Time bomb health among children who grow up do not walking to school could cost the country billions, says the report must try harder through the streets living on charity.
Children's fears are removed or flattened on the way to school, as well as time constraints, resulted in a major change in attitudes towards walking to school.
And it ceased to be the norm to the exception within a generation, according to a major new report by the living streets charity.
Eight in ten (81 per cent) of parents of primary school students walked to school themselves.
Now, despite the rise in rates of obesity among children, more than one quarter (27%) of parents automatically driving their children to school and more than one in five (21 per cent) have not considered to ensure that their children walk to school.
Health problems related to obesity like heart disease, diabetes and cancers will cost Britain 27 billion ￡ by 2015.
The mere fact of walk to school is not only good for children's physical health, but help to incorporate a good attitude to exercise and maintain good health.
It must be a key element of the Government's strategy to encourage the British to be more physically active, said streets alive.
Less than half [49 per cent] of the primary school children walk to school despite the majority (75%) live within two miles of the school.
One in five primary school children do not walk to school because their parents say they do not have the time to walk with them.
The problem is even worse in children from high school - with only 38 percent opting for walk to school.
And while children start going to school, with 59% of primary school students ready to walk up to 20 minutes each day, the interest fades as they age with only 37 percent of high school students prepared to do this.
The performance of the Government by encouraging children to walk to school has been "mixed" and it "must try harder", according to the report. "School trip for the previous Government policy was quickly abandoned with no replacement," he said.
Walking to school is not only beneficial to the physical and mental health, but help to reduce the congestion of traffic - with fewer cars making the curriculum - improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions", said the report.
And the militants are fighting to reverse the trend towards children leads to school - to ensure that more than half of students in primary schools will be walking to school again by 2017.
Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer, living streets, said: "the overwhelming majority of our grans and grandparents walked to school, but over the generations, we see a steady decline to the point where, it seems, one-fifth of parents do not even think to ensure their child walking to school."? During this time obesity rates have more than doubled, even since I entered the school just about 20 years ago. ?
He added: "encourage walking to school can not only keep children today in good health, but makes for healthy adults in the future." We know that time pressed parents often see jump in the car as the best way to get children to school on time, but we do so at the risk of storing problems for them in the future. ?
Mother of three Laura Lashmar, Sheffield, loved walking to school with his mother and would not for her children to miss.? "Just as my mother walked me to school I did the same thing with my boys.? Walk with your children when they are young is a wonderful opportunity to spend good time together and to hear about their day. It's also a good way to show them the road safety skills, so when they are older and want to walk to school, alone or with friends, you can feel comfortable that they are familiar with the roads and how to cross roads.? It is important for children to develop independence and walk to school is a good way to build their confidence. ?
No comments:
Post a Comment