|
|
|
Jewish World Review August 13, 2013/ 7 Elul, 5773 Making the Walk to School an Adult-Intensive Project By Lenore Skenazy
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Walking to school is a lovely, age-old, generally safe activity that has been almost abandoned over the past generation. Today only about 1 in 10 children still walk to school, in part because some new schools have been built on the outskirts of town and in part because some neighborhoods are so car-centric that there is no decent on-foot route to school but also in great part because parents have been warned every which way that their kids are never safe doing anything outside on their own. Enter Michelle Obama, who dearly wishes kids would start moving again. Recently, she endorsed the idea of the walking school bus, which is a bunch of kids walking together and picking up kids along the way (like a bus), along with at least one adult chaperon. The idea of kids walking is wonderful, of course. But the idea that this is such a dangerous activity that it requires ongoing chaperoning is troubling. I'm sure Michelle couldn't come out and endorse kids just walking on their own, because that's truly dangerous in some neighborhoods, and she is first lady for the whole country. However, in promoting the idea that even a group of kids walking together needs an adult, she inadvertently perpetuates the problem of kids not moving. Here's what it says at http://www.walkingschoolbus.org about adult oversight:
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend one adult for every six children. If children are age 10 or older, fewer adults may be needed. If children are ages 4 to 6, one adult per three children is recommended." Really — even a group of 10-year-olds needs an adult chaperon? That's your problem right there. Ten-year-olds in most of the rest of the world have been walking to school on their own for three years! (And in Japan, many 5-year-olds do it.) Meantime, the 1-3 ratio for younger kids makes walking to school sound as if you're signing your kid up for scuba lessons. We are turning walking to school into an adult-intensive project. If parents are told kids can only be "safe" outside with a guardian watching over them, what are the chances that they will send their kids outside after school to play? They won't. Kids will end up inside. No parent has hours and hours after school — and whole days free on weekends — to stand outside and supervise. Just the other night, I went walking in our apartment building's courtyard and spied a little girl going round and round on her scooter. Well, actually, I spied her go round and round twice. Then it was time to go in. Her dad, who was watching her (despite no public access to the courtyard and no cars), was ready to go inside. He was done watching, so she was done scootering. Hands down, a walking school bus beats a parade of cars dropping the kids off at school. I'm glad the first lady brought that issue to national attention. Props to her. But will it get kids back to moving — as in running, jumping and playing — any other time of day? No. Alas, no.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment on JWR contributor Lenore Skenazy's column by clicking here. © 2013, Creators Syndicate |
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles | |||||||||||||
