Richmond Parents Monthly | Richmond magazine for families

Yes, Virginia, there is a miracle cure for exorbitant gas prices, childhood obesity and depression. What could this multi-tasking kryptonite be, you ask? Walking. Or, if you’re even more aerobically motivated, bicycling. Choosing to get your child to school on foot or on bike probably takes less extra time than you think, reduces that daily chunk of air pollution, offers innumerable possibilities for conversation, inspiration and bonding, and keeps both your and your child’s bodies healthy and fit.

So simple! But only about 15% of American families do it, even when many live within a few miles of their schools. National Public Radio, among many other media sources, has been telling us for years about various studies linking exercise to better brain performance; the simple fact that more blood will be getting to the brain after a morning jaunt makes clear-er, more focused thinking a certainty. Letting your child sleep in the passenger seat until you make a break-fast pit stop at the nearest fast food joint is not going to help him or her ace that first period math test.

But don’t take it from me—the state’s been getting in on this action, too. Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Safe Routes to School program (SRTS) gives money to cities, nonprofits and schools interested in developing walking and biking plans. Their pur-poses include:

• To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;

• To make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age;

• To facilitate the planning, development and implementation of projects and activities that reduce traffic and improve safety, fuel consumption and air quality in the vicinity of pri-mary and middle schools (kindergarten through eighth grade).

Applicants (not including cities, whose plans include infra-structural change) have to be ready to implement the SRTS plan appropriate to their area, which basically means setting up some safety education classes and promotional walking or biking activities. There’s also an evaluation requirement: groups need to be able to assess how well the SRTS plan is working.

So far, some great national success stories have cropped up. A Washington, D.C. school reports about their Walk to School Day, “It was a great opportunity to build community among our neighbor-hood schools and between our own three campuses. Naturally we had PTA support and we took the day as a chance to roll out our new school t-shirt... We also got some funding to buy pedometers and refreshments. The National Park police came with their horses. The DC Police led walkers and stopped traffic to get us across streets. It was simply a celebration and so much fun!”

Other schools have started clubs for kids who take alternative transportation to school, awarded bicycles to motivated students, and organized a team of teachers who meet students at various points in the city to make walking safer and easier. So chalk up one more point for walking: beyond the health and energy benefits, it creates a stronger sense of community.

VDOT is not alone in its attempts to spread the word: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a similar program called KidsWalk-to-School (cdc.gov), which doesn’t necessitate funding–just a few committed parents. It requires less set-up than SRTS, and since you can print out the pre-made instructions and checklists from the website, you can get started right away. There are many different levels of involvement, from simply plot-ting a safe route to forming neighbor-hood KidsWalk groups to arranging safety measurements with local police, civic associations, or PTAs.

Another health- and fun-conscious organization, BikeWalk Virginia, offers a student course in helmet safety, crash avoidance, bike handling skills and rules of the road—all in tandem with the school’s Pe curriculum. If that’s something that interests you but your school doesn’t have a certified Bike Smart Pe instructor, bring it up with BikeWalk at info@bikewalkvirginia.org. Their 10th Annual BikeWalk Conference will join forces with The Governor’s Conference on Greenways, Blueways and Trails and the 54th Annual Conference of the Virginia Recreation and Park Society in Richmond from October 4-7—a great opportunity to get the lowdown on outdoor recreation, trails, and non-motorized transportation.

Biking, walking, cartwheeling : if you and your neighbors decide to make a safe and easy route to school for your kids, who’s to stop you? you can determine the safety of your streets. your community can come together to facilitate health, save everyone some money, improve the quality of the air we breathe—to be, all around, a little greener and a little leaner. All it takes is someone to suggest the idea and for the rest of us to start walking.

Bird Cox is a Richmond-based writer whose focus includes e-conscious issues, food, art, and travel. She also continues to stay true to her studies at the University of Virginia, where she majored in Poetic Composition, and she loves teaching kids to write.