School pick up line,rant

[columbia,sc]

Am I the only one that this bothers?
I leave our house 45 mins before DD gets out, it takes me 15 mins to get to the middle school. After I sit there for 20-30 mins. Then (ten mins before the kids are let out) there is always a couple of , being polite now, 'Ladies and Gentlemen' that drive around/ ahead of me to cut ahead of us in the line to pick up their kids.
I get to the school early because I have to get to the elementry school to pick up DS so he does not have to sit in a extra long line.
Most days I have my lap top with a wireless connection with me, one day I looked up 'standing in line'. They without a question have no concern for the others that spend time in line! I am not real good at a confrentation,,I get a little hot headed. So I have bit my tounge and try to stay cool.
With out starting a fight what would you do? I thought about printing out the web page about 'line rules' and walking up and handing it out to the cutters.
This may be silly on my part but I like and give respect every step of my day. Cutting in line is a Major disrespect, IMO

[Bonnie L]

Doesn't your school have bus service?

[MullersLaneFarm]

Some folks will never learn manners. Teach by example. Take a deep breath, exhale slowly. You can't change others

[Loriann1971]

If what they are doing goes against school policy, I would bring it to the attention of the office.

When I take my daughter to school and pick her up, I have to walk her to her door. This is the rule in kindergarten. The older kids can walk out to the loop by themselves. This rule means I have to park my car, get my 20 month old and my 8 month old out of the car and into the double stroller and then dodge traffic through the parking lot to ge tmy daughter. There is one crosswalk through the parking lot that cuts through the loop where parents pull in. It is clearly marked, "No Parking" but someone always sneaks into it, cutting in front of the car behind it and blocking access to the sidewalk for the parents that park and walk in. After a week of this, I talked to the office and a generic reminder notice went home with all the kids the next day. The principal also stationed herself at that spot on the sidewalk to remind parents not to park there.

[7thswan]

We have Buses here.

[michelleIL]

I thought for sure someone was hitting on you or something, until I cam back to the post...funny! Wasn't awake yet!

[chickenista]

Oh yeah.. the pick up line.
And I think whether or not there is bus service is beyond the point, really. Our school only offers it for those that live far away.
I am one of the parents that will park down the block and walk to the school and stand in the rain and wind and freezing cold to pick up my 'walker'. We are a small group.
The first day of school this year the pick up line was an hour and a half!
I just cannot afford the gas!
But get mean back! Pull half sideways into the line.. pull ALL the way up as far as you can etc... have a hissy and demand that the vice principal supervise the pick up line for awhile..or just do what they do here and start getting in line at NOON!!! There are a few that do that.
Or..try to do the 'walker' thing. You ahve the right to get your child any old way you want to..one would think. That is how we got the walker thing going.
I may have been the one that started that the very first day of kindergarten when I walked up to the school and asked for him and lied about where we lived.....just a little one...

[mnn2501]

whats wrong with walking or buses? or bikes if weather permits?
my gosh kids are spoiled these days!

[michelleIL]

I most always walked to school

[mammabooh]

The people who pick up their kids at my son's school have to park their cars, walk into the building, and stand in the hall and wait for their kids to be dismissed. The kids being picked up are dismissed first, and they all have to have a note saying that they are being picked up.

I would not do well sitting in a car surrounded by rude people. I tend to be very confrontational and I would probably end up knocking someone out.

[unregistered29228]

We've got a pickup line too, and I use it every day to get my 6 year old. I have to drive to the other school to pick up the other kids, who don't have bus service. And if my youngest took the bus it wouldn't deliver him in time for me to leave to get the others. Some kids have activities after school they need to get to before the bus could deliver them too. Almost everyone in this county lives too far from school to walk or ride a bike. What's wrong with having a car line?

But I agree with the original poster - I hate it when someone cuts in line.

[Ninn]

Originally Posted by mnn2501

whats wrong with walking or buses? or bikes if weather permits?
my gosh kids are spoiled these days!

Well, let's see. My sister and her kids live about 6 miles from the school. She has 5 children attending. The bus ride is 3 HOURS!! No joke! It's to far to walk and there is no reason her kids should be on the bus at 6 am when they don't get to school until almost 9am. So she, like many others in her area, drives her children to and from school. She sits in a pick up and drop off line for 2 hours out of each day. BUT-her kids are on time, they've had breakfast, their homework has been checked and they have all their supplies. Yeah, they are "spoiled". They don't have to sit on a bus for almost 3 hours without having had any breakfast. They don't have to get sent to the office everyday because the 7 year old and the 9 year old are fussy and cranky after a 3 hour ride to school. She doesn't have to drop off stuff they forgot because they are so tired from getting up at 4:30 to get ready for school. I think it's a pretty good trade, don't you?

By the way, they are all straight A students! Just had to brag a little!!!

[michelleIL]

yes, but I see many twon people using cars that could very well walk to school. We are not complaining about the exceptions.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by michelleIL

yes, but I see many twon people using cars that could very well walk to school. We are not complaining about the exceptions.

I think many people are concerned about child predators these days.
And kids sticking together as they walk doesn't seem to deter them all that much.

[starjj]

I have seen too many people that drive their children to school just because the little darlings don't want to get up in the morning to get on the bus. Now a 3 hour bus ride is way too long I agree. I am talking about the ones that I have seen that don't want to get up early because the bus ride is 1 hour long. I have a real problem with people sitting in lines wasting gas and tieing up traffic (when it backs into the street) just because the children want to sleep later. JMO

I 99 percent of the time never use drive up windows for the same reason. I would much rather park go in and get out faster than sit and waste gas in my van.

[michelleIL]

Although to play the other side of the coin, isn't it the parents right to do whatever they darn well please in getting their kid to school?

Why can't you just pull up as far as possible so no one can pull in front of you?

All the schools do things differntly. At our school last year, if the kids were picked up (my kid normally rode the bus, but there were a couple occcassions that I picked him up. He was on the bus for about an hour before he would get home, and I had appointments to get to before then, so I picked him up to save time), you had to go in a special door on the side of the school, sign-in, then stand in a special hallway. At a specific time, a bell rang and all the parents then walked to each child's room to retrieve their child. A 2nd bell would ring for those riding the bus. I thought it was a little ridiculous, but it was all for security.

This year, we are at a different school. My son rides the bus and I've never taken him to school OR picked him up YET. This is a brand new school, and parking lots and pick-up areas were specifically layed out when the school was designed (as it was a problem at the old school). Now, those being dropped off in the morning are in a drop-off line. It is a rolling line, in that parents are encourage to come to a "rolling stop" in front of the door and shove their kids out the door, so the line doesn't stop. I've never done it, or seen it, so I don't know how effective it is. At the end of the day, those in preschool-3rd grade who are picked up, go out the back door. Parents park in a special pick-up parking lot, then most walk and stand in the pick-up lawn. Kids then run to their parents. Teachers are on duty, and quickly learn where each parent stands (against the fence, by the tree, etc) so they see that each kid goes to the right parent. Parents enter and exit the school campus on completely different roads than those used by the buses, so there is no crowding. Again, never seen it in action, but sounds like a decent plan.

[Cabin Fever]

I read the title to this thread and assumed it was about some young cassanova trying to pick-up chicks. My favorite middle school pick-up line was, "Wish I were sine-squared and you were cosine-squared, because together we could be one."

[Jenn]

We have a very tight bottle neck- a long one lane track around playing fields- to prevent this. The line is out to this 20 min before the kids get out.

[foxtrapper]

Well, is the lane or lanes situated such that it makes it look reasonable for a person to drive past the long line and take the short line? Just because a bunch of folk are waiting in a long checkout line doesn't mean that's the only line to wait in.