Walk this Way

I’ve succumbed. Capitulated. Relented.
My kids and I no longer walk to school. We either take the bus or I drive. With drop-offs at two different schools with only ten minutes to spare, I just don’t have time for a leisurely stroll. It’s all rush, rush, rush.

Of course, there’s a traffic jam every single day near every single school because every single school mum in her four-wheel-drive is trying to squeeze into a parking bay. “Kids don't walk anymore; no wonder there's an obesity epidemic," laments my bus driver tells me as he waits for the lollipop lady to let him pass. "When I was a child, we used to walk two kilometres to school everyday.” I think back and reply,“You know what? So did I.” 

C1 on her way to kindy

When I lived in my Nana’s house, my cousins Wen and Sharry and I would walk to school together. “Please don’t walk so fast,” I’d plead, my little legs trying to keep up with their strides. Wen, being a good seven years older (and a good ‘big cousin’), would proceed to carry my bag all the way to school, while Sharry and I would yak-yak-yakkity-yak away. No adult supervision; just a steady stream of neighbourhood kids all winding our way to school, come rain or shine. Although burdened by our school bags bursting with books and lunchboxes, the boys would engage in a game of ‘kick-the-stone-all-the-way-to-school’ and the girls would chat about this and that, until the school gates loomed large.

And in the afternoon, we’d retrace our steps all the way back home. No need for any extra-curricular activities; the 30-minute walk home was enough to tire us out – and work up an appetite for Marie biscuits dunked in tea...

Did you walk to school as a child? Do you “chauffeur” your kids everywhere nowadays instead of walking?