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The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

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Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#121

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

me_smith wrote: post #63

My mom walked me to school until I was in 4th grade. She was a single mom and needed to work, so she decided to let me walk to and from school from then on. I made friends on that walk. 30+ years later, I am still friends with many of them even though we live hours away from each other. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what I don't know; but, I've observed so many kids being shuffled between school, events, "play da…

> I understand that we live in a different world

Do we, though?

Kidnappings have been dropping steadily for decades, though maybe it's because kids are indoors more often now. Though FWIW, most kidnappings are from an insane relative, not the random guy promising candy in his van.

I was allowed to play outside unsupervised when I was only 9 years old in 1991, though maybe being on the Keflavik, Iceland US Navy base played a role in that.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#122

Post by micromacrofoot »

me_smith wrote: post #63

My mom walked me to school until I was in 4th grade. She was a single mom and needed to work, so she decided to let me walk to and from school from then on. I made friends on that walk. 30+ years later, I am still friends with many of them even though we live hours away from each other. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what I don't know; but, I've observed so many kids being shuffled between school, events, "play da…

You also can't really choose to opt out without leaving the country because lots of places make it illegal for your under <13 kid to go anywhere on their own.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#123

Post by micromacrofoot »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #121
me_smith wrote: post #63

My mom walked me to school until I was in 4th grade. She was a single mom and needed to work, so she decided to let me walk to and from school from then on. I made friends on that walk. 30+ years later, I am still friends with many of them even though we live hours away from each other. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what I don't know; but, I've observed so many kids being shuffled between school, events, "play da…

> I understand that we live in a different world Do we, though? Kidnappings have been dropping steadily for decades, though maybe it's because kids are indoors more often now. Though FWIW, most kidnappings are from an insane relative, not the random guy promising candy in his van. I was allowed to play outside unsupervised when I was only 9 years old in 1991, though maybe being on the Keflavik, Iceland US Navy base p…

It doesn't, in the early 90s I was even younger in the US and I had to walk to school about a mile along a busy street. There was no other way for me to get there, no bus or anyone around to drive me.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#124

Post by alistairSH »

100% agree with the title.

I live ~1 mile from the local school complex (primary, middle, high all share a gigantic piece of land, though are separate full-size schools). You literally don't have to cross a street to get there from my house - it's all neighborhood walking paths and there's a short underpass at the one road. Yet, kids are not supposed to walk. There's a bus, which isn't the end of the world. Except in the time it takes to wait for the bus, you could walk most of the way to school. And 1/4 of the parents drive their kids anyway.

It's completely absurd.

Of course, I walk the ~1 mile to my office in the other direction and most of my coworkers think I'm a loon. So, I guess this shouldn't be surprising. Americans are just hard-wired to drive even the shortest distances. We've done such a piss-poor job with urban planning and transit design that 3+ generations of Americans think anything but a car is unthinkable (literally, I don't think it crosses their minds).

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#125

Post by mmooss »

aklemm wrote: post #5

Well that headline sums it up. After 10 years of dealing with it and wondering "how the f did we get to this point", it's satisfying to hear it called what it is. A small win in our family was in my son's final year of elementary school when he finally decided to try walking home 1.5 miles; that Spring was a delight for him. He was properly decompressed and had logged a minimum amount of physical activity for good sl…

Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough!. 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine.

https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#126

Post by appleorchard46 »

RandomBacon wrote: post #113
newuser94303 wrote: post #70

What about the people that report parents to the police for endangering their children by allowing them to walk/bike to school?

If the child is not in any actual danger, then people who call emergency services or police need to be cited for wasting resources. Busybodies seem to call because of "what if" things. That child's actual danger is the busybody.

Apparently a child being alone constitutes being in danger. From the article [0]

[0] https://reason.com/2024/11/11/mom-jailed-for-letting-10-year...

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#127

Post by lvl155 »

01100011 wrote: post #118
lvl155 wrote: post #43

Counter point: I used to walk home from school. Got robbed at gun point several times. Jumped for my skin color numerous times. Had a neighborhood buddy who got stabbed three times on his way home and survived. I can go on and on and on. I had to learn to walk an extra 20-30 minutes to avoid these situations. I will never let my kids walk home in 2025. Edit: no one told these parents to drive up for pick up like a dr…

You are raising your kids in a neighborhood that is prone to this level of violence?

Kids go missing roughly every minute in this country. I am not risking anything to feel good about implied negligence.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#128

Post by loughnane »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #42
giarc wrote: post #4

I think this article misses the one big problem (as I understand it). It's that schools need to dismiss the kid to their parent. I have family in North Carolina and I understand that cars have the family number displayed, and someone with a radio communicates to the school staff "Car 315 is here", they then find that kid and dismiss them. Just do away with that. When the bell rings, send the kids outside and they wil…

For what age? That's similar to what our school has for kindergarten. But if they did that all the way up to grade 6 it would be a giant mess.

Agreed. We don’t have much of a car line since it’s a walk-to-school neighborhood (90% walk). Still, k-2 are dismissed to parents. Once 3rd grade hits it’s open.

Seems like a fine balance to me.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#129

Post by micromacrofoot »

legitster wrote: post #32

Unfortunately we are one of those families. The bus service is completely unreasonable. They shopped it out to the lowest bidder and the stops are all in terrible spots on busy streets. It also takes longer to sit and wait in the cold with a 6 year old than it would be to just drive there and back.

Our child was being bullied on the bus by kids twice their age because there was no one other than the driver to monitor. I will not subject a kindergartner to that.

One time the bus arrived a full hour late and the people we could call to ask where it was had already went home. I was considering calling the police. Turns out the bus was late because they didn't have enough busses and it had to complete a different route first.

School has been enshittified.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#130

Post by Aurornis »

alistairSH wrote: post #124

100% agree with the title. I live ~1 mile from the local school complex (primary, middle, high all share a gigantic piece of land, though are separate full-size schools). You literally don't have to cross a street to get there from my house - it's all neighborhood walking paths and there's a short underpass at the one road. Yet, kids are not supposed to walk. There's a bus, which isn't the end of the world. Except in…

> Yet, kids are not supposed to walk.

According to who?

Reading these comments reminds me that America is a big place and experiences are very different from one location to the next. My closest school has hundreds of kids walking to and from through all the neighborhoods if you drive by during morning or afternoon hours.

My last in-office job had numerous people with 20-40 minute walks as part of their commute (except in rain/winter). We had people who routinely biked 10+ miles to the office.

It's not "Americans are lazy". It's the people you're around.

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