I vividly remember learning how to ride a bike in a bank parking lot back in my small hometown of West Virginia. Every weekend, my grandfather would jog beside me, holding the seat steady as I pedaled around that empty lot. As my confidence grew, we ventured onto the scenic paths along the Potomac River. Those rides are some of my fondest childhood memories.
Fast forward to today, and I now reside in New York City, where my apartment is too cramped for a bike, and the nearby parks are too small for a proper ride. While biking on the city streets is common, I lack the courage to navigate them. My 5-year-old son has yet to learn how to ride, and I find myself unsure of how to change that.
Then I stumbled upon an inspiring initiative: public schools in Washington, D.C., are teaching second-graders how to ride bikes as part of their physical education curriculum. It struck me as a brilliant idea.
As reported by Jessica Warren for CityLab, the D.C. public school system, led by the director of health and physical education, has initiated a program that provides 475 BMX bikes to various schools in groups of 25 for a few weeks at a time. This program offers intensive cycling lessons to second graders, addressing a gap where many children in the city were missing out on this essential skill.
This biking initiative is part of a larger effort called “Cornerstones,” designed to provide specialized curricula to D.C. students and help bridge the achievement divide between wealthier and lower-income families. The bike program aims to ensure that all D.C. public school students, including those without access to bikes and safe riding environments, receive this valuable instruction. Warren notes, “Urban biking has a well-documented equity problem. As bike-share programs grow and cities develop more cycling infrastructure, there’s a risk that low-income residents will be excluded from the benefits of biking. Comprehensive bike education can help mitigate that.”
One of the key contributors to the childhood obesity epidemic is a lack of physical activity. In my youth, most children walked or rode their bikes to school. However, Lauren Smith, the director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, shared in an interview that the primary reason parents prevent their kids from biking or walking to school is distance, closely followed by safety concerns. There are not enough dedicated bike lanes for kids to ride safely. Interestingly, the more individuals who walk or bike, the safer these activities become overall, as noted by SafeRoutesPartnership.org.
Elected officials often hesitate to allocate more space for bike lanes, believing there aren’t enough cyclists to justify it. By encouraging a new generation of children to feel comfortable on bikes, we can gradually shift the balance of road space from cars to cyclists. D.C.’s bike-share program has already shown a small yet significant impact on reducing traffic congestion.
I wish my children could learn to ride in the same environment I did, but given our current circumstances, that isn’t feasible. If their physical education classes included cycling, I would feel overjoyed. It would equip them with a lifelong skill that promotes healthy, eco-friendly transportation. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind hopping on a bike again myself—imagine us cruising along the river.
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Summary
As childhood obesity rates climb, schools should consider incorporating bike riding into their physical education programs. Initiatives like the one in Washington, D.C., not only teach kids an essential skill but also address equity issues in urban biking. Providing children with the opportunity to learn to ride can foster a healthier, more active generation while promoting safer streets for everyone.
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