OPINION: Thank goodness Wellington's council has finally created drop-off areas around busy schools. Have you ever tried dropping kids off during the morning rush hour? It's worse than Moore Wilsons on a Friday.

After dropping Mia off at 8.50am I was then 10 minutes late for my 9.30am Pilates class in Karori.

It's just as well I dress in active wear all day so I didn't have to get changed. And it's just as bad in the afternoon. I pick up Seb at 3pm from the Basin and have to get him to Spanish by 3.30pm in Lambton Quay. No wonder we parents are going through takeaway lattes like you wouldn't believe. You wouldn't read about it – except on Neighbourly, of course.

The cause of the problem is obvious – it's cyclists, pedestrians and trade vehicles. If I park near the Basin at 8.20am, there are cyclists whizzing past that could hit the kids, and big trade vehicles on their way to doing whatever it is they do. Thank God the traffic is not actually moving, as if it was my children would be in real danger.

READ MORE:

* School gate chaos forces council to act

* Armstrong: Why Work and Income doesn't work

* Armstrong: CAB that needs a squeaky wheel



So the solution? Pave the Basin Reserve and put up a parking lot. Then build new tunnels, four lanes to the planes and four lanes to every decile 10 school in Wellington. Do it straight away with no ridiculous Let's Get Wellington Talking Hot Air consultation. The simple truth is that middle-class parents with big cars who drive half way across town to drop their kids off at school are an oppressed minority.

Some people tell me that I am the problem. Insane. The principal of one school even suggested I drive a smaller car. Really? How on earth am I going to fit Seb's cello in the back of a Suzuki Swift? He was the same dipstick principal who got so shirty when we took the kids out of school for six weeks to go trekking in Bhutan. A Mercedes four-wheel-drive SUV is essential for any parent who truly loves their child and is also handy for driving out to Red Rocks once a year when the seals are there.

A dowdily dressed woman on a bicycle who worked for the council dared to suggest that I could consider sending my kids to a local school, thereby reducing traffic. Who do these bureaucrats think they are? It's the basic human right of every Wellington parent to send their kid to their school of choice even if there is no scientific evidence to prove that the child will get an improved education.

Besides, I got Charles to crunch some numbers on his computer at work and he found that if we sent Mia to the local school there was a 4 per cent chance that she might perform 6 per cent less well in NCEA in 2028, subject to a 7 per cent margin of error. 743 likes on Neighbourly for that one! We didn't mortgage ourselves to the hilt to buy in zone and then not take advantage of it.

CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF Dave Armstrong: The trouble with school drop-off points is that there are not enough of them.

The trouble with school drop-off points is that there are not enough of them. Forget the local residents and make the whole street a drop-off zone. Why are selfish people allowed to park their cars in places that are extremely busy from 8.20-8.35am and 2.59 to 3.10pm every weekday? If people are stupid enough to buy a house near a school then they've only themselves to blame if the council forbids them to park their car in it.

And why do people get so upset when I park on dotted yellow lines? The reason they are dotted is that you are allowed to park on them if it's really important – like dropping off children. Surely if they wanted you never to park there they would make them continuous.

The smelly cycling council lady also suggested taking buses. As I've said on Neighbourly many times, I'm a great supporter of children using public transport – just not mine. If it wasn't for public transport, my nanny couldn't get to our place to mind the kids while I attend my Thursday afternoon te reo class (I don't really enjoy it but I've been told it could help when I re-enter the workforce).

Walking buses are a great idea for children who, shall we say, come from more communal cultures, but not for mine. As for scooters – one poor woman in our street scoots to school every day with her two children. I offered her a lift but she informed me that, although she had a car at home, her kids loved scooting and it was great fitness. Some people are so weird.

I'm not giving up perfectly good gym time to spend half an hour scooting to school with my children. Imagine the gear I'd have to buy. I don't even know if Rock Your Kid sells scooter jackets.

I know that other mothers call me and Charles helicopter parents but that's grossly unfair. We've done the numbers and can't afford a helicopter – quite yet.