Australian children too cosseted to ride to school

”But you could argue the greatest risk is sitting at home eating chips because that will probably do them more harm in the long run.”

The chief executive of the Heart Foundation, Lyn Roberts, said the survey showed nearly two-thirds of parents would let their children ride to school if there were safe routes and that separated cycleways would encourage children to ride and improve their health.

”We urge all levels of government to invest to ensure the next generation is able to adopt healthy and active options for their daily trip to school.”

Peter Johnston, the principal of Bourke Street Public School in Surry Hills, said nearly a quarter of his 140 students were riding to school since the City of Sydney had built a cycleway past the front door.

When he had taught at Forest Lodge near Glebe, and at Casula, no one rode bikes to school but support for riding at Bourke Street was so strong the school was installing new bike racks and was sending children on cycling instruction courses. ”It’s taken off here because it’s easy to get to – all the kids are on the cycleways.”

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes