dondonaldo

I completely agree, but right now, there are few opportunities for my girls to see anyone other than me cycling as a means of transportation. When the weather's good they can see plenty of people riding recreationally (is that a word?), and I'm glad for that. I can work to change the cycling habits of my neighbors and I do talk regularly to people about it, but in the meantime, I want to be as positive an influence as I can be.

So, here's what I'm doing:

• I ride to work year round, even in -25 and a headwind, because I want to model that it's an appropriate means of personal transportation.
• We don't watch commercial television. Not just because of the heavy car centrism, there are legions of horrible messages that I'm incapable of counteracting, so we don't participate. (on a side note, it makes me feel as if we're doing something right when my 3 yr old sees a McDonalds' sign and says, "Daddy I see a big 'M'.")
• I'm getting involved in the local bike planning.
• We travel by bike whenever we can, which means when the weather allows. Riding in the middle of winter can be unsafe and the kids aren't old enough to mitigate those risks yet.

Here's what I plan on doing:

• Get my kids on trikes, run bikes and bikes as soon as they're ready.
• Travel with them by bike as much as possible.
• Talk to them about the available transportation options when it comes up, cars included.

Here's what I want to do, but I'm having trouble with the right resources (hence this thread):

• Provide them with some toy bicycles to fuel their imaginations in this arena,
• Find some good books that feature bicycling, especially if they represent adults cycling.
• Get a few TV programs or movies that feature cycling in a positive light.

I have found a few bibliographies and compiled them, maybe fifteen, twenty titles, I'll put them in another post.