Did you walk your children to school this morning or did you join the school run and fight it out in the traffic? Did you know this week is National Walk to School Week? Did you know May is National Walking Month? A recent YouGov survey for the charity Living Streets has revealed that although 80% of parents walked to school themselves, 25% of parents do not think about walking their children to school.
Last year the National Travel Survey for 2011 announced that 49% of kids aged between 5 and 10 walked to school, as opposed to 53% of children in the same age group in 1995-97. Amongst secondary school children, the figures showed a decrease from 42% to 39% in the same period.
According to the Living Streets survey, around 50% of the people who use their car live no further than 1 mile away from the school, even though it would only take around 20 minutes to cover that distance on foot. Tony Armstrong, the chief executive of Living Streets, has pointed out that obesity rates have “more than doubled†in the last 20 years. Could these facts be connected?
What is it, then, that stops parents walking their children to school? Time pressures, distance, dangerous roads and stranger danger are commonly given as reasons for choosing to drive and while all these seem valid enough, surely a well-organised adult accompanying children on the walk to school could overcome all of these fears? Perhaps the real reason is that we have just got out of the habit of walking? Could it be that our cars make life so convenient that it is all too easy to find reasons or excuses not to walk?
Great fun, but perhaps not for the walk to school!
Living Streets is calling for more effort and joined up thinking from government and local authorities to encourage parents and carers to walk their children to school. Recent ideas and initiatives have included ‘park and stride’ schemes, walking in organised groups and promoting walking to school one day per week. If we can persuade people to walk children to school and get children into the habit of walking from an early age, this will surely lead to more healthier children today and healthier adults tomorrow.
Living Streets has produced a resource pack for schools which focuses on 5 key aspects of walking to school:
- Safety: Walking to School Week is a perfect opportunity to ensure that children are fully versed on road safety and how to look out for dangers and how to stay safe when walking.
- Discovery: rather than being detached from their immediate environment when travelling by car, walking to and from school helps children to learn about and appreciate the world around them.
- Health: no one would dispute the benefits of being active over a sedentary lifestyle and walking to school is a quick win for anyone trying to persuade children and grownups to exercise.
- Eco-friendly: for teachers and grownups, this week represents an ideal moment to discuss with children why walking is better for the environment than the car.
- Social time: walking to school can give children precious time with friends, parents and other relatives. Living Streets suggests that teachers use this as a starting point for a discussion and writing exercise about who children would most like to walk to school with, including people from history or characters from books or films.
Of course, how can we expect our children to exercise when another recent YouGov survey, this time for the Ramblers, reported that 43% of British adults admit to walking for less than two hours each week? Isn’t it time we tackled these awful statistics and made a change to our lives? This week of all weeks, we can all take small steps (literally!) to improve our own and our children’s lives by walking to school and to work.
