GO RIDE A BIKE
BICYCLE Queensland chief executive Anne Savage reiterates concerns that only one in five school students ride bikes to school, compared with the 1970s, when four out of five did. This does not augur well for their emotional and physical well-being.
It is no surprise that in 40 years, population density pressures in urban areas and road rage both contribute to parents' fear when children are exposed to third millennial living and mobility.
We may want people to show consideration for bike riders, but laws defining interactions emphasise the threat is real and neither governments nor the law can 100 per cent protect our children once they leave home or school on bikes, skateboards and scooters.
Helmet wearing is not popular with some generations, which exacerbates the risks.
To combat the obesity epidemic rampant in younger people, more activity like bike riding goes a long way to keeping children fit. A sedentary lifestyle and obsession with technology, contributes to obesity statistics among third millennium parents and children. Driving this obesity epidemic is the lack of interest in getting out and about alone, for fear of what may happen and how we cannot guarantee or control drivers' temperament.
Children are now more closely monitored than in any generation of past decades.
Wrapping them in cotton wool, with limitations to unsupervised activities, only contributes even further to a loss of innocence and health benefits.
Australia is a wide open space, but restrictions upon children's outdoor lives only exacerbate future mental and physical health and independent living issues.
- E. Rowe, Marcoola
Celebrating acts of good
THIS week is National Volunteer Week and we’re saying a huge thank you to the people who take action and make our country a happier place.
Volunteering happens in all kinds of ways. Like the simple act of sharing a social media post about supporting newly-arrived migrants which, when thousands of others share, can have a huge impact. Other kinds of volunteering require a bigger commitment, like driving elderly isolated people to regular medical appointments and social outings, and can have a profound effect on the lives of individuals.
At Australian Red Cross, volunteers are a lot like our engine room; they support communities when natural disasters hit, make daily phone calls to isolated people, greet customers to our op shops, donate blood, and fundraise for us. This week we’re celebrating not just our volunteers in Queensland, but everyone who takes action to make our society stronger, more connected and supportive.
Thank you for your generosity and making Queensland and Australia a better place. Find out more about volunteering at redcross.org.au/volunteer
- Leisa Bourne, Director,
Red Cross, Queensland
CYCLONE DEBBIE REPAIRS
SCENIC Rim Council has already started repairing roads as part of Ex Cyclone Debbie. Don't forget the hard work that is being done by them. I live in Jimboomba and I wish we could be part of the Scenic Rim.
- J. Ryrie via Facebook