Safe Speed Forums

When I was a kid - we had a desk. Used to keep all my books there - apart from the homework requirements - if I could be bothered to remember it.

Woodwork and so on - we left all that stuff on the premises. My clarinet was a doddle to cart around as well.

It was a boys' only grammar school and we did not do cookery in those days. We had lessons in the sixth form as they then realised they were sending us off to Uni unable to open a can of beans! That was OK - as I also had passed driving test and they let us park in a designated spot in the school grounds.

Games was twice per week and we had matches on Saturdays. That was not that much of a problem in those days either.

But not kidding - those older kids of mine have an unrealistic load. They do not have desks and lockers at the school. It is one of my major gripes. I do not understand why schools do not provide lockers these days - especially when I am paying school fees!

So had to build shelves in kitten corner to accommodate school stuff. When the eldest three first entered the senior school - was informed that they needed a games bag to accommodate hocky sticks, lacrosse sticksm cricket bats and tennis rackets. In addition "they needed a basket for HE".

Thus - these kids literally staggered to the bus stop every morning!

Last May they sent me a very polite letter telling me they were going to charge me a small fortune for each child to use the school bus. I have 6 of them of school age now. It is actually cheaper for me to run a car for a 17 year old - with 17 year old new driver insurance loading than it is for me to send them by this bus. Most other parents agreed with our stance - and the car park is full of sixth formers' old bangers,; the local environment is heaving with mumpties - and the school bus is more or less empty.

We are hoping that the senile chairperson of the governors has got the message!



The offerings were never in an edible state either - but you have most fortunately not met our twins! They are really "challenging" - ( kindest word I can think of! )

I have a very bad memory of stuffed baked potatoes. To this day I cannot face a baked potato topped with anything other than butter.

The rock cakes were in keeping with an Act of Parliament requiring that description matched - and I needed a dentist afterwards!

And their light fairy buns gave me the runs....



I agree - but this year - we are making it plain that school bus service offered by our kids' school has to be set at a fair price and this was extortion. We are making a stand so that other schools (and state schools) do not follow this bizarre attitude. Labour did make some noises about this last year for state schools and the independent one our kids attend was stupid enough to test us!

Result? We have mumpties really sending up mumpties and every sixth former able to drive driving to school.

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I agree with the jist of what you are saying.

We know that every school is going to receive a heavy traffic at around school time, yet no planning is done to aid for people being dropped off at school.

Our kids are not safe to walk the streets, I certainley would not put them on a bus either, i much prefer they are dropped and picked up from school by me or my wife. I have a duty of care for my kids, this is the only way to ensure this.

I consider myself lucky, as my kids school, actually has a large parking area inside the school gates, which sweeps round one way to allow parents to drop their kids off.

Instead of just looking to fine parents, they should be planning for the traffic volume.

Mind you that is rather alot of possible revenue for the local council

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Steve

School bus could be free, for all i care, i would still not allow my kids on it

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Steve

With the ignorant majority parking on the zig zag lines, the pavement & turning round using, driving on & off the pavement to park walking my daughters school is too say the a risky business.
On one occasion my daughters were nearly hit by a car driving onto the pavement to park, the VERY dumb blond saw no problems with what she had done, but then neither did the police when we informed them of the daily problem we faced.
It is perfectly normal to have to walk on the road as the pavement is covered by cars !!!!!.
Still much safer than doing 33mph in a 30 at 3.30 am.

School bus could be free, for all i care, i would still not allow my kids on it


Prat

You and a great deal of others as well. If a perfectly good bus is provided and parents refuse to use it, they should not realistically expect the school or council to provide a parking area so they can use their cars -you appear to be fortunate in that yours already does.
I guess these attitudes are what differentiates parents of a previous generation (ie me) to the neurotic and hysterical 'oh my gosh there's a safety fear over Farleys Rusks' or 'I don't want a disinfectant that will only make Tommy's high chair 99.9% germ free, its got to be 110%' attitudes that previal today.

How on earth do you think they're actually going to learn to live in the real world?

And how can you live with yourself letting them loose in a school for seven hours a day without you watching over them all the time?

This hysterical, exaggerated attitude to risk is exactly the kind of thinking that drives the spread of scameras and ludicrously low speed limits.

Give them a bit of freedom

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

With a car when they are old enough to drive



risk's to children are very real, you only need pick up your local paper or turn on the news.



Freedom to the children, or are you just making them available to abuse

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Steve

I take it you did not get to school, with such a reply, that offers very little in the way of IQ

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Steve

Generations change, and so must attitudes, you have to move out of the dark ages, and deal with the real risk's that are out their with our children.

We certainley did not have peaodophiles put back on the street and given new identities when i was a nipper. We have a number in our area, one who lives at the bottom of my road.

Saying i should of taken better care and control over my children, after something has happened, just does not appeal to me. I will take the care and control of my children now. My kids are a higher priority to parking issues.

Then their is the added anti social behaviour that is being committed by our children, that are free to roam the streets.

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Steve

Oh please mate, not that old 'Dark Ages' thing I accept you want to do whats best for your kids, but I'd point out that the dark ages got my daughter to her second year at uni, and my son to his last 6 months of A levels. All through using busses and walking, with the occasional car trip when the need arose. If the 'enlightened age' (or whatever we've supposedly moved out of those dark ages into) means mistrusting public transport and possessing an exaggerated fear of the risks of walking to school, then take me back please.
But, isn't there an interesting parallel here between the hyped up risk of being killed by a 'speeding' driver and that of having ones offspring coming to harm if they are taken to school through means other than the private car Just a thought.

{Quote} I take it you did not get to school, with such a reply, that offers very little in the way of IQ



Struck a nerve, eh!

The risks have always been there, just not reported.



Paedophiles have always been around, they always will. The reason they weren't put back on the street in your day, is because they weren't caught, and if they were it wasn't talked about (taboo).

You're making the classic mistake of believing the media.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

So the reporting of the Moors Murderers was the unveiling of the tip of the iceberg?

And it was quite typical for schoolkids to rape their teachers, never mind their schoolchums.

To knife their playmates to death and hack their heads to mincemeat with machetes.

To burn people alive.

To torture (for real, not just bully).

To use people's heads as footballs.

It just never got reported.

I must have led a very sheltered childhood to have missed all of that.

In my ghetto primary school and sink secondary.

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http://www.itsyourduty.org.uk

You are deliberately mis-quoting. Who mentioned all the things to which you refer?

The subject was the risk to children from paedophiles, and I actually think
Peyote is perfectly correct. Over the last generation our perception of the risk to our children has increased out of all proportion to the actual risk of attack from them, which may not actually have increased at all.

These sorts of people have always been around, just like we've always had thieves and murderers etc. The difference is that nowadays society believes that any risk is too much risk.

That said, I'm fiercely over-protective of my children too, despite my rational mind telling me I shouldn't worry so much...

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

Yes, I very much agree with this.

A major problem in society today is this hysterical and exaggerated view of risk - which is what leads both to ludicrously low speed limits and parents believing they're protecting their children by ferrying them to and from school by car when they're quite old enough to walk or cycle.

This often has unintended consequences where responsible people feel constrained from doing the things that are branded "bad" but the irresponsible carry on regardless and there are fewer police about to catch them.

And, to be fair, Bogush makes some valid points in this post about attitudes to drink-driving and firearms legislation.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Peyote wrote:

They were caught, it's what happened to them in 'nick', and after they were released, (if they survived to be released!) that wasn't talked about !!(Definite NO-NO !).

They never got the 'protection' from other prisoners then, and shouldn't now, there would be no re-offenders, except those with a death wish!

I did.

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http://www.itsyourduty.org.uk

No, the subject was:




So the risk of the following haven't increased at all:



We've never had anywhere near the numbers of dangerous people as we have now.

When I wer a lad it was remarkable if you got punched on a night out.

Now it's only remarkable if if someone dies from being used as a football.

And I can't ever remember someone being kicked in the head in a fight, never mind repeatedly, at school.

Never mind stabbed, despite penknives being a normal part of your school equipment (no, not for the quills, just pencils).



It's a question of balance.

When I wer a lad you did sports and suchlike activites in school or at school immediately after. Then most kids walked home from their local school.

Or if they weren't within walking distance the bus had a conductor, passengers weren't terrified of the consequences of being public spirited citizens, and the worst you had to fear was a hard punch or a kick to the legs.

Nowadays if you walked between school and extra curricular activities you'd have to get up well before you went to bed.

And risk getting attacked by junkies who might snip your fingers off or set you alight (properly with a gallon of petrol, not make your school cap smoulder a bit).

If you're lucky.

The risks, not just from paedophiles, are only a tiny part of the overall equation.

When you weigh everything up it's a no brainer.

Plus, however small the risk, if your kid is the one in a million............

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http://www.itsyourduty.org.uk

If that is the case then I can see why you are alarmed and wish to keep eye on your children.

Presumably the guy is under watch and tagged 24/7?

Have you not spoken to authorities given that this guy is living close to kids?

I can understand your problem - after all the Moors Murderers abducted one victim from a fair ground and Sarah Payne's killer lurked and watched her playing if I recall correctly. Thankfully - these are fairly rare in real terms - but if you have one living near you - then I do understand why you feel you need to protect yours.

But most kiddy fiddlers know the vicitims - and are even related or even family friends.

You have been on forum a long time - so probably know why I went into battle with Jolls that time over his choice of words.

I have two foster kids - they younger one was born addicted to a Class A drug and the older one was a victim of severe perverted torture. Both children have been placed under our guadianship long term because of these problems and we are now intending to formally adopt.

But despite the dangers - I have to ensure that these children as well as my own are able to face out danger and interact with society as normal and well adjusted young people.

That means - they use the bus, have some independence, make their decisions within reason. last year - they all caught the bus to and from school. This year - the bus fees were increased to protest point - and it makes sense to have my eldest son build up his driving experience and give him an adult respsonsibility of ensuring his brothers and sisters get to school on time and in safety. It also works out cheaper for me as well!

But I allow them to ride their bicycles to friends' homes and sports clubs and so on. I have ground rules - they let me know when they arrive and when they set off back - just so's I am not worrying unduly, and have idea of whereabouts. I also stipulate the time I expect them to be home and in bed as well. Failure to do so results in my version of a "fixed penalty"

Am one "draconian meff" of a Papa sometimes - and they have called me a stasi control freak before now in temper. I just fined them more and extended the "curfew"



We monitor all their internet activities - and am aware the three eldest view this and other sites. I have blocked C+ as I feel that this is not suitable viewing for my younger children at the moment. But then I occasionally block this site and PH from the twins. (15).

But it is a case of building confidence, safety, independence and ensuring they are also aware of the dangers as well without creating a fear of bogeymen.

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.