For those with children, the words “school run” can stir up feelings of dread, with images of miles of double-parked cars, bumper-to-bumper traffic and more.
At Holts, we wanted to dig into the habits and pet peeves of the school run, diving into what can help or hinder parents during an already stressful part of the day.
We sent out a comprehensive survey to quiz the nation’s parents on the habits and frustrations that make the school run feel like a school marathon.
The Great British School Run
Our survey first set out to find what percentage of parents take part in the school run on a regular basis. The split is fairly even, with 52% of parents frequently driving their kids to school. Judging from the answers later on in our survey, perhaps part of the reason is the stress and annoyance of the school run. 48% of parents are avoiding it where possible!
School Run Pet Peeves
Now that we know the percentage of parents dropping their children off at school, it’s time to explore what makes the school run the nightmare that it’s known to be.
It’s no surprise that other road users are named as the most annoying group of people on the road, with 40% of participants making this admission. However, 9% of parents report that their own children are the most annoying part of the school run, which may not be a surprise to other parents. Unsurprisingly, the top most annoying people are largely external, with other children’s parents also being a popular answer of 37% of participants.
We now know that people are annoying, but what exactly are they doing to be annoying? According to the parents we surveyed, the most annoying thing that other parents do is park dangerously or obnoxiously, with 53% of participants citing this reason. This could be parking over driveways or on double yellow lines.
Standing in front of the school gates and chatting in front of the school gates are clearly a large annoyance to the parents we surveyed, with 10% and 9% of respondents listing it, respectively.
Perhaps most concerning, though, is the number of parents who claim that speeding is a grievance they encounter regularly, with 8% of participants claiming the most annoying thing people do is speed.
Almost a quarter of participants (24%) said that getting their children ready for the school run is the most annoying part of it. A close second (22%) is parking at the school, probably made worse by the obnoxious parking we talked about previously.
Despite other road users being ranked as the most annoying group of people, only 8% of respondents said that the drive to school was the most annoying part of the school run.
The tight turnaround of a school run can lead to a lot of stress, which is why 17% of people said that “trying to get home / to work / elsewhere after school drop off” was a primary cause of stress.
Running Late?
With all that stress and the difficulty of getting small children ready for school, it’s no wonder that lateness is fairly common during the school run. While 20% of parents claim that they’re never late for school, the majority of parents admitted that they’re late sometimes up to twice a week (19%).
Shockingly, 9% of those who answered claimed they were late every day!
Traffic is usually cited as the primary reason for lateness, but we wanted to work out how honest parents were, so we asked them if they would get their children to lie about traffic as a reason for their lateness.
18% of respondents admitted that they’ve asked their children to lie for them, with 82% of parents saying they would be honest about the reason for their child’s lateness.
School Run Confessions
Digging further into how people behave on the school run, we asked parents about some of their confessions of things they might have done while taking their kids to school.
Parking
It was reassuring to see that 78% of parents wouldn’t park illegally during the school run. 22% of participants did admit to it, but it’s perhaps forced in cases where parking can be limited near schools. 35% of respondents claim that they have found themselves in a parking battle with other parents.
Having someone park over your driveway is incredibly annoying, but thankfully only 23% of parents conceded that they have been guilty of this during the school run.
Road Rage
Road rage is something that a lot of drivers suffer from, but with a stressful environment, it’s little wonder that this can be even more prominent. We wanted to know if parents hid their road rage from their children, and we were shocked!
34% of parents said that they don’t hide their road rage in front of their children, which could be down to not being able to control their emotions in stressful road situations!
Speaking to Other Parents
A huge 62% of parents have admitted to avoiding conversation with other parents at the school gate. This could closely align with the fact that parents admit other children’s parents are some of the most annoying people on the school run, not to mention rushing to get elsewhere.
The 38% of those who don’t dodge conversation are clearly more open to socialising, but they may also be playing into the reason why some people are annoyed on the school run!
That’s it for the school run pet peeves we found in our comprehensive survey. Reading through this may have been cathartic to know that you’re not alone in your annoyance, and it might also offer some insight into the things you’re doing without even realising so that we can all enjoy a (relatively) stress-free school run – if the kids get their shoes on in time!
The school run is difficult enough without having to contend with possibly mechanically troubled car. If you’d like to be better prepared for the school run, head over to our product page where you can find a range of starting aids for cold mornings, restorers, as well as handy supplies like screen wash.
