Commuting - Taking the good with the bad

The good: my wife and I have been discussing ways to cut down on the cost of her commute to work. I nearly had a heart attack when she proposed riding her bike. She doesn't mind me riding (I've been commuting every day for 3 years), but she didn't grow up on a bike (she'd never ridden a geared bicycle prior to meeting me, and that was at age 28) like I did. I NEVER thought she'd suggest it for herself.

The bad: for a couple of months there my daughter (now almost 18 months old) would come home from day care everyday and want to examine my bike. For the last 2 weeks however she's insisted on sitting in the front seat of my wife's car and "driving" instead of going to the bike. She grabs the steering wheel and touches the gear shift, turn indicators (she's probably used them more in the last 2 weeks than the average NC driver has...), radio knobs, and all that.

I fear that she's following the typical American path, falling out of love with the bicycle and replacing it with the car as she gets older. :rolleyes:

My little rug rats loved to play with my bike when I came home. They loved to feel the chainrings, they loved to turn the cranks. Then one day they decided it would be fun to do both simultaneously...

So they're not allowed to play with Daddy's bikes anymore, lest Mommy beat the hell out of all of us. ;)

My little rug rats loved to play with my bike when I came home. They loved to feel the chainrings, they loved to turn the cranks. Then one day they decided it would be fun to do both simultaneously...

So they're not allowed to play with Daddy's bikes anymore, lest Mommy beat the hell out of all of us. ;)

HAHAH. LOL
:lol:

I struggle with this stuff as well. I lean my bike against the kitchen wall when prepping in the morning and it went down on my 14 month old this morning. My wife gave me the stink-eye as she resqued him. When it happened my two year old made it clear that he had also learned hard lessons regarding playing with the bike.

My wife has also made it clear that when we finally get our hardwood flooring this practice will have to change.

My 3.5 yr old daughter turned her back on the bike trailer when she got a Dora the Explorer carseat for the station wagon. Went and got another Dora pillow for her to bring in the trailer, and equilibrium was restored.

She is only 18 months old.
Now look at toys for boys. Just about everything is a car or truck. They start us early.

My 15-month-old LOVES bikes. Every day when I come home, she comes toddling outside saying "bike! bike! bike! bike! bike!" then runs over to my bike and plays with my cranks and my lights. I have some cute pictures of her 'helping' my brother wrench, if I can ever get them out of the camera.

That being said, I'm sure she'd love "driving" the car, too. It's a thing. And it has buttons.

My 22 month old loves to watch me do stuff to my bike, he helps me wash & tune. I figure it's cool he wants to get his hands dirty and help me out.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1157/lilpeteyxo4.jpg

My 15-month-old LOVES bikes. Every day when I come home, she comes toddling outside saying "bike! bike! bike! bike! bike!" then runs over to my bike and plays with my cranks and my lights. I have some cute pictures of her 'helping' my brother wrench, if I can ever get them out of the camera.

Yup. Start them young. I have a three year old and a one year old. The three year old has a bike with training wheels, before that he had a trike, before that he rode on a pull-behind trailer. The one year old rides behind mom. The three year old asks for bike rides after dinner, the one year old when we go out in the garage will run up the bike and touch it and say "YEAH? YEAH? SURE?"

Parents are the role models that make kids what they are ... get the kids involved in bikes and nurture it!

DUDE!

She's 18 mo. old! In another 2 weeks (if not sooner) she'll be onto something else, and something after that.

Chill.

B'sides, it's way cool that your wife is thinking about trying a bike commute!