Part of the Problem

Bentley and Kendra's school classifies itself as a "Walking School," which means that the majority of its student body live close enough that they ought to be able to walk to school, so buses are unnecessary.  And we are among the "too close for the bus" population.  This is fine by me.  I really like walking to school with my kids.  I like the time spent together, I like the fresh air, and I like the exercise.  There are few things more enjoyable than a brisk walk with my kids on an early autumn morning.

Except: when it rains.  Or when we're late getting out the door.  Or when it's bitterly cold.  Or when my stay-at-home-boys are sick, like today.

On these days, we forgo the walking and simply drive. 

And as you can imagine, those days happen more often than I'd like to admit.

The problems with driving are manifold.  Getting all the kids in and out of the car can sometimes feel like just as much work as simply walking.  We aren't gone long enough for the car to heat up, so everyone is still cold (and since our car parks in our driveway, on rainy days we're also wet).  But the biggest problem is the actual moment of drop-off.  Because this poor school was never designed to have so many cars filing into the meager parking lot with their kids, so the place turns into one mess after another.

It really is a disaster.  Just getting into the parking lot is an exercise in gridlock, causing me to frequently drive very strange ways to the school in hopes of claiming the right of way for a few of the turns.  On one soaking wet morning (it was when my parents were here) it took us 15 minutes just to move 200 feet into the parking lot!  That's how long the 1/2-mile walk takes!  (And yes, the kids were totally late for school that day.  But so was everyone else, so no one got in trouble for it.)

Once you're in the parking lot, it doesn't get a whole lot better.  There's one long curb where everyone drops their kids off, but despite the safety patrol kids waving you forward, no one seems to know just when to let their kids out of the car.  And everyone's kids take different amounts of time to undo their seatbelts and actually get out of their cars, so it's a confusing mess.  My kids are particularly slow, actually, but since they're both sitting in the back of the van, and their only way to get out is to either go out the front passenger door or to crawl under Colton's baby carrier as they scramble out of the sliding door, I can't really blame them.  But what ends up happening is that some people pull up and sit while their kids get out, some people stop in the middle of the whole curb and block everyone else, and people like me tell their kids to get out of the car, only to realize that all the cars are moving forward and now I'm the one blocking the whole business!  Occasionally people will try to pull around the slow cars, but that just makes things even more confusing-- one person pulled around me in a huff and then parked right in front of me to let their kids out, rather than pulling all the way to the front of the curb.  And of course, by the time they did this, Bentley and Kendra had finally extricated themselves from my car, so I promptly had to just pull back in front of this guy!

So, yeah, it's a mess.  And I don't mean this in a snotty, "This would be fixed if everyone did it my way" sort of way, because I'm as much a part of the problem as anyone.

This morning, as the kids were getting out, they accidentally knocked Bentley's soccer ball out of the car, and of course it rolled under the van.  I put on my flashers and climbed out to look, hoping the ball would be within my reach, but no luck.  I had to pull forward six feet and then climb out once again so I could grab that ball.  All this was within minutes of the tardy bell ringing, so everyone was frantically trying to get around me and drop their own kids off on time .  (I'm sorry, everyone!  Really, I am!)  As soon as I was safely back in my car, I got stuck behind someone else letting their kids out (in the middle of the curb), and some woman who had pulled to the side for no reason that I could discern.  As I tried to scoot between them, she immediately jerked her car forward, and then acted annoyed with me when I tried to wave her forward (and out of my way).  I have no idea what she thought she was doing.

Maybe there was a soccer ball stuck underneath her car, too.

I love walking my kids to school.  But I still think longingly about just putting them on the bus, too...