Back to school time again. And if anyone is still wondering why Australia has a child obesity problem, look no further than our schools. I was feeling very chuffed with myself this weekend as I managed to assemble two new bikes for the kids from their flatpack boxes from Target - using only Chinglish instructions - and without having to make a single contribution to the swear box.
But my fatherly pride on seeing them wobble down the street on their new wheels was punctured the next day when they were told they could not ride their bikes to school. Like many activities these days, the riding of bikes by children, even high school age kids - was deemed 'not appropriate'. Something to do with the school not wanting to accept responsibility for children riding on the roads. Whatever.
It means my kids will miss out on about 30 minutes of physical activity and will instead be adding to Australia's carbon footprint and local traffic congestion as they join the convoy of cars dropping them off at the school gates.
Barmy. In the first few years of our kids' lives we send them to institutions that offer them little more than pizzas and burgers in the school canteen, vending machines that sell Coke or Pepsi. And now they ban bikes in case the kids come a cropper.
If the health minister wants to get serious about preventive health she might want to start by teaching our schools something about instilling young Australians and their teachers some sensible evidence-based healthy lifestyle habits - as the Jesuits say: give me the boy of seven and I'll show you the man ...
Comments
What a great idea!
Kids riding to school.
It cuts across so many issues of health, safety independence, taking responsibility for our kids etc etc.
My suggestions:
1) All taxes should be removed from the sale and service of cycles. (And motor cycles under 200cc for that matter!!)
2) Any child under 12 on a bicycle should be regarded as a pedestrian and allowed to use footpaths.
3) Any other cyclist travelling under 10Km/ hour should also be given pedestrian status (No different from a jogger after all!)
4) Pedestrians must, of course have right of way. Appropriate education should accompany the above.
5) Children who cycle to school and get their book stamped by the cycle monitor should receive a $10 book voucher every month from Rudds money tree.
6) Any school which achieves > 50% of students and teachers cycling to school should be given a free excursion to Dubbo Zoo or some suitable reward.
We should do our best to ensure the safety of all children cycling or travelling by helicopter.
The solution is not to stop them doing stuff which every kid needs to do.
Posted by George Quittner on Thursday, 5 February 2009
Michael, the Department of Education is just like Medicare, so we can give you lots of advice on how to defeat a school that doesn't want kids to cycle to school. 1. Is it a school policy? Or a Departmental (or diocesan) policy? Decide on the level of attack. 2, Decide that it is going to happen anyway. Ride to school with the kids and then home again in the afternoon. You make a "train" with an adult as "driver" at the front and an adult as "guard" at the rear. This train picks up passengers, and that means you collect more kids on the way to school. 3. Our success was 50% of a small school riding to school by the time our kids finished primary school. Some didn't ride far, but they still learnt that a bike was a means of transport. In 1995 NSW Dept of Education policy was that a child should be 8 years old to ride to school unaccompanied. I never ever enquired to see if it changed. Posted by Elizabeth Dodd on Thursday, 5 February 2009
