Walk This Way

“Walk This Way”… no, I’m not referring to the song by Aerosmith, although it is a great song! I’m talking about Safe Kids Southeast Wisconsin Coalition’s Walk This Way program, which is part of  International Walk Your Child to School Day. The first Wednesday in October, boys, girls, their parents, teachers and others around the world make a special date to walk to school.

This program began back in the ‘90’s for several reasons: to encourage physical activity in children, to raise environmental concerns – and my primary focus – to raise an awareness about how “walkable” a community is.

On the local level, Safe Kids Southeast Wisconsin’s program goes into schools providing classroom education about pedestrian safety. Information goes home asking parents and caregivers to walk with their children to school on this special day to help bring awareness to the community about pedestrian safety issues. Pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of injury-related death in the United States for children ages 5-14. Six hundred kids die every year.

For more information about how to walk with a participating school on International Walk Your Child to School Day, Wednesday, Oct. 7, or to find out how to get your school involved for 2010, call (414) 390-2178 or e-mail Lisa Klindt Simpson at lklindtsimpson@chw.org.