October is International Walk To School Month. I’d heard about it already from my daughter’s school, as they are celebrating Walk to School Day on October 3. If they do like last year, they’ll have people handing out fresh fruit to the kids who walk to school.

For my family, walking just makes the most sense. It’s about 3 blocks away, and by the time you count what it takes to load the kids into the car, get through the inevitable traffic in front of the school, then unload the kids, it takes about the same time either way. I have no reason to not walk there.

Besides, since we still only have one car it would be hard to do otherwise. But even when we had two cars we always walked to and from school.

One of the things I really love about it is that it’s an easy way to get some exercise in my day. It’s also a chance for parents to help teach their kids how to walk safely to places such as school, when to cross the street, and how to enjoy such a simple physical activity.

I’ll admit that we are fortunate in that the worst weather we can get is still quite mild compared to other parts of the country. In other words, no snow, ever. And children do so love to walk in the rain as a rule, especially if you can tolerate them jumping in the puddles. You know you did it as a kid too. They can dry off at home and maybe have a cup of hot chocolate to warm up on cold days.

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