There are some things that are just part of childhood… kickball, a lunchbox, show-and-tell and hopefully walking to school sometimes too. Not every kid can – sometimes it really is too far. (As a kid who lived out in the country, I can attest to that.) Or there are too many busy streets between home and school. I get that. But that’s why tomorrow’s Walk To School Day is such a cool thing. If kids CAN and parents CAN, they are encouraged to walk! It’s a healthy thing to do!
In fact, let me focus on that for a second. Health benefits are touted as the #1 reason for Walk To School Day. Here are the 3 reasons (in order) according to
www.walktoschool.org:
1. Enhance the health of kids
2. Improve air quality and the environment
3. Create safer routes for walking/bicycling
They are ALL totally worthy reasons to promote walking to school. But again – HEALTH – is promoted as the number one reason. So you can imagine my SHOCK when I looked closer at some of the events our local schools here in Colorado Springs are promoting as part of Walk To School Day… some of them include rewarding/congratulating parents and kids for walking to school… with donuts and pastries.
Are you kidding me?! Donuts?!?! Congratulations kids! You did it! Now let’s undo all the good you just did from walking to school… by eating pastries. I honestly can’t believe it.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a good donut! And I’m all for moderation! But why turn an event that’s targeting HEALTH into an event that rewards with DONUTS?! That just doesn’t add up. That would be like the Heart Association serving a 20oz rib eye to all the guests at the Heart Ball. It just doesn’t fit!
And fit really is what we’re going for with our kids, isn’t it? We want them to be active. We want them to enjoy food (yes, even donuts). But let’s think about the message we’re sending them, as we’re trying to promote a healthier lifestyle. Maybe an event promoting the enhancement of health in kids isn’t the place for pastries.
