Skipping and Struggling to School

Whose Idea Was It to Walk Every Morning? Oh Right, Mine.

If only it was this peaceful… (Photo: Pixabay)

Picture this idyllic mother/ children scene:

I walk to school with both my kids every morning (7&9), which gives me not only gentle exercise first thing, but it’s also a lovely and loving bonding experience with my kids. We laugh, enjoy our time together and it makes the start to their school day so much better with fresh air. It’s about a mile, so a nice distance. Even in midwinter or torrential rain, imagine us skipping merrily along the road, like something out of a heartwarming parenting blog.

The truth

Ah yes, well, maybe that’s not true. We are mostly trudging in bad weather, at least one kid is complaining about something, we’re all tired and grumpy (it is 7.20am after all) and I just want to get them there on time. I’m yelling ‘let’s go!’ as we leave the house and am constantly pushing them to walk faster and not stop to stroke the cats or look at an interesting rock.

Today we had the following conversation, all at the same time.

9: I am so excited for my birthday party (in six weeks no less), let’s discuss who to invite.

7: You know, daddy said he’d buy me a car for Minecraft.