Walk and Roll

Our schools have been doing something called Walk and Roll to school the last few years. In the effort to reduce automobile use. The students have an option to walk, roll on a bike , scooter or skateboard, carpool with friends or even riding the two buses that go between the schools for our district. The bus itself is a green friendly as well.
They say if everyone in the school avoids five one mile trips to school by car in a month we would keep one ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!  Not only is it easy, you are getting exercise!

 The kids who walk or roll to school get a raffle ticket for a chance to win some prices and for the whole month each Wednesday the kids are encouraged to find a better way to school. It’s wonderful to see, we live just down the street from one school which has grades 4-6th there. So my son walks each morning, I also get other kids across the street as we live at the corner and they are dropped off right at our sidewalk. The other school which my two younger girls go too is about 5 minutes away but they encourage you to park a ways away and walk the rest which we have always done. We would walk the entire way but I am just not up to walking that far yet- still in recovery mode from breaking my hip.

 It’s important to get the kids involved early so they are more likely to pick up that habit and keep with it later in life. You can do your part as well and it’s easy! Park further away from a store and enjoy the walk through the lot instead of fighting for the closets parking pace. Or if you live close by, try a walk if you aren’t picking that much up.  Start walking or riding your bike more, get the entire family involved! It will encourage the kids to get up and move more often and you will all benefit from it as well as the planet!

Do you already cut down on usage of cars? Does your community encourage a similar program like our Walk and Roll to school?