School run
Encyclopedia
Parent
A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child . Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child...
s taking their child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren to school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
by car
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
. Outside most British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
schools parents park cars near the school gates and drop off and pick up their children at the appropriate times.
In the past it was not unusual for most children to walk to school, either on their own, with friends, or accompanied by an adult. Walking to school has fallen from 61% of primary school pupils in 1992/4 to 50% in 2004.
Walking to school is being replaced by parents using cars, sometimes in a rota
Carpool
Carpooling , is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car....
with other parents.
The reasons for this are manifold. Firstly, in many cases both parents work and do not have time to walk their children to school, and do not know any other parents who have the time either. Secondly, even if the children are old enough to walk on their own (or cycle), most parents are worried that something may happen to them, e.g. abduction
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
s, etc. Often there is no convenient bus service, and the distance is too far for walking, thus forcing the school run.
Ironically, the risk of children being run over near their schools is much higher than in the past due to all the parents driving their own children to school and parking in unsafe places near the school gates. It is not unusual to see cars parking in bus stops, on pedestrian crossings or facing the wrong way, with children getting in or out of the car.
The fear that something may happen to the children has perhaps more to do with media coverage of isolated (but tragic) cases than any real threat.
Some schools now have a 20 mph speed limit operating when the children are about, though traffic congestion often necessitates a lower speed.
A further problem in recent times has been an increasing level of choice by parents as to which school their children go to. Obviously the inevitable result is that kids may have further to travel and are more likely to require a bus or a lift in the car.
It is claimed that the school run is responsible for a large amount of the traffic problems in the morning rush hour
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
. However, the often dramatic reduction in congestion at the start of school holidays, is also because many parents have to go on holiday at this time.
The decreasing amount of exercise and associated increase in obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
are also partly blamed on the school run.
To combat the issue of exercise, or lack thereof, schools have started employing programs and techniques to encourage children to walk to school, whilst factoring the possible dangers of walking to school. An example of one of these programs is the 'walking school bus' whereby children at selected schools can elect to travel within an organised group of school children and volunteer parents. This program has proven to be most successful, as children are social within that group, thus, taking their mind of the exercising component and allowing them to interact with children they do not normally or would not normally interact with.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the school run has become a popular target for some politicians and campaigners against the use of cars for journeys which could be better walked or cycled. One of the campaigns promoting this alternative is the walk to school campaign
Walk to school campaign
The Walk to School Campaign is a British campaign promoting the benefits of walking to school. It is a founder member of the IWALK organisation....
.
In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
children commonly walk to school, while younger children attending kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
often use a school bus
School bus
A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...
. School bus travel is also common in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.