Alpha and WAW - part 2

[alpha99]

I'm wondering how to deal with incidents like yesterday. I go to pick the kids up for school, after I speak to W, kids get in car, she comes back out and asks for a lift to school with me in car. She just wanted the lift to meet fellow school mum to go.off shopping. This is asking a favour of me. I said sure, yeah, no problem, but Im wondering whether that was the right thing to do. The theme of advice from you all in this thread has been detach and get a parenting plan. It is costing W £9 a day to take kids to school when I don't take them. I want to see my kids but if she could feel the financial strain and not be dependent on me then all the better to give her a chance to see life without me. Now she doesn't call in a morning so much as she just expects I will come to pick kids up.

I'm wondering whether to say it is costing too much in petrol for me to travel each day (she's offered petrol money but hasn't given any as of yet) and that I can only take kids school half the week. Good idea or not? It means stepping back from seeing kids. W wants them to move school next school year (from Sept). If that were to happen the new school is about 100 metres from her rented place. She wouldn't need/miss me at all in this regard. She can't move kids mid school term really so now is the chance to let her see life without me.

In the short term she'd no doubt complain I was letting kids down. I am unsure whether to go down this route or not. What do you think?