 and High School became 30km away

For primary school and part of high school I was the first on the bus and the last off. Got to know the bus driver/s pretty well.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Walked or rode pretty much every single day from Prep-Year 12.