Massachusetts parents in panic, children might have to ~walk~ to school due to gas prices

[DS1]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/18/ap/national/main4360935.shtml

Faced with soaring diesel fuel costs, school districts are forcing students to use the old-fashioned way to get to class: on their own two feet.

Many schools are eliminating or reducing bus service because fuel had jumped to $4.50 per gallon, 36 percent more than a year ago, and is busting budgets.

In California, districts are eliminating busing for thousands of students. Districts in Washington state, Idaho and Maryland and elsewhere are consolidating bus stops, canceling field trips and forcing students to walk longer distances to school to control costs.

Worried parents in Massachusetts have called WalkBoston, a nonprofit group that promotes walking, asking for help after their communities cut back on busing.

snip

Small towns are feeling the pinch, too. Short on cash, school officials in Shirley, Mass., a small town about 40 miles northwest of Boston, are going from eight buses to four starting this school year. Students who live within two miles of school must walk, bike or get a ride. (Shirley they can't be serious)

Parents in Shirley are worried about safety and seeking help from WalkBoston. Mary Day said her two sons will have to cross train tracks on their routes to school. (The horror) To compound the problem, the town recently got rid of its crossing guards to save money. (Excellent)

[SOteric]

1. That graphic proves

that yesterday's festivities have ushered you into Geezerdom.

[DS1]

3. wut?

:hangover:

:*

[Pierre.Suave]

2. Oh dear...

Whatever will the poor little kiddies do... :eyes:

Lets see here, I think I rode the bus to school 4 times in my entire life.

I either walked to school, the Elementary school was 4 blocks away.

or I rode a bike, or I got a ride from a friend or a parent, or I drove myself.

Shirley (:P) it cant be so difficult that these kids wont be able to get to school.

edit: Hell, if your graphic is accurate, give those kids a sled and I am sure they wont mind going to school.

[MsTryska]

4. I can understand parents concerns...

while i have no problem with kids gettign more exercises - there's a lot more pedophiles and child snatchers around these days.

[DS1]

7. I'd like to see some numbers on that

usually it's just an assumption parents make.


How about less frequent stops, and stopping every 2 or 3 blocks instead of this doorstep to doorstep bullshit I see around here?

[MsTryska]

8. That works for me...

and you're right - there maybe exactly the same amount of kiddy-diddlers - i don't really know.

How about taking the money the would have spent on gas and give the out-of-work busdrivers child escort duty. they can reconnoiter at the end of blocks and then hump it to school in packs (or gaggles as the case may be)

No Child Left Behind.

[Zuiderelle]

10. I LIKE that idea. A group walk to school. Now that makes a lot of sense.

[yellowdogintexas]

64. several options here:

1. each block has a meet point for all the kids headed to a particular school and they all walk together
2. If the entire group is under say 9, recruit some trusted adults to be the walk shepherds. This could be a person who works second shift, a stay at home mom, an empty nester that would enjoy the exercise and being with the kids, an early retiree, a couple of high schoolers if the high school campus is close enough to make this workable.
3. adults can take turns being the escort for the day or week whatever.
4. a rotating car pool, so all of the parents aren't dropping their kids off at the same time. If this school system has not experienced the 'joy' of a brazillion cars hitting the school all at the same time they are not gonna know what hit them.

I understand about not wanting the kids to walk two miles. That is about 40 minutes and in the winter it gets dark early up there. One mile would be more realistic.

I went to a consolidated high school, only one in the whole county. I also rode the bus for nearly an hour to get to a school that was only 12 minutes away..because...the white folks didn't want their kids riding the same busses as the colored folks. Dead Simple, it was 1963 in Kentucky. By the time my sister got to high school. the buses had been integrated and the routes were more intelligent.

but we ran all over the county before we finally got to school ..and we had a 1 1/2 mile limit for the bus. However, when it was seriously raining hard or extremely cold there were a couple houses just inside that limit ...our driver would stop and invite them on the bus if they were walking when we came by.

We also had two official stop points in our little town, and the driver's schedule allowed for the bus to be at the turnaround spot for about 10 minutes since we were his first pickup point of the day. He stopped on the edge of town at a church parking lot, picked up a couple kids if they were there, went into town to the gas station, turned the bus around, parked and went out to smoke, chat with the farmers who were having their morning break and then headed back out to the rest of the route. If kids didn't make it to the gas station and we were out on the corner when he came back out, he would stop for us, but he really preferred us to be in groups, he wasn't supposed to make a bunch of stops in that little town.

I got on the bus at 7 and got to school at a bit before 8. I did a lot of sleeping on the bus in the mornings.

[Shakespeare]

38. Excellent idea.

A little exercise = a very good thing. And it can be done safely.

[Ahpook]

72. That's almost exactly what we did when i was in school.

We had to walk just under a mile to school on bike paths that weaved through the community. Going to school in the morning we had volunteer parents walking the various paths playing security. Same thing on the way home:)

It seemed to work quite well. I never heard of any major troubles.

We got our lunch money ripped off a few times by the older students is all:D

[Zuiderelle]

9. There's no way I'd let our six-year-old walk to school by himself.

Yes, fewer bus stops makes sense, but the article mentioned where people two miles from school would have to find other means. Two miles is a LONG way for a young child to walk alone.

You could show me numbers, and it wouldn't change the fact that I wouldn't risk my child's life to a predator, whether it's a 1% chance or a 0.0000001% chance.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. You get a GROUP of children of mixed ages walking to school together

Six-year-olds don't walk alone.

[Zuiderelle]

26. Exactly. Good idea. As long as there's some method to be sure everyone is accounted for.

[dropkickpa]

63. That's what they do for Dropkid

Only 2 stops in my neighborhood, seems to work out, except many parents drive their kid to the bus stop and wait with them in their idling cars.:crazy: Dropkid's school is 1.8 miles away, but there's no way in hell I'd ever let her walk. Her route would go through the edge of 2 pretty rough neighborhoods and along VERY busy streets with goofy, nearly impossible to cross intersections. I Used to walk almost that identical route daily and I wouldn't want my kid to walk it.

[DS1]

65. yeah

I see parents in line by the dozen, in their SUVs mostly, sitting there waiting with their cars on, to drive the kid the last block up the hill.

It's sickening

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. No there aren't. There have always been pedophiles and child snatchers

I can remember several cases from my own childhood.

However, they weren't bandied about on the national news 24/7, with today's overprotective, hysterical parents thinking that homicidal pedophiles lurk behind every lamp post.

Here's how you keep the kids safe: They walk to school in GROUPS. The older kids watch out for the younger kids, teach them how to cross the street safely, tell them the local horror stories about pedophiles.

That's how they did it when I was a kid. That's how they still do it in other countries.

[skygazer]

28. A note of true sanity in a cauldron of panic!

Yep, that's how they did it when I was a kid, too, though I did ride a bus - I lived out in the sticks.

[Zuiderelle]

30. LOL "Cauldron of panic"

You know... it's a fucking conversation, it's not a cauldron of panic. It would be nice once in a while around here to be able to have a civil conversation about something important like this.

[skygazer]

32. Yes

And it would be nice if people could cultivate a sense of humor. :eyes:

[Pierre.Suave]

44. Dont hold your breath...

Around here.

[Zuiderelle]

61. Nice PA jasonc.

[Pierre.Suave]

70. if you like it so much

maybe you should just ignore it...

like a mature adult...

and you are assuming I am talking about you...Why is that? Have you done something wrong, are you feeling guilty? Or just trying to find a reason to complain about me?

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DS1]

74. You two get along or I'm turning this bus right around and you can walk home

:bounce:

[Zuiderelle]

75. Careful, or I'll send my six-year-old over there unescorted to beat you up.

[DS1]

77. Really?

[Zuiderelle]

79. After a few minutes of looking at that picture...

I must admit... I have no idea what you mean by it.

So here...

[LanternWaste]

78. Would that I could easily curse...

"you're a snide little prick"

I love that!!! I wish I could put it on employee evaluations. :evilgrin:

[Pierre.Suave]

80. I believe

you are "hoping" I am talking about you so you can be "outraged" about something I have said once again...:eyes:

[Zuiderelle]

81. I know it probably feels like rocket science to you...

But just follow the posts back and you'll figure it out. Take your time, I know it's difficult.

[Pierre.Suave]

83. I dont have to

I can read and remember.

Perhaps you need to see who I actually replied to...

[Name removed]

90. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DS1]

91. This subthread

[Zuiderelle]

92. Thanks!

:bounce:

[Pierre.Suave]

95. Nice try once again

but I can reply to whomever I would like, and there is nothing you can do about it.


as for the rest of it... :eyes:

and not everything is about you, all the time...

[Rabrrrrrr]

39. But, Lydia, I want to LIVE IN ABJECT FEAR OF STRANGERS AND DIFFERENT THINGS!!!!!

How can I run around screaming BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! if there really isn't all that much to worry about?

Nope, I'm going with the news - in every community, there are more pedophiles and child snatchers than there are people.

[DS1]

40. They could in your house RIGHT NOW!

:nuke:

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. AND THEY'RE ALL OVER THE INTERNETS!!!

I should unplug right now!

I'm GONNA BE RAPED IN MINUTES, I JUST KNOW IT!!! because I'm on the Internets!!!

[Zuiderelle]

66. You win.

Uncle. I should know better than to response seriously to anything in the lounge.

[Chan790]

126. Yes...the media informs my world too.

I just learned I shouldn't shake hands with Obama because he's got a cold and I might catch it and die. Oh noes!!!1!!1!!!11!

What would I do without CNN? :sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

98. I must agree. Certainly can't deny, what with being a "survivor" and all...

Trouble is, we'd rather give them cell phones, make Verizon rich, and whine when commercials say "Up your minutes for $x/month as your kid is already using them in class!" as if doing that is acceptable... pity phones can't be programmed to NOT operate during certain times of the day...

[Taverner]

129. I'm more worried about the lack of crossing guards

[Zuiderelle]

5. Walking 2 miles to school is a dangerous prospect for a small child.

Also, this means that many parents will have to drive their children to school instead of them riding the bus, and be late for their jobs, putting more pressure on people who don't have children to make up the slack, in the morning and in the afternoon when the same parents will have to go pick up their kids.

A lot of people may find their jobs at risk because of this added responsibility. And the ones who let their kids (if they are young) walk to school without a parent ARE putting their children at risk.

We're lucky, we live close to school, just a 10 minute walk, and we have flexible work schedules. But I do feel for parents who don't have the luxury we have. This could be a REAL hardship on everyone concerned.

(Not to say that bus use shouldn't be curtailed, but I think they need to provide time for parents to come up with alternatives. We're all in this oil crisis/apocalypse together, after all.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. ZOMG!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!! BE AFRAID!!!

:eyes:

I don't know of any time in human history, except perhaps when sabre-toothed tigers were everywhere, that walking 2 miles to school has been "dangerous" for children.

BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!


:rofl:


God, yes, parents HAVE to drive their kids to school - because they've been so stuffed with high fructose corn syrup and horror stories about being afraid of every fucking thing in the universe that they're physically and emotionally incapable of movement.

[Zuiderelle]

19. Nice. Don't even bother reading my post. You missed the part where I agreed that it should be ...

curtailed, and parents need some time to prepare, i.e. change their behaviors, make other plans. Just saying that small children should start walking to school in this day in age, is stupid.

I won't say the obvious thing, that if you were a parent you'd understand. Some parents don't understand. Some parents don't really care about their children's safety.

[Critters2]

113. I really did walk a mile and a half to school as a kid--yes, even as a small kid.

I seem to have survived.

[Zuiderelle]

115. I walked everywhere imaginable without a parent in sight.

But there's nothing on earth that would convince me that it's ok to let my six-year-old walk to school without any supervision. My parents chose what they chose in an environment and time when there was, or at least was perceived to be, less risk. I won't make that same choice.

There are some great ideas from people on this thread though, including car-pooling/sharing, group walks, etc. All of which make a great deal of sense. And saving our environment and the school districts' money by reducing the bus routes also makes sense.

Good ideas.

[Critters2]

116. We did "group walks". We just didn't know it had a name.

All the kids in the neighborhood were walking to school at the same time. We watched out for one another. There were also homes along the route--most homes, in fact--where adults had agreed to help kids who were walking to school, if they were hurt or anything. Those homes had signs in the front windows. Can't remember what the signs had on 'em, but we were told to go to a house with a sign if there were any problems.

I don't believe there was less risk then. Most of the priest abuse cases being dealt with now happened years ago. Now we just know about it.

I walked. I survived. I think kids today will, too.

[Zuiderelle]

119. And that's exactly why it was different then. These days, most families, both adults work.

Therefore, no adults agreeing to help kids walking to school in houses along the way. Here, there is ONE crossing guard in the 1/2 mile to school we walk. At only one intersection. Nowhere else. When I walked to school I remember that there were more crossing guards, and several children walking alone or in groups as well, so it was actually safer because of the numbers. So, now we've actually caused an increase in risk by trying to alleviate the risk (as well as the very real change of dual-income households that were actually quite rare when I was growing up).

So, the point remains that changing overnight what has become the norm after several decades, without giving parents time to come up with options now (that might have existed 30 years ago, but don't now), is a recipe for failure.

I understand the concern of these parents. Even though, I too was also a tough little child, and spent nearly all of my outside of the home time unsupervised by my own parents.

[Midlodemocrat]

125. Well, at the risk of showing my age, things were different when I walked to school.

We had sidewalks for one. My neighborhood has walking paths, but the adjacent neighborhood doesn't, so I wouldn't want kids walking to school from there.

Additionally, one thing we seem to be forgetting is the increase in tne sheer number of cars on the road. When I was little, I was five before my mom had her own car. My dad had the only car and needed it for work. Nowadays, it seems as though every licensed driver in the 'burbs has a car.

I would be more concerned about traffic and street safety than pedophiles, actually. I think that the sheer number of kids walking to school would deter predators. Street safety, however, is a very real concern. Small children tend to act first, think later.

[LynneSin]

117. Well then the parents in that neighborhood could work out a carpool for the kids

Some oodles of us have survive walking to school. My Step-sister not only walked to school but when Three Mile Island happened she WALKED home from school and oh, TMI was 2 miles down the road.

What I have always found to be a total waste was buses stopping in front of every house. I use to walk a block down the street to my parking space but the rest of the kids were from the upper street and walked further to join us.

A

[Jokerman]

6. Our district doesn't own a single bus.

Neighborhood schools, everyone walks or provides their own transportation.

We save a ton of money on liability insurance alone and we have some of the best performing schools in the state.

[dropkickpa]

67. There's a school 2 blocks from my house

that conveiently was closed right before Dropkid started kindergarten. She had attended pre-k at this school and I liked the teachers and neighborhood feel of it. Figures.

[Jokerman]

109. Our "Governor" wants to eliminate our district.

That bastard Mitch Daniels say every district smaller than 2000 student is a waste of money.

Never mind that most of the best performing schools are in small districts.

He is on record saying that ANY money spent on public schools is too much.

[dropkickpa]

110. Ugh

I hate that mentality. Our superintendant is on a closing fix, he's closed tons of schools here, consolidating many schools into mega schools. The school Dropkid would have gone to was originally re-opened because of severe crowding at the two other schools closest, both of which went from k-5 to k-8. So what happens? Close this school, and the other schools have an even BIGGER overcrowding problem. My nephew spent his entire 3rd and 4th grade years in a fucking trailer!! It's one thing to use mobile classrooms in the south, where it's warm and such, but in Pittsburgh, when the majority of the school year is cold?? They had to keep their jackets in the class room in case they had to go into the main building to go to the bathroom! My brother has pulled him out and he's doing cyberschool this year, it was just too ridiculous.

[crim son]

11. Mixed feelings.

Every year there are one or two attempted child snatchings/solicitation of children going to and from school - only a few blocks usually, not a mile. These are documented and letters are sent through the community warning of the danger, yet it continues to happen. Statewide I imagine there are many more incidents... I can think of two offhand that occurred last school year and I don't even read the Maine papers. However there are probably solutions that don't find kids walking four miles a day on their own, or riding buses for hours when they live only ten minutes from the school, or when they're seventeen and can safely get aboutt on their own, on foot or otherwise.

If I lived in Mass. I wouldn't like it. I used to, and there were always incidents.

[texanwitch]

12. There may be cases where walking to school might be hard.

In most cases the kids could walk to school, no problem.

The kids are today wouldn't last 5 minutes in my childhood.

We played on railroad tracks when I was little kid, we had the common sense to get off when the train came.

We had bad people back in the day, I had a friend that was flashed by a naked man.

We thought it was funny.

We knew how to take care.

We have a neighborhood school, most the poor little darlings can't walk a few blocks.

To get around we walked, rode a bike or took a city bus.

I would hate to be a kid today.

[redqueen]

18. Hah... you just reminded me...

we used to walk to the corner convenience store all the time... to get snacks, play video games, get away from the adults :P. One time we were at my grandma's and three of us walked over there and some pervert was in there leering at us and it made us uncomfortable so we decided to just go back home... fucker follwed us! We ended up running like mad through the alley... ack, that was awful.

Oh and one time walking home from the store that was near my house some perv tried to get me into his car... I had my dog with me and what does she do when this jerk opens the door and starts talking to me? She frickin ran off! Stupid dog. :P

[texanwitch]

34. We had pervs, just learned how to deal with them.

I read somewhere that kids need a little freedom to learn how to be an adult.

I believe this, the kids I know today are not nearly as mature as we were at the same age.

When I still drove to work the kids that I worked with had to be told how to do everything.

By the time I was 13 or so I could handle most adult problems.

If kids have a neighborhood school, they can walk to school in groups or with a one adult.

I am glad I grew up when I did.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. One of the principles of teaching is always to ask the students to do something

that is slightly beyond their current level of competence.

I once saw a swimming instructor teach an adult who was hysterically afraid of the water. He started by having her sit on the side of the pool and dangle her feet in the water. She could do that. Then he told her to stand in the shallow end, hanging onto the side. That wasn't so easy, but she managed. After having her go progressively deeper while hanging onto the side, he held out a pole and told her to hang on. Then he literally towed her back and forth up and down the lane. She looked terrified, but she hung on.

I didn't see the rest of the process, but a few days later, I saw her dog paddling back and forth while wearing a styrofoam belt, and the instructor saying, "Two more lengths."

Saying, "Okay, you don't have to learn to swim then," would have been of no benefit.

It would have been equally ineffective just to surprise her and throw her into the pool. Her fear of water would have been confirmed and magnified.

Too many children are over-protected, their parents saying the equivalent of "Okay, you don't have to be competent at daily life, because we'll take care of everything."

But when they grow up, and their parents are no longer around to navigate life for them, they are like a fearful person thrown into a swimming pool. They do a lot of unnecessary and dangerous thrashing around instead of knowing that they can rise to the surface and paddle calmly to the side.

[Rabrrrrrr]

45. The present mentality is for the parent to just do all the hard work of swimming for the kid.

letting the kid play video games or go on tightly scheduled "play dates" or stuff themselves with Doritos and fruit flavored high fructose corn syrup.

And then, when the kid turns 23 (or 18 or 35), the parents either throw 'em in the deep end and walk away, or piss and moan while they're swimming "Why aren't the kids in here doing this for themselves?"




"Swimming is risky, Tommy. Let Mommy do that for you, so you can stay safe!"

or

"Hey - gym teacher - that swimming thing is fucking insanely unsafe. My kid ain't doing that! Why can't they do something safe, like play softball with helmets and knee pads and a nerf ball on a nice cushioned floor, but with no actual teams because we don't winners or losers, and no rules because I don't want my kid to feel bad because he can't hit a ball the "proper" way - I always let him hit it however he wants, and affirm his specialness every time he does or does not hit it!"

[DS1]

46. If only

:eyes:

:D

[Pierre.Suave]

47. That is a really good logical analogy

and post.

I like your reasonableness in here LL.
:hi:

[texanwitch]

69. I so agree.

Children are so over protected today.

Yes there are dangers but there were always dangers to deal with.

The kids I used to work with had no common sense, smart but no common sense.

Many still had parents pick them up from work, even if they could have rode the bus.

I am talking about 18 or over kids.

The parents didn't want the children to be on a city bus, dangerous.

I don't know what the kids will do when Mom and Dad aren't there.

[redqueen]

13. I used to walk 2 miles to school...

it's not that far really.

Then again... were kids abducted back then in the same numbers they are now?

Perhaps kids should carry pepper spray and a fog horn.

[Connonym]

21. I think kids probably aren't abducted any more now than they were then

I think we only hear about it because we have 24/7 news that has to be filled.

My kids go to "neighborhood" schools so there is no bussing. Most of the parents end up driving their kids and the traffic around the school is scary with kids darting in and out of cars and people trying to pull in and out of traffic. I'm constantly surprised that we don't see kids getting hit by cars on a regular basis.

I think it's healthy for kids to walk to and from school (so long as there are crossing guards or cross walks at dangerous intersections and they don't have to walk through dangerous neighborhoods).

[DustyJoe]

60. Arm the little Buggars

Have a concealed gun permit for them like the Texas Teachers. Oops I forgot most kids are armed nowadays.

[RadiationTherapy]

14. Sorry, DS1, my daughter is only seven years old and if she had to walk 2 miles to school

I would not give a SHIT! She needs the exercise, the little fuggin INGRATE!

[Deja Q]

15. Mom walked to school every day when she was a kid in rural WI... 4 miles one way.

Tired of being bullied and intimidated by jerks or hooker-wannabes, I sometimes walked too.

[Zuiderelle]

17. Times have changed. I had very little to no supervision as a child.

We don't have that luxury with our children.

[skygazer]

24. Why don't we have that luxury?

Only because we've chosen not to. The norm now is for every minute of a child's life to be spent in "structured" activities, rather than letting them just go out and play.

In addition, the MSM has made people think that there is an epidemic of child abduction or pedophilia going on (there is not - it's simply reported breathlessly, nationwide, in nauseating detail every time it happens) so they fear letting kids out of their sight.

I agree that some areas would be less safe than others for children to walk - high-traffic areas, that sort of thing - but I disagree that we need to supervise our children so much more now. I think that's a false perception.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. Heavens, yes

Remember the New York Times writer who caught hell from readers because she had her 11-year-old son take the subway by himself?

[Zuiderelle]

29. So, if someone were to prove that there is no more risk now than there used to be

which is debatable, but let's say someone could prove that... should we then just say, well, ok, I'm willing to take that risk, simply because my parents took the risk? I wouldn't leave my car unlocked simply because the statistics say that it is not likely to get stolen. I sure as hell wouldn't let my six-year-old walk to school alone simply because statistically he's not likely to be abducted.

[skygazer]

36. You're entirely missing the point

Which is that you said we no longer have the luxury of not supervising our children so closely. I disagree. I don't think it's a matter of necessity but one of choice. If you choose not to let your child walk to school alone, that is of course your business. But it does not support insisting that it is wrong - or more dangerous than it was in the past - for other people.

[Zuiderelle]

42. You and I will disagree then. I am not saying it's wrong, I'm saying that it's risky.

A six-year-old walking to school alone, when our society has changed, not just that there are or are not more predators, but that most kids do not walk alone... which means that we don't have the crossing guards and other safeties we used to have... is risky. It's not a risk I would take. Our society HAS changed. It's not an individual choice, it was our choice as a society.

[AngryAmish]

94. Society has changed. It is demonstrably safer for children nowadays than before.

Fewer pedophiles, more crossing guards etc.

I was a child in the 70s. That was about the most dangerous time to be a child in America. It has to do with demographics - more young male Baby Boomers, more crime. (I'm picking on the Baby Boomers only because there were so many of them andthus more crime. More criminals in a society the rate of crime will go up.)

[redqueen]

20. Oh and also, when my older daughter was in kindegarten and first grade

we didn't have two cars, and one of us would have to walk her to or from school.

So... there's another option... in some cases, parents could walk with the kids. :shrug:

[NJmaverick]

22. Good that they have to walk

it will do their fat behinds a world of good.

[flvegan]

31. I often opted to ride my bike to school from 9 years old on.

Granted, I lived in a fairly small, safe town.

Much nicer than riding the bus. Except in the snow. Then I was all about the bus.

[mreilly]

33. You don't know the crazy horrible drivers in this state

As a parent living in Massachusetts of course I'm concerned about my kids being abducted though I know the odds are slim (about one in a million) this will actually happen. What I'm far more worried about are my kids being hit-and-runned by the crazy assholes in this state who refuse to obey speed limits, stop for pedestrians, or just plain stay in their own damned lanes when driving. Just the other day I saw a car at a "Y" intersection, it's front end smashed in, and it was obvious that the jackhole driver tried to beat another car through the intersection and got in a head-on collision as a result. People around here would rather go through the windshield than wait five seconds for a car to go ahead of them, apparently. And when fatalities occur it is ALWAYS the innocent bystander or other driver, NEVER the perpetrator who was drunk, yapping on a cell phone, or just plain too stupid to steer properly.

So, no, none of my kids are ever going to be pedestrians along these roads whether on their way to school or anywhere else. I'm not going to lose a single one of my offspring to the hordes of idiot drivers here who never should have gotten licenses and who seem hell-bent on causing accidents and destruction through their careless selfishness.

[Arugula Latte]

68. Yep -- The vehicles and their jackass drivers are what scare me, not so much the abduction.

A friend's child was riding his bike in the bike lane (his father was riding behind him), and a big ass SUV with a drunk asshole swerved into the lane and clipped him. He was thrown free, and luckily he had a helmet on, because otherwise he might be dead or a vegetable. This stuff is not uncommon. So, you have to find a balance between legitimate fears and the unbelievably strong desire to protect your children, and gradually giving them their independence.

[fight4my3sons]

86. .

:thumbsup:

:applause:

A lot of your crazy horrible drivers are up here in Maine right now. ;)

[meegbear]

35. Shirley, Mass?

You'd think a thriving metropolis like that would be drowning with buses. :sarcasm:

Rejoin the food chain Shirley, you snit town, make 'em walk!

[Midlodemocrat]

37. I used to walk my kids to the elementary school. There was a bus

but it came too early in the morning and too late in the afternoon. By walking them to and from, they had an additional 45 minutes of play time.

My biggest concern wouldn't be a child snatcher, it would be a child who isn't all that street savvy and would not obey the crosswalks.

[Gormy Cuss]

62. Children and traffic are really the biggest risk .

Rural burbs like Shirley, Mass. have the bad combination of streets without sidewalks and too many harried adults with long commutes. The kids have little buffer between them and the road, the adults are too caught up with their iPods, bluetooths, and cups of coffee to slow down and pay attention to the pedestrians.

There were sidewalks and crossing guards between my house and the elementary school and by 1st grade I was walking to school without a teen or adult escort through our low-income, moderately high crime neighborhood. We tended to walk to school in groups because kids liked to hang out that way. It was perfectly normal. My elementary school was just about one mile from the house. We even walked home for lunch - no time for lollygagging!

[BrklynLiberal]

48. I guess walking to school is another thing to add to the list of things that kids today do not know

about...
rotary phones, 8 track tapes, walkman, getting up to change the channel on your black and white TV, looking for change for a payphone, doing research in the library, 35mm cameras, vinyl records, a typewriter..

[Blue Diadem]

49. I really think it depends on the district and the area the kids will be walking.

My kids walked roughly a mile when we lived in the city. There was no yellow bus service. We could pay for the city bus, but the neighborhood kids all got together every morning and walked to school. There were sidewalks to walk on. Sure on bad weather days they'd take the city bus, but a majority of the time they walked and they enjoyed it.

Twenty years ago we moved to a rural small town. It's always annoyed me that I see kids picked up by a yellow bus a few houses down from the school, driven maybe a few hundred feet and dropped off. There should be no bus service for our town. On the other hand, if the kids were to walk to the Middle school/high school campus, it's about 2 miles of narrow country roads, heavily traveled, high speed limit, little to no side berm and big ditches. I wouldn't feel safe walking it nor would I think it would be safe for kids to walk it.

Personally I think it would be good for kids to begin walking to school where they can.

[LaraMN]

50. Oh for crying out loud. Duh:

:eyes:

[Pierre.Suave]

52. Maybe in Duluth Lara

Where there are no shortages of hills to "zipline" down. How would they get back up though?

:P

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. Hah! When I was a kid, we had to zipline up in both directions.

Fucking kids today, with their downhills.

[Pierre.Suave]

55. ROFL

we sled down them up here, due to the snow, but we had to walk up...

[LaraMN]

54. Well, one would have to walk and pull the other along

by his/her legs while they hung from the zipline.
It's an imperfect solution. These are imperfect times.

[PVnRT]

84. In Duluth, line zips you!

Yeah, I went there.

[Pierre.Suave]

85. LOL

:rofl:

[DS1]

56. That's the 1956 version, you need the updated one

[LaraMN]

57. Oh! Thank goodness you reminded me!

I need to have the yearly "pac-man safety seminar" with my kids.

[AlCzervik]

58. Bastid.

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

97. Hmmm. A zipper. Then Cunnanan. Manson. A lumberjack. And pacman?

?

[sniffa]

107. !

:rofl:

This thread is going well.

[DS1]

99. Me zip-lining to school

[Kali]

121. aw crap, now I have to clean the desk again

:rofl:

[Pierre.Suave]

51. BY the way

I knew a kid that was abducted. It had absolutely nothing to do with going to or from school and he was with friends at the time.

So, do those of you that think the walk to and from school is too dangerous, watch your kids 24/7? Do you let them play with friends?

[tigereye]

59. we used to walk half a mile

but that was 40 years ago, in a small town where we knew everyone, and there WERE crossing guards.

No Balrogs, though.


My kid would have to walk 6 miles....hell would freeze over.

[MorningGlow]

71. I WISH they would do this in our district

We live in a pretty small village, and yet there are buses ALL OVER the place. There's a bus stop at our corner, which is 3/4 of a mile from the school. I don't see anything wrong with the kids on our street and other streets in the village walking to school. All the kids are headed to the same place (elementary, middle, and high school are all on the same campus), straight down the main street, with plenty of people around. We have next to no crime, and everyone knows everyone. I can't think of a safer place for kids to hoof it.

[hobbit709]

76. Where I went to high school, the rule was

if you lived less than 1½ miles from the school, you got there on your own. I walked a lot.

[spinbaby]

82. Do they have sidewalks?

In our area, if kids were to walk to school they would have a choice of getting run over or walking in a ditch. Perhaps all that money they save on gas could go to sidewalks.

[dropkickpa]

88. reason 7594 why I will NEVER move to the 'burbs

No sidewalks ANYWHERE and you get honked at if you are doing that outlandish activity sometimes referred to as "walking". Only poor city people do that. Another being, parents are chauffers in the 'burbs. When I was younger, if I asked my parents if I could go somewhere, they'd say "Yeah, have fun!".

[Maine-ah]

87. heh, my parents walked the same way as you

except they were barefoot.

[otherlander]

89. So was I.

I hate shoes. Walking home barefoot is AWESOME. And I don't care what the ped-egg-pushers say, I like my foot callouses the way they are. They're like leather, it's like having a built-on anti-sharp-object protecter on your foot.

[Maine-ah]

112. lol, that's how my feet are too.

I could walk on broken glass and wouldn't feel it.

[Pithlet]

93. The big issue for many areas is traffic.

Around here, kids would have to walk along six lane roads where there are no side walks and the speed limit is 55, and cars go a lot faster than that, with idiots yapping on their cell phones. But, the curmudgeon brigade can feel free to flame me too. It's not like I hardly post around here any more.

[bullwinkle428]

96. If this cuts down on the number of parents firing up their vehicles

and driving their kids down to the end of the driveway, allowing their progeny's precious little tootsies to stay warm in those arctic 40-something degree temperatures, then I'm all for it!

Lord knows that 5-minute wait for the bus in the wintertime is worse than anything in Guantanamo... :sarcasm:

[DS1]

100. 100!

[meegbear]

101. BE-ATCH!

[DS1]

102. You're not allowed in my threads anymore

[AlCzervik]

103. your updated zip line pic made it special for me.

[GCP]

106. Great thread!

Did you produce that picture on the OP? Hilarious!

[ET Awful]

104. Your illustration left out one small detail. . . .

[One_Life_To_Give]

105. Sidewalks would be a good start.

Maybe they could even get them cleared of snow during the winter as well?

Problem for some of these towns like Shirley is the old state highways don't have sidewalks along them, as well as alot of the old town roads. Asking kids to walk along a state highway with 40MPH traffic between the cars and the snowbanks is asking for trouble IMHO.

For the record back in the day I was not allowed to walk to school for these same reasons. Although the Elementary was a mile away and then High school only 3.

[Q3JR4]

108. I remember walking

3/4 of a mile both ways to get to school from home when I was six or seven years old. Of course that was 18 or 19 years ago.

Q3JR4.

[Bombero1956]

111. I walked

until I got to high school. The school was clear across town some 5 miles from my house. Our city in a rare moment of intelligence signed a 5 year contract with the fuel supplier 2 years ago. The price is locked in at $1.80 a gallon until 2011. The person responsible should be rewarded for saving the city lots of cash.

[Critters2]

114. I walked a mile and a half to grade school.

Slightly less than that to junior high and high school (yep, I even walked to high school). No one was bussed to my grade school. A few kids took the city (public transit) bus--we walkers thought they were way cool--but no one got to school on a school bus.

My high school included some country kids, who were bussed. Everyone in town walked, or got their parents to drive them but that was rare.

I hate to sound like a Monty Python sketch, but I walked to school every day, even when I was wearing my back brace. And here I am, safe and sound, to tell about it.

Walking to school won't kill these kids.

[datasuspect]

118. me: our apartment,

warehouse area, freight track spur and truck traffic, more dense residential, the crazy lady who yelled at kids, el tracks, major thoroughfare, olympic grill, then catholic school.

winter - still dark. we made it back and forth.

[Kali]

120. ah hell, it's two miles just to get to the bus stop here

:rofl:
I confess we usually drove to and picked them up from our bus stop, but in fairness I did see a mountain lion up there once and another time I saw bear tracks about half way. The real thing that bothered us in those pre-cell phone days, was the constant number of weird looking people that couldn't make it a couple more minutes to the rest stop on up the interstate and seem to prefer the end of our dirt road for their fucking bodily functions.

[lightningandsnow]

122. Well, I go to school pretty far away...

I've walked there before, it takes a little over an hour, and it's tiring. And would be pretty draining in bad weather.

I'm not saying people shouldn't walk to school, but not everyone lives three blocks away from where they go to school. I know people who spend an hour or more on the subway to get to my school. Two miles is about one kilometre though, right? That doesn't sound like too much.

And why do topics like this always turn to fat-bashing? I mean, Jesus Christ. I walk everywhere, I'm not technically overweight, but I have hips and a butt and a stomach that is less than perfectly flat. I eat junk food once in a while. The horror!

[DS1]

123. 2 miles = 3.2 kilometers

so, you'd probably still get bused. The article is about people living much closer than that :)

[SOteric]

124. Good news!

Your predictions about this thread have come true.

[DarkTirade]

127. Fuck walking uphill in the snow... I had to walk to school uphill both ways

in the Florida heat. And screw the wolves, we had even more deadly creatures: crazy Orlando drivers on every side. (Seriously, Orlando had one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the country last I heard.)

[Throckmorton]

128. My 12 year old daughters pick up was changed this year too

And I for one cannot agree more. In our neighborhood, the bus made three passes along parallel streets, each separated by less than 400 ft. It was ridiculous, now all the students will walk to a common stop in the middle. My Daughter, who is arguably the most effected by this change will now have to walk a whole 2/10's of a mile, verses 100 Ft, oh the humanity.