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International Walk to School Month is October

W. K. Lis

W. K. Lis

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From the Official Website of International Walk to School Month:

International Walk to School Month gives children, parents, school teachers and community leaders an opportunity to be part of a global event as they celebrate the many benefits of walking. In 2008, millions of walkers from around the world walked to school together for various reasons – all hoping to create communities that are safe places to walk.
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I have noticed that parents drive to drop off and pick up their kids from school. They block traffic, even where there are NO STOPPING signs. No wonder kids are so overweight.

The Ontario version is at http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/.

Don't be like some schools where they ban walking and bicycling to school.

International Walk to School Day was Wednesday, October 7.
International Walk to School Week is October 5-9.
 
My uncle who went to the same High school as me said that when he went back in 1981, there were hundreds of kids walking to school.


Know I remember in High school, the number was less then 25%...

People bring their own cars.

Mom drops them off

Of course Buses and quite a few go by public transit.
 
GraphicMatt said:
I don't think laziness is the route cause, but rather parents being convinced that their kid will be kidnapped by predators if they let them walk to school on their own. It's complete paranoia in the face of statistics and common sense.
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Bingo ... and as a father with a small child ... I don't get it! We never worried about this stuff much when I was a kid ... and things seemed worse then recalling the stories in the paper, and looking at the statistics.

I can only link the paranoia with the expansion of the media from a 30-minute evening newscast, and a daily paper.
 
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. As more kids are driven to schools by their parents the sidewalks which used to be full of kids walking to school are empty!

There is safety in numbers. I can understand that some parents drop off their kids at a high school, since many kids don't live walking distance to one, but for elementary and middle schools, I'd say 90% of kids live within walking distance (2km or less -> 10-20min walk) to a school.

I'd argue that kids that don't walk to school also don't develop street-sense and ability to be more aware of things around them. They just get used to being chauffeured everywhere they go, and become naive or ignorant of the outside world. That is where the danger lies IMO.
 
nfitz said:
Bingo ... and as a father with a small child ... I don't get it! We never worried about this stuff much when I was a kid ... and things seemed worse then recalling the stories in the paper, and looking at the statistics.

I can only link the paranoia with the expansion of the media from a 30-minute evening newscast, and a daily paper.
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I know I was warned all about strangers with candy, and the guy going around saying "get in my car or I'll kill this kitten".
 
I wish I could have had the option of walking to school. Google estimates that it would have taken me 2 hours and 35 minutes to walk to my elementary school and 4 hours to walk to my high school (20km).
 
It's about the neighbourhood and the board

One of my daughters can walk to school, and does. She also walks to swimming lessons and up to the Danforth for the odd lunch, at the ripe old age of 12. Riverdale is conducive to walking to school, since there's lots of other kids doing the same.

My other daughter, however, has no choice but to bus so that she can go to the school we have chosen for her. In an earlier era, she wouldn't have had that choice -- so she would have walked with her sister. So... is it bad that she's not walking? No, because she gets to go to a different/better school.

It's the pinheads who drive two blocks to drop the kids that this is targeting, but I'd argue that there are less of them than one thinks.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
One of my daughters can walk to school, and does. She also walks to swimming lessons and up to the Danforth for the odd lunch, at the ripe old age of 12. Riverdale is conducive to walking to school, since there's lots of other kids doing the same.

My other daughter, however, has no choice but to bus so that she can go to the school we have chosen for her. In an earlier era, she wouldn't have had that choice -- so she would have walked with her sister. So... is it bad that she's not walking? No, because she gets to go to a different/better school.

It's the pinheads who drive two blocks to drop the kids that this is targeting, but I'd argue that there are less of them than one thinks.
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The building in of "choice" is a big factor....I know that my daughter could never walk to the high school she chose (based on the programs on offer) but could walk to the neighbourhood high school if there was no choice. Our boards of ed are promoting choice earlier and earlier all the time so it ends up promoting (as an unintended consequence) a lot less walking and a lot more driving.
 
TOareaFan said:
Our boards of ed are promoting choice earlier and earlier all the time so it ends up promoting (as an unintended consequence) a lot less walking and a lot more driving.
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Most of the "choices" I've seen other kids of that age make, end them up at schools that are quite near a subway or major streetcar route ... so I'd think there'd still be much walking. I mean who's going to want to be driving kids to school along crowded major routes in rush-hour ... makes the 3-minutes to the local school seem like a cake walk!
 
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