Talk to your children. Talk about the benefits of walking to school. Discuss how fun it can be to walk with you or a friend to and from school.

Learn more about safety from walktoschool.org.

Be positive. Don't transmit your anxiety to your child if you fear for their safety. You want to child to grow as a confident person in this world. Give him or her some tools to prevent unwanted situations.

Learn how to match your expectations with your child’s abilities

Find the best route. Make sure you assess traffic and safety conditions before you start walking with your children. Use the safest routes to get to and from school.

Walk the talk. Walk with your child to make him or her feel comfortable and confident. For older children, find some friends who could walk with them. It's always more fun and safe to walk with a friend.

Ask the school. Call the school to see if they offer a Walk to School program or other initiatives to encourage walking.

Use a drop off zone. If your house is too far from the school, drop your child at the house of a friend who's closer so they can walk together.

Talk to the authorities. If the physical environment (sidewalks or bikepaths) aren’t safe, talk to your local authority (police, department of public works, town council) about making improvements. Building sidewalks and painting crosswalks are two of the simpler infrastructure improvements that can make walking to school safer.

Participate in the International Walk to School Day. To spark the interest of other children and parents, ask your school to participate in International Walk to School Day.

Start a walking school bus. Keep it simple. Find a few families who want their kids to have supervised walks to school. Parents can take turns escorting groups of children on their walks to and from school.