Fewer than half of American children who live close to school regularly walk or ride a bike to classes, according to a new study that highlights a dramatic shift toward car commuting by kids.
The issue is important because it’s linked to escalating rates of childhood obesity. Many schools have been cutting back on recess and physical education.
Older urban communities have the most walking and biking children, at least partly because they were built with pedestrians in mind. But newer communities — like many in the South — were designed around the car, and may lack continuous sidewalks or safe crosswalks, Frank said.
Research also has shown that the South has the lowest levels of exercise and adult activity. “They don’t view walking to school as very important,” said Sarah Martin, the author of the study.
Yup – I grew up in one of those urban communities and walked about a mile to elementary school. The important ritual of growing up was the first morning your mom let you walk to school by yourself.
Are we surprised? I don’t see this as an exercise issue as much as a safety one. Whether real or just hyped by the media, you hear about kids every damn day getting either abducted or raped or, in one case in my town, mugged on their way to the local grocery store.
In my logical mind, I *know* that this is a skewed statistic, that our children face a far greater fear of drowning then getting abducted on their way to school. But in my stupid, stupid heart all I see is my cute 8 year old daughter walking on the street and some creepy guy who’s been watching the route just pulling up and doing a grab – so I’ll walk her to the bus stop, I’ll take her to the playground myself where I can keep an eye on her – but no way in hell she’s going anywhere on her own.
#0– I didn’t start walking to school by myself until I was in highschool. I remember being so ashamed that my mother would pick me up from 8th grade (I grew up in a rough area so I forgive her).
In Japan it is normal practice for 1st graders to board the train to school without adult escorts. I was with a friend who had three children. When we got to the mall she left her 4 year old sleeping son alone in the parked SUV while we went shopping! That would have gotten her arrested in the States.
In Japan, I took the train 12 miles to school by myself at age 8 or 9. Got lost one time and wound up 200 miles north. Local cop gave me an ice cream cone. Good deal all around.
Pity kids are more like goose patte these days. Stuffed with food, and no exercise. Hear it destroys the liver!
#1’s got it right. The issue isn’t really exercise. There are so many whackjobs out cruising these days, even in Mayberry , you almost hate to let the poor kids out at all.
#3 Pity kids are more like goose patte these days. Stuffed with food, and no exercise. Hear it destroys the liver!
No, it makes the liver tasty.
We used to walk the neighborhoods at 8 and walk to school every day. The damn media today has parents in white knuckle fear everyday. Can’t blame them though, you see enough of that and it makes an impact.
#4 There are no more wack jobs out there per capita than there ever were, it is just national news these days when they are caught. Back when I was a kid, nearly everyone walked to school from first grade on. This was in Los Angeles, in the 1960s, bye the way. I think I got a ride once in the rain, and once, to celebrate the purchase of a new car. We (friends and I) rode the bus to the mall and movies when I was in 4th grade. Everyone did!
These days, when some wack job is found out, it preempts Congress, the war, global warming, etc., on the news. Oh, and we have television news 24 hours a day, plus a constant barrage from the internet. No wonder parents are paranoid.
The most dangerous wack job I ever encountered was my stepfather, who was of course, waiting at home. I suspect that for most kids that have such troubles the situation is the same. Family, friends, priests: That’s where you find your wack jobs!
DAve
I wonder why there are so many whack-job pedophiles around nowadays. In my area (yeah, I know…FL) there’s an average of one incident per week. It’s very important to train your kids to scream and run as fast as they can if a pervert tries to mess with them.
I live in the south and other than molester safety the issue is pedestrian safety – there’s no freaking sidewalks. My kids live 6 miles from school. But my niece and nephew are much closer but there’s no place to walk along side the road.
If I had my way – no more roads would be built until sidewalks could be fitted to the roads already existing.
I think it has more to do with it being quicker to get to school by car than by walking. So instead of having to get up at like 6 to get to school you can get up at 7 and get to school.
Face it Americans are lazy! Kids expect to be driven anywhere, and their paranoid parents won’t let them walk because of their irrational fears.
I could have told you about 20 years ago that American kids would be fat because they get driven everywhere instead of walking.
A lot of parents are also scared their kids may be abducted. Today, kids can disappear in a crowded mall. Back in ‘the day’, parents were less concerned about it.
#8: “I wonder why there are so many whack-job pedophiles around nowadays.”
Maybe they were around before in the same numbers except that back then pedophiles were not demonized. It was just old Uncle Charlie expressing his love in a physical manner (sexuality). But today with the media frenzy and hysteria in order to sensationalize and get viewers to buy shit they make up shit.
I agree that this is more of a fear issue than an exercise one. Even in our modern age of instant communication, people still find a way to be afraid of practically everything they see on the evening news. I wonder how these kids get to have any fun at all with these kind of paranoid parents.
In the OLD days…There were Hundreds of kids walking to school…
And if 1 Kid Screamed, you would have a WHOLE PACK on you.
You knew the RULES, and didnt take Anything from EVEN those adults you knew. You goto school. If your parent has a problem, THey CALLEd the school FIRST, the school TOLD YOU, and then it would be decided If you were being picked up, o you Walked home.
Suburban sprawl.
My niece and nephew live less than two miles from their school. There are no side walks or crosswalks. What should be a 30 to 40 walk is instead an hour bus trip (for some reason the bus picks up the kids nearer to the school first). They can’t even walk to their friend’s houses after school or during summer break.
I walked to grammar and high school when I was a kid. I’m also fortunate enough to be able to walk to work every day.
They live in the suburbs, I live in the city.
I don’t think it’s a laziness think either. When my nephew visits, he walks everywhere or rides his skateboard
In the Washington D.C area, there isn’t a school bus system (unless its a charter school) so most kids hoof thier fat asses to the closest subway station, or the Metrobus stop. Of course if they lived close enough they would walk. Like previously stated, my area is one of those that have these things called SIDEWALKS.
The first thing I realised when moved to Altoona PA for college is how there are practically NO side walks through out the whole city, and 90 percent of the population there look like Weebles.
We live 0.7 miles from what was the mud monster’s elementary school. The rule was “within a mile, you walk.” The wife wouldn’t hear of it, and since she was in “day care” for a couple hours afterwards, I went along.
Then somebody in an older blue car started trying to pick up kids who were walking….
Somebody figured out that since the busses were going by almost all the houses anyway, henceforth only the kids who could SEE the building would be walking….
And this is a nice area with a very proactive Police Department….
Regards,
Stu.
I’m sure there are as many pedophiles now as was back in my pre-teen days (late 60’s) but not knowing about them because of the cultural of see-no-evil blindness of mid-america at the time does not mean there was less danger.
Just because your blind to danger does not make you any safer.
As an adult and father to 3 children I am more aware of what’s going on and keep my children informed. This makes them safer. And because of this greater knowledge I will never allow my pre-teen daughters to go anywhere out of line of sight without a responsible party watching them.
“Maybe they were around before in the same numbers except that back then pedophiles were not demonized.”
Bullshit! Years ago it was safe for kids to go anywhere by themselves. Not any more. If there were the same amount of pedophiles around then, they sure weren’t as horny and aggressive as they are now.
20. I dont know hop, I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. My father would take my brother and myself to a movie downtown (St. Louis), and we would be left there at the age of 7 and 9. I remember once when this nice “sailor” bought us candy and drinks during the movie. He sat between us and even then, we knew something was funny when he put his hand on my brothers leg. We ran from him to another part of the theatre. We were lucky we didnt end up as a statistic. Maybe some other unlucky kid did. Of course we didnt tell Dad because we knew we’d never get to do that again.
#9 Exactly! I lived a year in Mississippi as an exchange student and went to high school there. I was about 1-2 miles aways from the school but there was absolutely no way to walk safely to the school. There was a 4 lane highway in between and no walkways what so ever. No wonder people are not walking.
Its also the idea, that back in the 60-70’s that If someone CAUGHT you, they WOULD shoot you, AND get away with it, If you were caught with Their kid.
That most kids grouped together, or that there were ENOUGH kids out there, that IF you screamed for help, you would have 100 kids THERE in less then 10-20 seconds.
ANd that most homes were NOT sound proof, and that the parents(wife mostly) would be running out the doors, looking for the problem.
something to remember… that BACK in THOSE days, there was ALWAYS(generally) someone at HOME…to teach and train the kid, and be there when the school called. And the SCHOOL would call you, after period 1, IF your kid wasnt THERE.
With Both parents working, its a PAIN…
If I lived in a ghetto, i’d skip the walking to school part too
lol
if I lived in a ghetto I’d probably skip school entirely – drive-by’s are more fun anyway
#20, hopper,
sorry, but I too disagree.
I’m not that many years younger then you. I can remember being only six or seven and hitch hiking with my twin 10 y/o brothers into town eight miles, along a two lane highway, to catch a movie. With my Dad’s blessing. And returning to tell the tale.
One only need watch a couple episodes of Nancy Grace or Fox Spews to quickly get the impression that children are being abducted right, left, and center. Especially the white, blond, blue eyed kids. Yet, most parents have bought into the fear thing and refuse to allow their kids to walk. Also, our local school prefers that the kids that live more than a few blocks from the school also use the buses or be picked up by the parents.
Most of the “attempted” abductions are either misinterpretations of someone’s actions or invented for attention. Most child abductions happen by a non custodial parent. Most sexual abuses are by someone the child already knows. Very few sexual abductions happen by an unknown person in a nondescript car.
If there weren’t any pedophiles in “old days”, where did are all these 40 year old men that got molestered by the Catholic priests come from that sued for $660 million?
Until I see any actual facts, statistics, analysis from experts, I will assume whatever combination of genes interacting with environment that causes the abhorent incidence of child abduction remains somewhat constant throughout time and society. Perhaps a slight increase due to more people, greater mobility, and greater anonymity?
Interesting to watch the current legislation come to grips with these monsters with too many folks thinking “rehab” should be given a chance when the only chance possible without massive intervention and monitoring is another chance to rape, molest and murder? I am all for one strike and you are out- – – but then I could see the law misapplied to alot of 17 year olds and their consenual 15 year old co-conspirators.
We very much have the societies we have molded ourselves. Too bad its not done more consciously of the results, rather than the morality.
I remember walking to school as well during the early 90’s in California. Walked the back route (shorter) that went through some woods and a field. Even in high school I walked up the road to the bus stop (possibly could have seen me). Then they changed the bus route and I was getting up at 6am to sit for an hour on the bus to make it to school.
I miss the days when we went exploring all over the place. Walk three miles through the woods and end up on the other side of town? No problem! Ride bikes a couple miles into town (no sidewalks) to get candy? No problem. Only rule my parents had was I had to be home before dark and to call and ask if I could stay longer at a friends.
Just seems like those days are over now though for any future generations. Kind of sad actually.
26,
There were…And its not in contention, as 90% of molestation was IN THE HOME, or from a family member…Brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, aunt……Who could you complain to??
Look at Child rights, NOW.
try going to a cop, back in the OLD days, as a kid.
WHOM are they going to believe?