Challenge Your Family to be TravelSmart!
Who says kids can't make a difference? You have great ideas and your opinion matters! Sometimes adults are so busy with their usual routine, they have a hard time being creative. That's why they need you!
You've probably learned a lot about the environment and how it needs our help. There are things everyone can do to help it get better, like being TravelSmart. But sometimes we forget about these options, especially when we get older.
why not challenge your family to meet new goals and try new things?
If you think you have some ideas that your family could try, talk to your parents! Better still, why not challenge your family to meet new goals and try new things?
Here are some challenges we think you and your family might like:
- Have your mom or dad buy a pedometer for everyone in your family. You clip this tiny gadget somewhere on your body, like on your belt or jacket, and it counts every step you take! Everyone should aim for at least 10,000 steps a day. Have a competition to see who has the highest count!
- Get a group of your friends together who live nearby and ask all the parents if they'll take turns walking the group to and from school. Instead of having all the parents drive in their own cars, they can rotate walking duties. Even if it's only one or two days a week, it'll cut back on a lot of pollution. Plus, it's a lot more social for you and your friends because you'll have more time to talk!
- Do you know how much pollution your family's car produces? There are a lot of online tracking calculators you can use to find out. Spend some time with your parents calculating how much pollution your car generates. Then set a challenge to reduce it! Find other ways to get around besides using the car, like riding your bicycle or walking.
- Since the weekend is for resting, give the car a rest too. Suggest "no-car weekends" to your parents. Challenge them to try it for just one month and maybe even longer if it goes well. Like most adults, your parents probably spend a lot of time in the car during the week, so maybe this will be a nice break for them too. Instead of using the car, your family can take the bus or SkyTrain and not have to worry about parking or always filling up on gas.
- Have you ever wondered what's at the end of your bus route? Or where the different SkyTrain lines go? Or how fast the SeaBus really is? Challenge your parents to try different routes! Use TransLink's Trip Planner tool to find all the options to get to your destination, and then try a new route each time you go. Not only will you explore new parts of your community, but it'll make the trip much more fun!
Did you challenge your family or do you have ideas and stories to tell about being TravelSmart? Leave a comment below to help other kids and families be more TravelSmart.