Active commuting to school - An overlooked source of childrens' physical activity?

The assessment and promotion of childrens' healthful physical activity is i mportant: (i) to combat the international obesity epidemic that extends to childhood: and (ii) to establish an early habit of lifestyle physical activ ity that can be sustained into adolescence and adulthood. The primary focus of both assessment and promotion efforts has been on in-school physical ed ucation classes and, to a lesser extent, out-of-school structured exercise, sport and play. A potential source of continuous moderate activity, active commuting to school by means of walking or by bicycle, has been largely ig nored in surveys of physical activity. Suggestive evidence of steep decline s in the amount of childrens' destination walking can be gleaned from natio nal transportation surveys. At the same time, there has been a dramatic inc rease in the reported use of motorised vehicles, including the use for chau ffeuring children. There is very little evidence to support or refute activ e commuting to school as an important source of childrens physical activity ; however, this is largely because it has been overlooked in the stampede t o assess time in more vigorous activities. The promotion of active commuting to school must be considered in the conte xt of parents' real and perceived concerns for their children's personal an d pedestrian safety. We certainly do not have a full understanding at this time of all the factors related to decisions about transportation mode, whe ther by child, parent, community, or school. Such information is necessary if successful and sustainable interventions can be implemented, important t ransport policy decisions can be made. and community and school designs can be modified. Practice rarely waits for research, however, and there are nu merous examples of innovative programming, policies and environmental desig ns occurring internationally that can serve as natural experiments for ente rprising researchers willing to push the envelope of our understanding of a ctive commuting and childrens' physical activity. Since we know so little, there is much to learn.