How far did you walk when you were a kid?

[Tonya]

My son's school is 5 miles away. The closest bus stop is 1 1/2 miles away. He would have to cross 7 streets to get home. None of them have crosswalks and one of them has the average speed limit of 45 mph. Their policy is that if the bus stop is within 2 miles, it is ok. My son is only in the first grade!

Did you have to walk far to school or the bus stop?

[swimma253]

within 2 miles!!! And he is in 1st grade!!! stupid bus people! Thats RIDICULOUS! My bus comes at 6:45 am which is way too early for me to get up .... so my mom takes me everyday... but I wouldnt have to walk because I live in a "non" neighborhood.

[caseysmom]

my 11 and 13 have a bus stop a block away but I drive them...it is just too scary to let them out there on there own. I am sure I am going to get a ticket one morning because I have to sit and wait for the bus with them in a no stopping zone...that was real smart of the school district. There is really no where to park any where near the bus stop just last week a man tried to take a 13 year old girl that was walking to school, she punched him in the nose, that was in the san jose area I believe.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by caseysmom
my 11 and 13 have a bus stop a block away but I drive them...it is just too scary to let them out there on there own. I am sure I am going to get a ticket one morning because I have to sit and wait for the bus with them in a no stopping zone...that was real smart of the school district. There is really no where to park any where near the bus stop just last week a man tried to take a 13 year old girl that was walking to school, she punched him in the nose, that was in the san jose area I believe.

How scary! I wouldn't mind driving him, but they have a MAJOR traffic/parking problem at the school right now. It's a total traffic jam. You have to get there a half hour before school gets out to even get near the school and it takes about 20 minutes to get out of the school.

Right now, my plan is just to pick him up at the bus stop so that I can avoid the traffic. But depending on his maturity, I plan on letting him walk home alone next year. I want to get a close bus stop now, so that he can get used to walking home with me.

[kingrattus]

I had a bus come to my house until I was in grade 2 & then it was a block away until I was in grade 6. Grade 7 I ended up walking to the other side of the town to get to school. it was only a 30 min walk & if I caught my bus driver friend he would drive me 1/2 way to school as long as I didn't tell anyone or until his rout changed.

& then from grade 9-12 I had no choice to bus, I cannot walk 30km to school & back everyday

Then for college I moved to the big city & bussed from one cirty to a 3rd city.This is what I mean...

Kanata, Bells Corner & Nepean use to be their own cities. The Ottawa gobbled them up & it became 1 MEGA city, but every still calls Kanata & all the other Cities or Towns the same. SO I'm bussing from 1 city, through another to get to a 3rd city hehehehehe

& during the Black Out last year I ended up walking from the Queesnway Hospital (in Nepean) to Bells Corner & got about 2 City blocks into Bells Corner & that took me almost an hour HAHAHAHA Stupid long roads & extra big Blocks But a family friend who is a city bus driver (my bus was 2 hour late & that bus comes every 15 mins, so umm ya, alot of busses didn't show up) saw me & picked me up knowing I was miles away from home. He drove off his rout to get to me, picked my up, got back onto his rout & had my house # on speed dial on his cell phone (now how cool was that!!).. he was a sweety & told Rob where I was & made a plan to drop me off as close to Kanata as he could & Rob would meet me there, I was deep in Bells Corner somewhere, so I was personally lost hehehe

[Amber]

My mom always took me to school, still does. But if she couldn't, i would ride the bus that was right down the side walk.

[kingrattus]

A weee bit off topic...

Anyones parents ever say to u, "when I was a kid I had to walk 3 miles to school in knee deep snow in my fathers pjs"??

Well 3 xmas's ago my my dad could no longer say that to me.
We went to PEI for xmas, & BOY CAN THEY GET ALOT OF SNOW OVER NIGHT!!!

Its was a frost deseart on the day I arrived (25th) & when I woke up the next day there was like 3 feet of snow!!!!

They plow the roads really funny there. They plow one side, pushing the snow to the right & lef tof the plow & then they plow the other side doing the same thing. So u end up with a $h!+ load of snow in the middle of the road & HUGE mountains to climb over just to cross the road.

& don't even ask about the sidewalks, they were 3 feet under snow & they don't salt anything (its a hazard on the island) so the snow & ice is there to stay. Most people don;t shovel the sidewalk infront of their home/store so its a never ending 3 feet of snow & it was SOOOOO deep inbetween my grandma's Condo & this other building. I took a few steps into it & fell & got lost in the snow (not really but u get my point)

But the weather there doesn't get nearlly as cold as Ottawa. I wore a t-shirt, a sweater, jeans, mid hikers, a crazy hat (I had no hair to keep me warm) & finger mitts. Everyone thought I was CRAZY!! They were all bundled up in heavy winter jackets, hats, full mitts, heavy pants & winter boots.

PEI snow is soooo much fun u get to walk everywhere in 3 feet of snow hehehehehe

[Karen]

The school bus picked me up either at the end of my driveway, or one house away. My parents never made the "I walked soooo far" claim. Instead, my Dad said "Imagine being the only child of the chief of police, who wa also the Truant Officer." My mother said, "Imagine having all your teachers being your father's sisters, or their friends. Imagine having your aunt be your high school principle - and they'd all call my father if they thought I wasn't trying hard enough, and he'd call them if I didn't seem to have "enough" homework."

So both in walking distance and in many other ways, I honestly had to admit they had a far more difficult time growing up than I did!

[kingrattus]

Ur poor parents!!!! That must have sucked big time.


For my last post I only posted it to be funny. I forgot to mention my dad was born & raised in PEI. So when I relived what weather he went through & survived & loved it, him telling me to stop complaing of the -50 weather at home became pointless hehehe

[BitsyNaceyDog]

The bus picked me up at the end of my driveway when I lived in New York state. My bus ride was an hour. When I was in 8th grade I moved to Florida and then had to walk a block to my bus stop. I didn't mind after all my bus ride was now only about 10 minutes.

1 1/2 miles is a long way especially for such a little guy to have to walk.

[puppyluvs]

I think it is crazy that the kids would have to walk that far, it is not that way here where we live, that would never be allowed !!!! ever !!!

[slleipnir]

I've always lived close to the schools, so I was lucky. (literally, all 3 are within a couple blocks of each other ) I've walked to school though since 1st or 2nd grade all the way through grade 12. I think it was anywhere between 15-20 mins walk. Although if I was really late I could get there in like 7 mins if I tried hard enough XD

[catnapper]

You're expecting me to remember waaayyy back then!? I only walked about three blocks, and it felt like ten miles with a full backpack!

My kids had to walk to the middle school, about a mile and half away. They had crossing gaurds on the scary corners... but the one was REALLY scary, and I wonder WHY we let them cross. I guess we had no choice at the time since we both worked and couldn't make alternate arrangements. That was 5th and 6th grades... I can't imagine letting a first grader doing that.

Can you get a petition started to have the bus stops changed? Or possibly attend a few school board meetings?

[Tonya]

Well, I have started by calling the district office and filing a formal complaint on the transportation manager's professionalism. She said that they do not have a copy of their policy and there is no new bus stops in the future. So, I also requested that the district office gives me a copy of the policy. I will go there on Monday if I do not hear back from them. Once I have the copy in my hands, I will go from there. (I have a feeling she's bluffing me because she's to lazy.) It's not an issue right now, but once I go back to work after the baby, it will be. I have all the time in the world to fight it right now.

[carole]

I have always walked my kids to school ( I don't drive) luckily I am only like 20 mins away, now Melissa is 12 she no longer allows me that privilege, no-one has their mother walk them at that age, so I am told, I still worry though, but there are a lot of children from her school who all walk at the time she does.

I used to bike to school about 2 miles.