I’ve been reading a lot about going car-free–partly in response to the painful gas prices, and partly for environmental reasons–and am wondering how people with multiple children, particularly those who don’t live right on a train line, pull it off. I stumbled across this post, for example, talking about how hard it can be to get a taxi to pick you up when you have a baby–and the blogger only has ONE child.
Anyway, I’m not turning our car in tomorrow or anything, but I’ve been thinking about ways to cut wayy back on our driving and keep running up against theoretical obstacles. I posted about them over at the Chicago Moms Blog. What do you think? Are you planning on cutting back on how much you drive, or finding alternative methods of transportation? Are you a car-free family already? If you have kids–particularly more than one–how do you manage it (or plan on managing it?)
I have a good friend who lives car free here in mpls. http://carfreefamily.wordpress.com/
She has two kiddos
We own two cars-one a work van for my husband, since he needs something that can carry sheet rock and ladders and large items and tools. We also have a family van, cause the kids like to have their car seats in actual seats. But as my husband is rarely home and I do not drive, we are pretty darn close. I live in the 3rd biggest city in PA and I’ve been told over and over that I’m very recognizable. People see me out with the kids-all four of them, age 6 and under,everywhere. The most difficult part is buying groceries. You just can’t store much, particularly heavy items, in the bottom basket of a double stroller. This means you must go more often. And the kids do get cranky walking there in the heat, then around the store, and then home. It does make for some very frustrating moments. But I find that I have the most interesting conversations with my children on our walks. We don’t get to talk like that when we’re sitting in a car. Maybe because we’re much farther away from each other, plus the radio is usually on, and you tend to watch the scenery blur by. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to zone out in a car, but I really treasure many of the discussions I’ve had with my six year old and now the almost four year old. And we also have had a lot of fun “crossing the troll bridge”, “flying on a condor’s back” and “going through the forrest”, etc. These are ideas from Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego. The show sparked my daughter’s imagination so we use that as a starting point for making walks more interesting.
I’m Kelley’s friend who does the car free thing with 2, count ‘em, 2 kids. Some days it is downright awful. Most days it makes us focus on what is important. Each other. Living locally. Reducing our carbon footprint. Our biggest car need is getting our almost teenager to his choir rehearsal. This year we have a neighbor in the choir, but he is in the older choir next year, so we are facing some tough decisions. Choir, no choir? Busing 2 hours, two times a week? Renting the hourcar for all the rehearsals at $8 an hour. Ouch. For now it works, though. Check out the blog!
carfreefamily.wordpress.com
Hey Jeanne, thanks for stopping by–I will definitely check out your blog. And…is it possible I “know” you? Do you post at any natural-parenting-type websites, or have you in the past?