Driving kids to school may drive them to poor health: report

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Remember when you were a kid? Walking 10 miles to school? Uphill? Both ways? In flip flops?

Today’s youth don’t have it nearly as tough, and new research suggests that may be one reason why they’re not as healthy as they could be.

While 58 per cent of parents say they walked to school when they were kids, only 28 per cent of their children walk to school today, according to research done by Active Healthy Kids Canada.

In its latest report card, the group has assigned our youngsters a “D” grade when it comes to what’s called “Active Transportation.” That means walking, biking, in-line skating, or skateboarding to get to and from places such as school, parks, and shops.

Dr. Art Quinney says driving your child to class can do them more harm than good. “Building that into the day means at least there’s 10 or 15 minutes, twice a day, that children are physically active.”

But Quinney admits parents aren’t always at fault. “There are some schools where they won’t let [students] ride bikes to school because they can’t provide enough facilities for children’s bikes to be appropriately locked up.”

The report recommends introducing not only bike racks, but also walk-to-school travel plans and other strategies to encourage more active transportation.

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