Families on foot
In the winter issue of walk, Des de Moor reports on a pilot project to get families walking for health in post-industrial Cumbria. Here’s an extract and some top tips for walking with kids…
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that change our lives – like a field of long grass and a child’s imagination. The field in question is a modest patch of green near North Scale on Walney Island, Cumbria, between a housing estate and the Walney Channel. It’s an airy spot, swept by winds blowing from the Irish Sea towards the slag banks of Barrow-in-Furness, under the distant gaze of the southern Lake District fells. Liz Burns, co-ordinator of the pioneering Furness Families Walk4Life project, was surprised to discover that many local families had never been to the place, despite its proximity to their homes. Although the grass and a solitary bush provide the only cover, she soon got the children playing hide-and-seek. “It was just children playing and loving it, ” says Liz, who recalls the moment as the one that gave her the most job satisfaction of the entire project. “There’s nothing there, except slightly taller than normal grass. That’s their imagination coming out. Being kids and enjoying themselves, interacting in the outdoors. I could tell by the mothers’ faces this wasn’t normal. ”
More than just health Liz’s words hint that describing the Furness Families initiative as a healthy walking project only tells a fraction of the story. Developed by the Ramblers in partnership with family charity Action for Children (formerly the National Children’s Home) and funded by the Department of Health (DH), its primary aim was to experiment with innovative ways of getting families to walk regularly for health and weight control. But it soon touched on much wider issues of children’s mobility, family relationships and mental health. For example, since walking is naturally companionable but doesn’t require eye contact, both children and adults sometimes open up on walks in ways they wouldn’t otherwise. One young walker reported that she had “the best conversation with my mam in ages” the day they went walking together.
The project – funded as part of the DH’s Change4Life initiative – was based on the Ramblers’ existing Lottery-funded Get Walking Keep Walking schemes, providing an introduction to independent walking, with led walks, activities and child-friendly materials that support a 12-week plan. Crucially, the programmes were based in Children’s Centres, the successors to the Government-backed Sure Starts. “I was delighted to find out that it was community based, helping people to recognise the attractive elements of the local area, ” says Joyce Hawthorn, Action for Children’s manager in Barrow. “And running the programmes from Children’s Centres meant that it was somewhere people went to anyway. ” Tackling parents’ attitudes Children, everyone agrees, naturally take to being in the outdoors, especially when interacting with their peers. Local support helped Liz put on events such as a stadium tour hosted by local Rugby League team the Barrow Raiders and the Big Barrow Bear Hunt that attracted regional TV coverage. Yet even simple things, like feeding the ducks or flying kites, have worked to enthuse young walkers. As Carl Hogarth, one of the organisers of Barrow’s award-winning Dads’ Club, who sweated it out in a furry costume during the bear hunt, says: “It’s the parents you really need to change. But if you get to the kids and they enjoy it, you have access to the all-important pester power.”
Watch a video about the project and read more at www.ramblers.org.uk/walkingfurness
As well as the Furness Families project, the Ramblers has been working with Change4Life on the Walk4Life toolkit, which is packed with information, ideas, year-round games and tips to help families keep active by walking more. It’s intended mainly for staff and volunteers working with families, but can also be used by families themselves. The full toolkit is free to download at www.nhs.uk/change4life (under Partners and Supporters – Tools). Here are some of its top tips:
•Don’t say you’re “going for a walk”. Instead, make it an outing or adventure. Take things to eat or drink, maybe even a proper picnic.
•Don’t make the walk too long or too hard, and stop regularly for breaks.
•Walk at the children’s pace and cut the walk short if they get tired.
•Make sure children are wearing comfortable clothes and shoes, and take extra layers.
•Go to places with lots of things to look at and climb over: watersides, woodlands, parks, transport, even shopping centres. Avoid long, straight paths and featureless views.
•Look for things to discover in your neighbourhood. Spot the street names, find out where the hills are, draw a map, take photos and make drawings.
•Look for animals, trees and plants along the way. Play I-spy, look for clouds and predict the weather.
•Visit woodland in winter: there are lots of fallen objects to collect and “tree faces” to spot.
