Here is a portrait of two families who shuttle their kids less than 3 miles to school. One family lives in Los Angeles and shuttle with an SUV, the other in Portland shuttle a bike caravan to school. Both are concerned their kids receive enough daily exercise for health and academic reasons.
Yvonne Condes in Los Angeles: "And, because Condes lives in Los Angeles where traffic is a huge
problem, shuttling her kids back and forth can take 5 minutes or 25.
Some days Condes has spent 45 minutes just to go a mile." ... "There's a homeless guy lives down the street, and sometimes he'll
start yelling, he walks into the busy street yelling at cars." (Who hasn't?) ... And that's why, most days of the week, Condes finds herself in the car
driving her boys to 'club' sports. All the driving can be frustrating,
she says, in large part because "
there's so much time where we're not
actually doing anything, just traveling from one place to the other."
Martina Fahrner of Portland:
Fahrner and her family bike, walk or take public transportation. For them exercise is something that happens as they live
their daily lives, not something they schedule. Fahrner doesn't even own
a car. "We basically mapped out where the schools are, where hospitals are,
where places to shop are, and so we very conscientiously picked a
neighborhood where we can walk to all these things," she says.
Martina is co-owner of
Clever Cycles.
You won't find any Lycra in her shop; the bikes there are designed for
everyday living. One of her favorites is a Bakfiets front loader from
the Netherlands. It looks a bit like a wheelbarrow with a bicycle
attached. "You can literally put eight bags of groceries in there and the kids, and it's just so much fun to ride," she says. Excerpts from "
How Families Struggle to Eat Well and Exercise", NPR, aired on KPBS San Diego.
No comments:
Post a Comment