International Walk to School Day

How many of you have children that walk to school every day? Twenty or thirty years ago, most every school child walked to school without parents worrying over the matter all that much. Today, even the simple task of walking to school adds some degree of anxiety to already bogged down parents.

When my kids were younger, I have to admit that I did worry – but just a little bit. After all, almost everyone walked to school. Our community was safe as it could be. There was really no reason to worry at all. Yet today, every parent across the country (and even the world, I might add) has concerns when it comes to their child’s safety when walking to and from school.

And why not? With all that has been happening regarding school safety, it is but natural to have those concerns.

Hence my relief and delight when I heard about the International Walk to School Day. It may sound funny or even absurd to some people but it makes perfect sense to me. In fact, the whole of October is Walk to School month in about 42 countries the world over. The specific day for events is October 3.

So why walk or bike to school? I could think of so many different reasons. The official site for the event cites three good ones:

-To enhance the health of the kids
-To improve air quality and the environment
To create safer routes for walking and bicycling.

I like the first two a lot. These days, you can read stuff about overweight kids all over the Net and magazines. We also all know about how the environment is all messed up. With this simple thing of walking or cycling to school, we can actually help our kids become healthier and give back to the environment at the same time. Of course, their safety is of primary concern so setting up safety measures is of utmost importance as well.

If walking and cycling to school could be as safe as it was many years ago, it would take a huge burden off parents. For one, we don’t have to concern ourselves with rushing every morning so that we can beat the rush hour traffic jam when taking kids to school. More so, we would not be assailed by worry that something might happen to our children while they are going to school.

I commend the organizers of this worldwide event and I hope that individuals, like you and me, would participate more in this sort of activity. Are you involved in Walk to School Day? Why not share some of your experiences with the rest of us?

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