Government has the answeer to childhood obesity. Pay the parents if their children cycle to school.
(David Wilkes in the Waily reports on page 33 of the New Year's day edition)
Basically, if the child is entitled to "free school transport" - then the parent would receive a "cycling allowance" if the child cycles instead of getting on the bus.
Apparently "this will ease congestion"
Eh? How?
The mumpties willl still be on the roads and so will the bus with all the ones who will pay the fare.. so cannot quite see this logic....
[i] OK .. so I partied hard last night.. but even so..
)
Apparently only one child in 50 currently cycles to school.
(Mine do get the school bus.. and the twins sometimes drive them all if they are lumbered with too much kit....but hey - I pay for this "privilege" and it's rather a long ride with some steep hills en route.... but they have ridden on occasion in the summer months as well)
Parents groups have objected to this proposal per the paper on the grounds of "road safety" and sending out the wrong message of
Quote:
cash incentive instead of explaining to the young the health dangers of obesity
Um .. how about old fashioned cookery lessons
Parents eligible for this cash must live more than three miles from the school or two miles if the child is under the age of 8 years.
Indeed - medics are reporting over a quarter of British kids are obese and no one can dispute that regualr exercise.. walking, cycling, swimming are likely to improve health. The claim that this will solve the problems of global warming is debatable when there are so many other factors affecting the planet.
Margaret Morrissey of the PTA wrote:
None of us wants obese children ..But at the end of the day, whatever the Government do and say - parents will do what is convenient and if possible what is most healthy to get their children to school.
The safety issue is the real difficulty of allowing children to cycle to school. It is not realistic in big cities.
Taxpayers will be uncomfortably about paying parents to get their children to school
We should not be offering incentives. It gives children the wrong message for the rest of their lives,
We should really be teaching children that they need to exercise for their own health.
Per the Dept for Education and Skills
Quote:
Cycling to school can help make daily exercise part of a child's lifestyle.
We need Councils to make some innovative arrangements.
Apparently ... Merseyside is considering giving free bicycles to children in the area. If pupils live more than three miles from school .. they get a free bike instead of a bus pass.
Er.. and the Bikeability course? They need this as well!
And no doubt Mummy will still drive them anyway ..
Mine do not get a bus pass. But then .. they go to an Independent school - and I suppose if I can afford the fees.... then I afford the surcharge for the school bus service..
They use the bus most of the time anyway.
Cycling is not the only means of exercise.. walking, playing football in the park with them, joining in games of tag with them, playing rounders, French cricket, ordinary cricket, rugby with them..
Encouraging them to swim .. do dance classes and so on..
Only buying MacDonalds as one off treats and sitting down at table at all times.. and teaching them how to cook wholesome foods and make a tasty meal at school and at home ... would seem as Ms Morissey observes would seem a better option than chucking cash at parents who might just use that cash to continue buying junk.
At the moment - it seems they get a bus pass instead of cash in hand.
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for suggesting a good use of taxpayers' money! 
s . We have the cash to recruit more PCSOs though as have the rest of the 43 Police Forces across the country.