Jayne Dowle: We should let our children put their best foot forward

I don’t know the definitive answer. Perhaps our kids are just more honest. Personally, I’m tempted to blame the parents. Despite having children and grandchildren of their own, they still bomb past my children’s school at 40mph. Some of them have kids in the car, but if they are going to work, then I wish they would set off a bit earlier. And if they’re having a day off, and going to Meadowhall or somewhere, well, nothing in the sale at Debenhams can be worth running over a child.

But I also blame the parents who do nothing to teach their children anything about road safety, nor give them the self-confidence to go out and about without mummy or daddy. When my son Jack, who is eight, started walking to school on his own last autumn, I had to smile sweetly while several concerned parents pointed out that they had seen him waiting to cross at the mini-roundabout and helped him.

It’s nice to know that we all look out for each other’s children, but I hope that by now, I have drilled into him the ability to look left and right and left and right again and if in doubt, wait. He won’t know he can do it unless he practises.

And, although the survey, by the charity Living Streets, doesn’t go into detail on this, I bet there are parents out there who are so nervous of their own ability to control their children that they dare not set off and walk with them. It comes to something when adults are too scared to shepherd a couple of kids along a pavement, but I’ve certainly heard parents shake their heads and say that they could never do it.

It can only make you wonder how their kids will turn out. If they don’t get into the habit of walking now, they never will. The consequences are huge, literally. If you want to tackle obesity, hide the car keys.

Whoever or whatever you blame, the result is that only half of primary school children and 38 per cent of secondary school children – who presumably are more likely to take the bus – set out on foot to school. Actually, I’m surprised that the figure is so high, given the number of cars which appear outside our school every morning and afternoon.

I’ll put my hand up to adding to the burden. I’m in the tricky position of having one child, my son, who loves to walk to school and relishes the independence. And another, my daughter, who is five, so isn’t old enough to be entrusted to the sole care of her brother, and despite her protests, isn’t old enough to walk on her own. Their father walks them both some mornings, but when it’s raining, or they have a lot of things to carry – guitar, PE kit, random items to show their teachers – or we’re on a tight schedule, we all end up piling in the car.

Oh, it’s never an exact science this parenting lark, is it? And we can never all do the right thing, all the time. I just want my kids to be able to handle themselves, and this might sound corny, to appreciate the amazing view of the valley as they reach the brow of the hill. I remember the freedom of being alone with thoughts on my own walk to school, which wasn’t half as picturesque, and I want it to be the same for my children.

But I don’t suppose “looking at nature” is going to feature high up on the priorities of the Walk to School Week campaign, not compared with “avoiding speeding juggernauts”. Although I wholeheartedly agree with its aims, I do believe it should be about more than getting kids to put one foot in front of the other.

Schools themselves have a role to play, undoubtedly, in encouraging children to see walking as part of a healthy lifestyle. But for such a campaign to be effective, it must become integral to our communities, and seriously get the police and local authorities on board.

The police, who need to turn up with their radar guns and penalty notices to penalise those who speed and those who think it’s fine to park themselves outside schools, usually denying anyone with a pram right of way. And the council officials and elected members who have the power to install 20mph zones near schools, and plan effective crossings and control the housing developments which add more traffic to already congested areas. Walk to School Week will be gone in a flash. And so can a child’s life. It is time to think long and hard about making our children feel safe.