Why fewer and fewer children are using their bikes to get to school!

Primary schools are sounding the alarm because statistics show that fewer and fewer children can swim and ride a bike. In addition, the remaining proportion of children who ride bikes are also experiencing increasing failure rates, especially in the practical part of the cycling test, because the children are often less and less able to control their bikes due to a lack of riding experience.

This situation is primarily the result of the environmental conditions for children and young people, which are increasingly deteriorating due to social factors:

The streets are becoming increasingly busy and/or full of parked cars. The condition of the cycle paths has long left much to be desired. There is a trend among parents not to let their children ride bicycles at all for fear of the potential dangers of road traffic.

That is why more and more parents prefer to drive their children as chauffeurs ("parent taxis") rather than letting them ride their bikes themselves or even accompanying them on their bikes.

Many children spend most of their free time on their computers or smartphones due to the laziness that this has taught them. This not only has a negative impact on their motor development, but also on their social skills. The massive lack of exercise that this entails also leads to obesity and the resulting secondary diseases.

In addition, the Corona pandemic has also contributed...

The EMOTIKON study by the University of Potsdam has shown that third-grade primary school children (in Brandenburg) are eight months behind in motor skills compared to before the corona pandemic.

The motor area has suffered more than the cognitive area such as math or German - there the delay is a maximum of three months.