Back to School: Permitting Your Kids to Walk
August 23, 2010 – 1:43 pm by MarinaHanes
Should you let your child walk to school or not? For some parents, this is a hot debate, especially depending on the age of their child as well as the neighborhood environment. If your child is mature enough and aware of strangers and other dangers, allowing him/her to walk to school might encourage the entire neighborhood to walk, which would help decrease harmful emissions.
Taking the bus might be the only option, especially if you live several miles away from the school. In this case, taking the bus is definitely a better choice than driving your son or daughter to school in your car. However, the more sustainable and healthy choice is to have your child rely on his/her legs and feet as long as your home is within walking distance.
Here are some tips to make the transition to walking:
- Before school starts, walk the distance with your child to ensure that they can handle it. This will also give you a chance to assess any dangers.
- Discuss strangers and street dangers with your child, regardless of how old they are. This just helps reinforce the knowledge.
- Develop a buddy system with neighbors. Try to have all of the kids on the block meet up at the same time so they can walk together. This will give all of the parents peace of mind, and the kids will have strength in numbers.
- Provide your child with an emergency only cell phone. This way they can always contact you if they would need a ride for some reason.
- Find out if there is a crosswalk volunteer near the major intersections your child will be crossing.
Allowing your child to walk to school is a lot easier when you live down the street from the school, especially if you can watch them. But when you live further away, it can be a difficult decision that the family as a whole should make, but just keep in mind that there are always ways to make the journey safer.
