News

Your parents may have walked uphill both ways through the snow to get to school. But your kids catch a ride to class in the passenger seat of your car.

Only about one-third of elementary-school children walk or bike to school, according to a new study from the University of Montreal that highlights the public health concerns of a sedentary lifestyle.

The findings, based on research involving nearly 1,500 pupils in two Quebec cities, are a factor in the growing obesity epidemic facing families across Canada, according to the study's researchers.

And the pattern won't be easy to break, considering that many rushed parents find it easiest to drop their kids off at school, and many families live too far from school to consider walking.

"Our society is really car-dependent," said Paul Lewis, the lead researcher and an urban planning professor at the University of Montreal. "I'd say it's not an easy problem to solve."

Even though the majority of the children studied live less than one kilometre from school, fewer walk or ride their bikes than a few decades ago, the researchers found.

In 1971, about 80 per cent of Canadian children aged 7 and 8 walked to school, according to a previous study. That compares with about 35 per cent of the elementary pupils in the new study.

The factors contributing to the low walking or cycling rates were similar in Montreal and Trois-Rivières, and probably reflect a pattern across Canada, Prof. Lewis said.

The study, published this week in conjunction with Montreal's city and mobility research group, shows the number of elementary-school children who walked to school in Montreal dropped to 34.2 per cent in 2003 from slightly more than 40 per cent in 1998. At the same time, trips to school by car jumped to nearly 31 per cent from 22 per cent.

In Trois-Rivières, fewer than 36 per cent of pupils walked to school in 2000.

Researchers also pointed out that, over all, the distance between school and home in Montreal dropped to 480 metres from 550 metres between 1998 and 2003.

The movement away from walking or biking to school exacerbates a growing concern that few Canadian children are receiving the amount of physical activity they need to stay healthy.

Although the circumstances of most families are different, Prof. Lewis said, there is one underlying factor that explains why many children may be falling into sedentary habits.

"If I wanted to say it in a very short way, I'd say the main reason children don't walk is because their parents don't walk or don't use transit to go to work," Prof. Lewis said.

An increasing number of children get rides to school, either on a bus or from their parents, the study said. Part of the reason is that more children attend specialized or private schools today than they did a few decades ago, and these are often not located in the family's neighbourhood. But in many cases, the decline in walking was the result of parents relying on their cars to get to work and finding it most convenient to drop their children off rather than walkwith them to school.

"Most people will be working or going to work by car, and therefore it's very easy to understand children will be brought to school by car more than walking," he said.

Another major factor that deters parents from letting their children walk to school is that the urban environment is not conducive to pedestrians or cyclists. Few urban environments have large enough sidewalks, and many cyclists may not have access to space on the road, presenting a potential safety hazard, he said.

Getting more kids to hoof it to school will prove to be a major challenge, Prof. Lewis said, because using a vehicle has become ingrained in many families. The study suggests that schools should adopt promotional programs that educate and raise awareness of the benefits "active travel" to school can have on a child's health.

But perhaps more than anything, addressing this issue will require a shift in culture that places importance on an urban environment that can increase the ability of parents to walk or take transit themselves, he said.

"We have to bring back more adults to transit. If we do, [the] chances they can accompany children to school [are] much higher."