October 4th-8th is international walk to school week and it is half over. Never mind there a whole lot of other school days in the year and you can walk to school on almost any of them.

Walk to school is an international initiative to encourage children to obtain some exercise safely by

- Encouraging children to walk in groups.
- Organizing responsible adults to accompany children as they walk to and from school.
- Teaching and practicing safe pedestrian behavior during the walk to and from school.
- Empowering neighborhoods to work together with local agencies, such as the department of public works, to identify and create safe routes to school.
- Partnering with local police to enforce speed limits in and around schools.
Providing crossing guards for children on their way to and from school.

The Green Man remembers a time when we didn't worry too much about these things. Your mother put your lunch in your hand and pushed you out the front door and said see you tonight.

One wonders whether times are really any less safe now or whether we are raising a timid generation where fear will be one of the more prevalent emotions in their lives. How sad in either case. Our society has actually regressed rather than progressed if our children spend more of their life in fear than we did.

Visit the I Walk To School website for more information on the program.
US National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention also has some excellent resources on Walk To School week.