Kids need 60 minutes of physical activity a day to keep their heart and lungs healthy and maintain a healthy weight. Schools play a big role in encouraging active lifestyles for students of all ages, whether it’s walking and bicycling to school or being active at school and in the classroom.
Last week three representatives from the Safe Routes Partnership (Safe Routes Partnership) attended the Childhood Obesity Conference in Long Beach, CA. The Childhood Obesity Conference brings together advocates, funders, public health professionals and agency staff from across the United States to focus on the challenges of reducing obesity in our communities.
This spring, families and schools across the country joined in the Fire Up Your Feet activity challenge, a program designed to encourage students, families, and school staff to walk, bike, and get physical activity in daily life. Together, families and schools logged a collective 292,400 minutes of activity and more than 7,000 miles.
We started growing seeds for our garden over the weekend and as I sat down to write my blog this week I was struck by how working to grow awareness and engagement for Safe Routes to School is similar to the growth of our seedlings.