I was reading an article in our local paper about parents in the same community that I grew up in, actually right around the corner from my parents house-are fighting the school because the school district changed their busing schedule. There are now a group of high school kids who will now have to walk. Now, the walk is 2 miles. I made that walk, almost every single day from 9th grade to 11th grade(that's when my friends started getting cars and I could get a ride!! ). But I am here to say that walking 2 miles to school, and two miles home, did not kill me. Did I always like it-nope. Did I always like having to leave earlier than the bus kids-nope. When I look back now I think-I'm glad I walked, that was good for me.

Now, I'm not saying that I would be thrilled if my 9th grader had to walk to school two miles by herself-you just never know what could happen. But apparently there are multiple kids that will be walking, and they can walk together.

Do you think this is a growing problem and why we end up overweight as adults-or even as kids and teens? The convenience of a bus is great-especially for little kids because of safety reasons-but for these HS kids, a two mile walk to school-not so bad in my eyes. I did that walk-and I know that was a different time, less violence and crime, etc. And believe me, it was really crappy in the winter, when it was cold and snowing, but I did it(okay, sometimes I talked my dad into driving me and going to work a little later ).

As a side note-the district takes into consideration safety issues, like busy highways, etc. and makes sure that those kids get a bus rather than having to cross a dangerous roadway.

What do you think?

Jill

Interesting ideas!

When I was in parochial school in elementary in Toledo, we had no bus service. Some of my friends walked about a mile. We just did it (oops! Where did that "we" come from? I lived around the block from the school from 5-8 grade).

I do remember getting hassled (bullied) by the public school kids at times. I never told anyone. It was humiliating.

In high school, I went to one 5 miles away so TARTA busses were dedicated on routes to get us to school.

Yes, son starts earlier than I did. We drive him, usually. It doesn't kill him to walk when I have a committment which prevents me from picking him up. I am concerned about the weight he carries in books (he's "normal" size). With the heft of his physics, English and calculus books, it's back breaking.

DS starts school earlier than DH starts work!

Linda

quote:

Originally posted by Tayhudson:
Cate, we do this sometimes and it is because we are on our way to work as soon as the bus picks up the kids. You wouldn't think a 5 min. walk back home to get in the car would make a difference, but in rush hour traffic 5 mins extra in the morning can mean an extra 20 minutes stuck in traffic.

Dawn

I do it on the days I have to go to meet clients at the gym because otherwise, I'll get caught behind the bus and won't make it on time.

quote:

Originally posted by cate:


I think walking to school, esp in high school, is a fantastic idea. It will help the kid wake up, for one. Its not the only cause of obesity (I've ranted about the parents driving their kids to the bus stop at the end of our street).

Cate, we do this sometimes and it is because we are on our way to work as soon as the bus picks up the kids. You wouldn't think a 5 min. walk back home to get in the car would make a difference, but in rush hour traffic 5 mins extra in the morning can mean an extra 20 minutes stuck in traffic.

Dawn

Hmmmm, it may be more of a safety issue than a lot of people realize. In the Atlanta area, one of our friends is sending their son away to military school on Monday.

He has had some discipline issues, and last week at school he was attacked by an Asian gang. Put into a car with another kid and taken somewhere where they beat the other kid with a golf club to the point of hospitalization.

This was all in a "nice" suburb of Atlanta. If this can happen on school grounds, what could happen in a 2 mile walk between your house and the school?

Granted, the kid I'm talking about is a punk a&&, but with gangs sometimes it just takes looking at them the wrong way and you become a target.

Dawn

Our city isn't safe at 5:30am. And in the wintertime... it is very dark at 5:30.

But cities/towns are all different.

Although, there are obviously kids who walk to school at 6am for 6:30 zero period... but the kids who would do so would walk a mile at most.

quote:

I never walked to school at 5:30 in the morning... THAT I would not let my kid do. But walking from 7-8am, I'd be ok with that.

That's what time I leave for work. And there are very few cars on the road. The people who are up and about are people who work--the drunks have passed out, unmotivated criminals aren't going to be up that early, and people in general are too busy buying coffee to do anything else. There's only one convienience store even open on my whole way to work--most of them open at 6.

There is a kid on the high school swim team who walks past our house at that hour of the morning. He asked if that was a new car when I was coming out one morning (it was!) and I asked if he was on the swim team (the towel and mesh bag kinda gave him away). Practice is at 6am.

I'll grant you that my part of town, with a few notable exceptions, is relatively sleepy. The biggest crimes (per the police log each week) are cars being broken into (usually reported at 7 or 8 am, I would guess as folks are seeing their car for the first time in the morning), disorderly conduct and trespassing at the convienience store, and domestic disturbances.

A crime's a crime, but I'd let a high schooler walk around here in the morning. The worst crime I remember between here & the schools...a couple of years ago, a troubled kid set fire to his house-the rest of the family was gone and he left for school.

I had a point, I think. I feel safer when I take the dog out at 4:30am than I do when I have to take her out at 11:30pm.

I was thinking about this...

When I was in HS... school started about 8ish... I seem to remember 8:15.

My kid's school starts at 7:30 and "zero period" starts at 6:30am. We never had zero period.

I never walked to school at 5:30 in the morning... THAT I would not let my kid do. But walking from 7-8am, I'd be ok with that.

This morning, I heard on the radio that a bunch of kids (teenagers, I believe) standing at a bus stop were robbed when a man ran up, demanded their wallets and then jumped into a car that drove up after he approached and sped away.

(sigh)

I walked to school every day, from the time I was 11 to the age of 16/17. My sister walked from age 7 to age 14. Often, this was by ourselves (gasp) because school let out at different times.

I think walking to school, esp in high school, is a fantastic idea. It will help the kid wake up, for one. Its not the only cause of obesity (I've ranted about the parents driving their kids to the bus stop at the end of our street).

I read an article (I'll see if I can find it) that said that the world is not as dangerous as we think for kids. The rate of abductions is still the same as it was forty/fifty years ago. They just get more publicity now.

Just did the on-line pedometer thing. Things look about the same as when I was a kid... except my house is gone...

I walked 1.37 miles each way 4-6th grade

1.69 miles each way 7-8 (for scenic route thru cemetaries (you'll have to use the minus thing to get a wider view.) see: URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1275981

And 1.77 miles each way in HS.

I think 2 miles is kind of a long walk. That would take about 40 minutes if kids walked slowly. I walk about a mile to work each way, and it's enjoyable in all but the worst weather. I don't know if I would enjoy it as much if it were two miles, but I would probably still do it.

But, I can understand why some parents might be upset -- hopefully those parents are organizing support for the next school levy, as Brie suggested.

Honestly, I don't think we can blame being an overweight nation on one single factor as not bussing our kids. I believe that it comes from th way we as parents feed our children from the beginning, no I wasn't a nursing mother and I didn't make baby food. However, stuffing fruit boxes, candy in their mouths at the littlest whimper doesn't help. I don't think that kids get outside enough to just play, I think we schedule their time, to make it convenient for us. I think that if it's easier or safer to drive them to school we do it. We put up with school lunches that are notoriously inappropriately filled with empty calories and then complain because our children whine when there is no soda in the machine after school. I don't think we allow them to get out and play, to move around, to exercise. Do I think any one of these ideas made us a fat nation, no, but together they spell FAT

I walked to elementary school every day--I'd guesstimate between a quarter and a half mile. I always remember walking alone but that was like 4th through 6th grade. My older brother probably walked me when I was little (he's 5 years older) and then when he went off to middle school, I walked alone.

In junior high and high school, my school was many miles away (in other towns, because many small towns shared one school) so we were always bussed to school then.

In our district, the parents have to pay $350 a year for the bus.

Did parents PAY to have their kids bussed 2 miles or the distance of across a meadow (that is a funny story!)

The kids that get bussed here live "not walking" distance away, and their parents have to pay for the service.

I agree that the kids need to be more active these days and that is why we have such a problem with obesity in this day and age. I think obesity though, involves a lot more than just activity. It is also because of easy conveniences like fast foods, processed foods that are quick to heat and serve for busy families, video games etc.

I lived in the city and walked about 8 blocks to take the public transportation. I actually had to take two busses which took me about 45 minutes to get to school. I left the house at 6:30 in the morning. That was in 1979.

There is no way I would want my daughter to walk two miles early in the morning, I wouldn't care who she is walking with. It would never be worth the risk to me! Even in groups, kids can be singled out by nut jobs who watch the every day habits of kids. My kids stay active enough with sports and playing outside . I also make sure that they learn to love and respect their bodies, so that they will want to be more careful about what goes in. That includes, foods, drugs, cigarettes and alchohol. I don't even like my kids to walk away from me at the mall. My daughter is 19 and I don't want her to work there. Unfortunately it is not the same world it used to be, it is much too dangerous for kids.

I do think that lack of exercise in general is contributing to obesity in kids and adults.

I don't think it's all about busing vs walking but certainly having high schoolers walk two miles to school shouldn't be the end of the world!

I agree with Diana that if parents are concerned, then they should make different arrangements to drive their kids, car pool, or walk with them.

In OH, most of the time that there is busing "taken away", it's because a town has voted down a tax levy for the school. I've known lots of parents who vote 'no' and then are all up in arms about the cuts. You just can't have it both ways - either taxes go up or things get cut. Take your pick of the lesser evil.

The parents worried about their children walking to school alone should probably be out there walking them to and from school. Might do them some good too.

We had a ridiculous thing like this in one of our previous neighborhoods. Our subdivision was adjacent to the school yard. Literally no roads to walk on to get to the school, just crossing and open meadow and a playground and there were parents that were up in arms that the school district cancelled bus service to our neighborhood. Granted, these were elementary age kids, but still. You could stand in your or your neighbor's backyards and watch them all the way there if you wanted to.

Dawn

In my not-a-parent-but-there's-a-bus-stop-in-front-of-our-house viewpoint...I'd think it would be better for them to walk than to stand and wait in the same place at the same time every day for a bus.

A huge part of my orientation for work was learning to NOT take the same route to and from work every day, to vary my schedule, and to pay attention. I fully admit that a group of kids standing in the same spot every day, unattended (as most high school kids would be) seems...strange to me. A lucrative place to "case," if you're a drug dealer, a weirdo, or a stalker. So I'd rather see them walking, especially if they're able but just not willing. At least then, there's some variance to the route and a few adults along the way (shop owners, crossing guards, other concerned parents).

I walked to high school, too, though it was a short walk. I drove (or was driven) to swim practice, came home to shower and change, and then walked to school. In junior high, the bus stop was 1/2 mile from the house, so I had to walk there in the morning, and walk from there in the afternoon.

Where we live now...we find beer bottles, wine cooler bottles, cigarette packages, broken CDs...all kinds of great things at the bus stop. In front of our house, there's a city bus stop, and the district uses the corner next to it for a junior high bus stop. Yes, junior high. We don't find the "naughty" things during the summer shoved under our hedges--just during the school year. The grown-ups who wait for the city bus throw their stuff in the provided trash can for the most part.

And...again, I'm not a parent...but if you'd rather complain that your child has to walk two miles and that the SCHOOL should bus your kid than attempt to juggle YOUR schedule or work out a carpool or teach YOUR child about safety and responsibility and good health? I don't know what to say. Gosh, it's terrible that parents might actually have to change their plans upon bringing children into the world.

By the way, the junior high the kids ride the bus to? About 1.5 miles STRAIGHT DOWN THE ROAD. There are two major intersections, both with crosswalks and crossing guards in the mornings and afternoons.

The school's also a hurricane shelter. I wonder, if we have a bad one, if people will complain about having to walk there for Red Cross assistance? Maybe they'll stand on the corner and wait for the bus.

(I realize you all are reasonable, attentive parents. It's the ones who assume their lives should be exactly as they were before children who get on my last nerve.)