When we were children, most of us walked or cycled to school or nusery. We chatted to friends/parents on the way and arrived healthy, refreshed and ready to learn. Nowadays busy lifestyles, working partterns, car ownership and the fact that children no longer necessarily go to the nearest school have changed travel habits and it means that many children are dependent on parents to drive them every day.
The subsequent congestion on our roads, increased CO2 emissions, impact on child physical and mental health, road safety issues and reduced independence for children are just some of the negative effects of this.
Many parents, teachers, councils and organisations know the importance of addressing these issues and are keen to take action to do so. Setting up a Walking Bus or Park and Stride Scheme whilst working with their school community to develop and implement active travel plans and a host of other measures are just some of the actions that they can take to promote active travel. These initiatives can help them liaise with local authorities to make infrastruture improvements and travelling actively better.
There has been a large increase over the last few years in younger children using balance bikes and scooters. It is so important to form good travel habits in the early years, so we also encourage nurseries to develop travel plans to promote active travel and our products can also support your nurseries too.
With years of experience, we are here to support you with our expertise, information, resources and products (for schools, nurseries, parents and pupils) across the UK. We run our own local projects and have all the information you need at our Brightkidz site.