Helen Martin: Snowflake kids should walk to school

There's no reason why most children shouldn't walk to school. Picture: Neil Hanna

PARENTS dropping and collecting their kids at primary schools throughout the city are quite rightly coming under fire for sitting in cars with their engines running, polluting the atmosphere around the school gates.

But most schools are located in areas where parking is almost impossible. Working parents may not have time to walk to and from school.

It’s a tough one. But the answer may lie in the past, when part of parenting was teaching children to become more independent so that those aged around eight or over could go to and from school themselves or with other children.

Among exceptions would be Primary 1 to 3, those with special needs, or those who lived too far away.

That used to be the norm, so couldn’t schools and parents work together now to train the little “snowflakes”?