Walking to School

I saw a report published today by the Institute of European Environmental Policy which blames over-use of cars for fuelling the "twin crises" of global warming and the obesity epidemic. It suggests that banning cars around schools would instil good habits early on and call for "concerted action". In addition to the exclusion zones for schools, the report also called for the government to invest heavily in making Britain's streets more attractive to walk in.

We walk quite a bit and our three year old who was evicted from the pushchair by his baby brother a year ago!) can currently walk for about half an hour whereas others we know would still need a pushchair / buggyboard. Walking in our city isn't particularly pleasant or child friendly though as we have to walk along narrow pavements trying avoid parked cars, broken glass and dog poo - so anything to improve the attractiveness of the streets would be great.

I also found it interesting to read this report as we are currently looking for a new house and the ability to walk to school is high on our agenda. Having worked in schools I've seen the nightmare of congestion at dropping off and picking up times and I don't want to be part of that!

I wonder whether other parents feel the same? Do you walk to school? Do you think that walking to school affects child obesity?