|
|
|
I’m sure we’ve all heard stories from our parents, or grandparents, about how they had to walk to school 10 miles in the snow, uphill, both ways. It seems like every time we hear the story it gets a little more outlandish.
Actually, when I was in the first and second grades, I did have to walk home from school. It was 3 ½ miles and we had to be home before the church bells rang four o’clock; if we didn’t dawdle, my sister and I could actually make it in time.
Beginning in third grade we started a car pool, so we didn’t have to walk home anymore. I thought that was great, but there are still times when I think back to the fun I had with my sister and two friends walking home together. We had some memorable adventures – like finding a small kitten stuck inside a stone wall.
Today, most kids wouldn’t even think about walking home three miles unless it was walking an animation figure across a video screen. According to kidshealth.org, one out of three kids in the U.S. is considered overweight, or obese. The main reasons are that kids don’t get enough exercise, watch too much TV, and spend too much time in front of the computer, or video games. Combine that with two parent working families and little time for cooking nutritious meals, and you have a combination for a disastrous lifestyle.
According the website for Bridging the Gap, a local nonprofit organization in Kansas City that promotes, Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and the Community, 44 percent of children walked, or biked, to school in 1969, yet only 13 percent did in 2009; and traffic generated by travel to and from school adds 20 – 30 percent more traffic volume to the roads.
Kid’s health is just one reason why many communities are beginning “Walking School Buses.” The other reason is because they are better for the environment and the community. A walking school bus is when some neighborhood parents get together and organize when and where their kids will meet to walk to and from school. Parents volunteer to accompany the kids as chaperones. The kids all walk together as one big group, hence “a bus.”
Many people report how having the walking school bus has added a sense of community to their neighborhood. The kids look forward to meeting their friends and walking to school. The kids seem to enjoy going to school more since they started the walking school bus. Some of the neighborhoods have more than one parent walking with the kids, and the parents have enjoyed the camaraderie, as well. Both parents and kids also feel that by cutting out these portions of the school bus route, they’re saving on the gas and emissions that would have been expended.
Actually, the walking school bus almost turns into the old fashioned one-room school room, as younger children learn street smarts and road-wise lessons from the group of older students and parents.
As the group walks, safe crossing procedures, unsafe pet dangers, and dangerous car behaviors can all be taught and reinforced along the way.
Seems like a win-win idea! I hope that parents and kids are able to begin their own walking school buses and start the new trend in this part of the country!
I’m sure we’ve all heard stories from our parents, or grandparents, about how they had to walk to school 10 miles in the snow, uphill, both ways. It seems like every time we hear the story it gets a little more outlandish.
Actually, when I was in the first and second grades, I did have to walk home from school. It was 3 ½ miles and we had to be home before the church bells rang four o’clock; if we didn’t dawdle, my sister and I could actually make it in time.
Beginning in third grade we started a car pool, so we didn’t have to walk home anymore. I thought that was great, but there are still times when I think back to the fun I had with my sister and two friends walking home together. We had some memorable adventures – like finding a small kitten stuck inside a stone wall.
Today, most kids wouldn’t even think about walking home three miles unless it was walking an animation figure across a video screen. According to kidshealth.org, one out of three kids in the U.S. is considered overweight, or obese. The main reasons are that kids don’t get enough exercise, watch too much TV, and spend too much time in front of the computer, or video games. Combine that with two parent working families and little time for cooking nutritious meals, and you have a combination for a disastrous lifestyle.
According the website for Bridging the Gap, a local nonprofit organization in Kansas City that promotes, Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and the Community, 44 percent of children walked, or biked, to school in 1969, yet only 13 percent did in 2009; and traffic generated by travel to and from school adds 20 – 30 percent more traffic volume to the roads.
Kid’s health is just one reason why many communities are beginning “Walking School Buses.” The other reason is because they are better for the environment and the community. A walking school bus is when some neighborhood parents get together and organize when and where their kids will meet to walk to and from school. Parents volunteer to accompany the kids as chaperones. The kids all walk together as one big group, hence “a bus.”
Many people report how having the walking school bus has added a sense of community to their neighborhood. The kids look forward to meeting their friends and walking to school. The kids seem to enjoy going to school more since they started the walking school bus. Some of the neighborhoods have more than one parent walking with the kids, and the parents have enjoyed the camaraderie, as well. Both parents and kids also feel that by cutting out these portions of the school bus route, they’re saving on the gas and emissions that would have been expended.
Actually, the walking school bus almost turns into the old fashioned one-room school room, as younger children learn street smarts and road-wise lessons from the group of older students and parents.
As the group walks, safe crossing procedures, unsafe pet dangers, and dangerous car behaviors can all be taught and reinforced along the way.
Seems like a win-win idea! I hope that parents and kids are able to begin their own walking school buses and start the new trend in this part of the country!
