tfahrner

It sounds to me like you've worked out enough details to need only a little push, indeed. Well, our son is now four and we have another kid on the way, and we've never owned a car, and we have no intent of changing that. I feel that we end up spending a lot more time in close physical exploration of the world and bodily closeness with our kid being cage free. This is as much a direct consequence of him not spending significant time behind our backs strapped into a plastic bucket with five straps, as of living in an environment and according to a routine in which cars are pointless apart from trying to seem normal to car addicts.

When our son does get into cars, a few times a year, he cries "I can't breathe!" and generally freaks out for a little while. He's otherwise a normal, confident, very happy boy in all kinds of situations. As much as I wish he weren't so distressed, part of me is glad he still knows something is not right with this arrangement. Reminds me that as cars were introduced, they were by law restricted to walking speed. These "red flag" laws were eventually repealed with great fanfare and even inter-city races were held at the dizzying new rural speed limit of 12mph: that's what seemed to unconditioned people a reasonable maximum for such heavy, noisy machines operated in rail-less proximity to human beings.

The right gear helps. It isn't all that hard to find if you're good at online research; I've listed some helpful stuff in previous posts, but suppose 3-4 years has left me behind the times as far as the niftiest infant gear goes.

Here's the latest bit of kit: http://todd.cleverchimp.com/blog/?p=139