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Today’s tip will not only help you save on gas, but will hopefully help your kid(s) get some easy exercise before and after school.
Assuming it’s safe, let your kids walk or ride the bus to school.
Since it’s back to school time, I figured it was finally the appropriate time to post this tip. Today, it seems that more and more kids are getting dropped off at school by their parents as opposed to walking or riding the bus.
Some of the time, it is convenient for the parent to drop off their kid(s) at school because it’s on their way to work, but it seems a vast majority of the parents who drop their kids are making a “special trip” to do so.
While it may not seem like a heavy burden your gas to drop your child off at school, it probably wastes more gas than you think.
More than likely, you’re going to drive between 2 and 4 miles (round trip), will sit in idle for a couple of minutes and, when you are moving, it’ll probably be a lot of stop and go driving. All of these things combined equal terrible gas mileage.
All of these things combined over an entire school year equals a lot of wasted gas and money.
So, if it’s safe enough, let your kid walk to and from school. It’s a great way for them to get some easy exercise and a simple way for your family to save some money.
If you live too far away from the school to let your child walk, I’m sure most school districts provide reliable bus service to take your child to and from school. If this is the case, go ahead and let your son or daughter ride the “cheese wagon” to school, and it’ll help you save on gas.
Your tax dollars are paying for the service, so you may as well take advantage of it.
Either way, but not taking dropping your kids off at school each and every morning, you’ll do yourself a favor by saving a bunch of gas and money and will do your child a favor by either letting them get some easy exercise or by letting them spend some extra time with their friends on the bus.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Where I went to high school, the district charged $150/yr to ride the bus. That’s a little less than a dollar a day. Walking is still the cheapest way to get to school.
I haven’t heard of that before, but I’m sure you’re not the only school district that charges for bus usage.
And if it’s just a bit too far to walk, strap ‘em to a bike. That’ll teach some self reliance.
I am of the older generation The one between where the parents walked in a snowstorm uphill (both ways) to get to school and the one that has mom or dad drive them to school and picks them up
I lived about 5 miles from school so my dad on his way to work would drop me about 2 miles from school where I walked the rest of the way with friends Great social interaction in retrospect by the way
I think that bit of independance plus the excercise are why at 67 years of age I still weigh what I did when I got out of boot camp and I still enjoy walking to the store as opposed to getting in the car and driving a mile etc
I live in a small town in Tenn and it is amazing the people that you meet day to day
However Remember I grew up in an era where you could play in your front yard and half the neighborhood watched out for you and you could actually eat the halloween candy as you got it
I think the saddest days I can remember other than the pasing of my parents was the day we had to go to the Emergency clinic to have our candy X-rayed
Pony (yeah PONY Deal with it LOL)
The sad fact is, that in most of the US, it isn’t safe to let your kids walk to school. If they aren’t run over by some SUV driving soccer mom (who can barely see over her steering wheel), kidnapped by a pedophile, shot by gang members, blown up by religious fanatics, or sold drugs, they’ll likely be framed by the police for some crime.
Riding the bus is nearly as bad as walking – though, the kids will likely only be stabbed/mugged/molested by a classmate, rather than some random stranger or police officer.
AC: Sure, in major cities. There are still small towns where things are just as safe as they were 50 years ago. The only difference is that today when anything happens it is reported and publicized.
BC hit the nail right on the head
It’s just as safe to let your kids walk to school as it ever was. Nothing’s really changed, except that anything gets national news coverage instantly, instead of being a local story.
Hence the overprotective soccer-moms worrying about gang members, crackheads, and drug dealers on the way to school, in spite of living in all-white suburbs 15 miles from the nearest violent crime.
I have been walking to school for years now. I don’t live all that far. However, I have been beat up countless times, molested once, watched by gang members on a daily basis, etc, etc, etc…
I still walk to school. I do it because I’m now 15, and I’ve come to terms with life and the realities that surround me. But what really drives me crazy is that I ask myself, “Where are the police and other law-enforcement agencies, such as the FBI?” I know where they are. They are out looking for terrorists that don’t exsist, at the airports taking teething toys from babies, and out at sea stopping the dreaded Cubans.
Me and my friends suffer because no one wants to read what they are voting for, or take the guns away from those that really do damage: ourselves. Billions upon billions of dollars are spent every day to fight this “war on terror,” and there are underpaid police officers out there that I’m supposed to expect to protect me.
I’m only 15, but I know what does and does not make sense in this world…
BC: Not really even in major cities. I grew up in a gang neighborhood that had a two drive-bys within two miles of my parents’ home during my school years, yet the only once was there ever a situation with any of my brothers or I walking.
Except during specific weeks (major rivals about to play a sport against each other or the last two weeks of school), the streets are as safe as the school itself.
@ AZ:
A very astute observation for a 15-year old. The war on terror [a shooting war on ideas is a bad idea in its own right, you can't hurt an idea] is wasting obscene amounts of money that could have been used a lot more wisely to make America a great place to live, for everybody and not just the very rich.
Because the country is geared towards a hyper-individualised mindset, only -I- count and there is less of a sense of community. Because of that, there is a lot of indifference towards the suffering of the fellow citizen. If you have to go flat out every day just to make ends meet, if at all, there’s just no overhead to be compassionate towards your neighbor. Of course there’s nothing wrong with working hard to get ahead. It does become a problem when working hard to get ahead is the -only- thing that matters anymore.
A lot of the crime could be prevented by offering better education to people who have no way to afford it and for lack of it [and by extension have no serious chance to land a decent job] turn to crime as their only means to generate revenue. Living in poverty is not a great way to spend a life.
America could spend a fraction of what it does on the war and make heaps of new friends in the world, which would be a far more effective way to avoid terrorism and it would have tons of money left to spend on the people who [should] really matter most: its own citizens. Case in point: a lot of parents don’t dare to let their children go to school on their own because of the inherend danger that is connected to that. For some parents that’s not a real issue, but for a lot of people, including yourself, it -is- an issue.
Building a great society, spending the money on the citizens, would be a far better way to spend a half a trillion dollars. But that’s just my opinion, I’m known for having ill-adjusted ideas.
A big problem right now is school districts not allowing kids to walk to school. They will not allow me to let my kids walk to a school that is HALF A MILE AWAY, they have to ride the bus, or be driven in an approved carpool. It’s just ridiculous. It’s not the only school district I’ve come across with this problem either. That and taking away recess is what’s causing the kids to chunk up.
AZ – I’m sorry to hear about your experiences, which is specifically why I stated to walk only if it is safe. Obviously, if it’s a seedy area, take ALL of the necessary precautions.
TDY – That’s absolutely ridiculous. I understand their point of view regarding liability, but I think that’s going way too far. Has your school district also cut back on the number of hours your children spend each week doing physical activities?
Reading this article, all I could think of was the shock and horror on the faces of my classmates’ parents when they learned that my sister and I walked to school. Granted the junior high was about 8/10 of a mile and the high school was a half mile past that, and I didn’t think it was all that bad to walk. It sucked when the weather was miserable, as it tends to be in Northeast winters, but when one’s parents leave for work in the dark, you have to deal. This past year, as a senior, I was able to drive to school, and did just because I was so involved with other things that a car was becoming necessary. But I actually sort of missed walking to school…it was nice and peaceful in the morning, and the walk actually helped me wake up and feel more prepared for school.
Approved carpools? That’s rediculous. We tried using one oce and my little brother got things stolen out of his backpack every day until we stopped and organized our own carpool. It was awesome. And every parent only drove both ways once a week. This is only because we grew up in a rural mountain area where the bus didn’t go and the roads were too narrow to safely walk or bike.
But taking away recess? How are those poor kids going to concentrate in class if all they want to do is wiggle for a little while. I’ve heard of the districts as well that don’t allow games like tag and kickball where kids might get hurt or keep score so nobody can lose. I can’t believe where schools are going and I’m scared of where they’ll be when my son is old enough to be there.
This is a two-sided coin. Yes, today’s kids are spoiled, over-indulged brats with a sense of entitlement. Why should they have to WALK anywhere? But on the other side, the world is not the world of the 1950′s, not even close. I’d rather spend a few beans every week and drive my kids to school.
I don’t agree regarding the “change in times.” I think a lot of the stuff that goes on today probably went on back in the 1950′s – the difference being now there are many more media outlets (newspapers, 24 hour news stations, the internet, etc.) that cover all that’s going on in our world. Again, while I have no statistics to back me up, I would bet that the chance of something happening to someone walking to school is the same now as it was in the 1950′s.
I wonder how safe these widdle suburban kiddies are in a Ford Exploitation driven by a soccer mommy who’s busy handing out the juice boxes with one hand while she yaks on the cellphone in her other hand about Pweshus’s viola lessons, all the while tailgating the compact car in front of her…
Probably a lot safer than the kid in the compact car.
You’re right, Brian…because Moomie in the SUV will probably run right into the compact car. I mean, the kids in it aren’t HER widdle pweshuses, right?