Photo by m hoek

Did any of your kids take advantage of International Walk to School Day today? As the Washington Post notes:

Organizers says the percentage of students walking or bicycling to school in the United States has dropped from 41 percent in 1969 to 13 percent in 2001. Obesity among children, meanwhile, increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008.

We’d hope that the stat in urban D.C. is a little better than 13 percent, of course. If you didn’t get them out and walking today, tomorrow’s as good a day as any, so strap the lunchboxes on and pin a post-it with your address to their jackets if need be. Don’t make me get into my brutal stories of uphill both ways mile-long walks to school in the ten foot snows of the southern California beach suburb I grew up in, kids.

For the adults, whose parents don’t force them out for exercise, but do it on their own, a little treat: a second-grader will be handing out snacks and coffee to bike commuters at the intersection of the Custis and W&OD trails tomorrow from 7 to 9 a.m. ARL Now found the note on the Bike Arlington forum posted by the student’s mom. They’ll be celebrating “Yay for Bike Riders Day” to “thank all the cyclists who ride the trails each day that we pass on our way to school.” How cute is that? Doesn’t it just make you want to sell your car and enjoy a free bagel and adoring appreciation from the eight-year-olds of the world?