A scheme to get more kids to walk to school more often has been announced on a day when every parent is fretting about their kid’s safety at school. A man has tried to pick up a 10-year-old boy outside Kimberley Junior Public School in the Kingston Road and Main Street area. The man told a story that has tricked other kids. “You’re mom told me to pick you up,” he said. Fortunately, this lad’s mother had trained him. The boy asked for a code word and when the would-be kidnapper didn’t know it, he fled in a beat up car. Now put this teachable moment for parents next to the boilerplate news release from the local school boards and the city about how too many kids are being driven to school. Nowhere in this excited story about what an adventure it is to walk to school does it mention the constant spectre of harm to children that compels parents to try to hand their kid directly to the teacher. Listen, we get it. Such close supervision isn’t necessarily the best thing for a child. Walking, cycling and running are what kids are supposed to do. But the fact remains the streets are not as safe as we might wish. It’s too bad that the walk-to-school campaign doesn’t have some answers.
