I am considering getting some sort of setup that would allow me to bike my kids to preschool and haul them around in general. After biking for 2 years I have come to really dislike driving and I also think it would be great for them to have experience biking from a young age. I have some questions, though:

- Would a cargo bike be safer than a trailer? For some reason I like the idea of being able to SEE my kids in front of me to make sure they are safe (and cargo bikes are kind of built like tanks so all that metal around them somehow seems like it would give me some peace of mind). However, my brother is bullish about the fact that a trailer would be the safer route (since most bike fatalities happen from font impacts). For some reason the idea of my kids being right at car-tire-height behind me freaks me out. Thoughts?

- If I go the trailer route how would I lock it up during the day? The cargo bike seems less problematic in that area (though the commuters at my office would probably hate me for locking up a fat cargo bike every day... hah).

- Do you think it's ethical to make the choice for my kids to have some increased risk for the sake of the planet? I am fine making the choice for myself but I'm not sure if I can make the choice for them. Have any of you processed this and come to a conclusion that could offer some insights?

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I couldn't really find a forum dedicated to commuting with kids. Feel free to move this thread if I'm just being an imbecile.

I don't commute with kids, but I run errands with them a lot. I have a trailer (an old Burley), and I like it. A trailer with a flag is much more visible--get a flag and a good blinky light.

I haven't locked up the trailer--I just lock the bike and hope people leave the trailer alone. I probably wouldn't do that if I was leaving the bike all day though.

I personally use a trailer, though i know others who successfully use extracycles and bakfiets. In any moving car-bicycle collision, there is no meaningful difference in safety. But the trailer is no inherently less safe: its width means in real-world cycling that vehicles actually give me much wider berth; wider also means easier to see. My trailer hauls a lot, too, including groceries and my daughter's bicycle (which she rides while at preschool). all together i usually haul about 100# combined trailer weight.

As for being at car-tire height: tell me about it. When we drive, it's a sub-compact. Every SUV puts us at their car-tire height. But what are you going to do? Become a lemming and keep getting a bigger vehicle than your proverbial neighbor? We made the choice. And then i got involved in my community's political advocacy to help make it safer for regular families to ride bicycles. Community > SUV. You are the community you want to become.

I lock mine up at the preschool, and then commute solo to work. There's a bike rack right in front of the school office with relatively good observation. I thread a long cable through the bolted frame and wheels and couple that to the bike rack. I don't leave valuables in the trailer. All of this depends on your particular situation. If i lived and rode in LA, i might use a bakfiet with a NYC-rated chain. Most good trailers fold up with a little effort. I have been known on occasion to fold mine up and bring it into my office. The whole rig has a rider on my insurance policy.

I think it's important to normalize it. And i also think it's important to make a real attempt to show via example to my kids that there are better ways to live. We make choices for them all the time based on this premise. We're involved in their education and their moral development. That kind of power is crazy, and it makes many of us want them to be better by doing better ourselves.

But safety is important. I avoid the 8am rush and 5pm crush. I either arrange to go earlier or later. I use multiple very bright LED lights on the trailer's rear for increased visibility; i use a very bright LED head lamp, i use an Airzound horn, and i ride ever-aware that someone wants to kill me. Truth be told, this has helped me to be a much better car driver and citizen in general. I also take the lane as necessary.

you might also try the Family and Recreation forum. there are a lot of families that have mulled over the same questions you have here. many of us came to similar solutions idiosyncratic to our particular situations. in every case i know, we are all much happier for it. our kids are happy. it's helped save money, too.

also see if there are other families in your area doing the same. talk with them. in my area there are many such families loosely affiliated with the community groups and cycle clubs that i am a part of.

There is a forum for Recreational & Family, but it doesn't get that much traffic.

Flags on trailers are good; blinkies help. In my experience, cars will give you a huge cushion when you're pulling a trailer. Just the same, choose a quiet route for you peace of mind.
I never locked up the trailer--I left it at my daughter's preschool folded up.

When she got older, I'd leave the Tag-a-long there as well. She's in Kindergarten now; her school has a bike rack so I lock the tag-a-long to it.

As far as making choices for our children and weighing risk, we do that every day as parents. So yes, it is ethical. They're our responsibility, but we only have them on loan for a while, and the values we teach them are important, too. For what it's worth, driving is dangerous.

Alright, guys. This is good stuff. My oldest will be 5 in December so he's probably almost ready for a tag-along.

Anyway, I just realized that I don't have to go whole hog right away. Right now my wife is driving them to their preschool so I guess I could just get a trailer setup and experiment with taking them to the store, etc. and see how it feels. If I'm like "this feels totally safe..." I will start dragging them in to their preschool with me.

Good point about finding other people who have already done this. I live in Portland and thus I can pretty easily hook up with some local people who know the ropes. My commute CAN be pretty hazardous... I ride on a road with a bike lane, 2 lanes of traffic, cars parking, buses swinging in to bus stops, etc. But, for the most part it's pretty easy going.

OK that video is pretty awesome. Dang it... cargo bikes are so effin' sweet.

I can understand the thinking, and I've read/encountered attitudes of "well, it's fine for you to put your kids in a trailer, but what choice to they have?" Funny how no one ever says that about putting kids in cars, and the number of kids killed in car accidents each year is tragic.

Back to the logistics, I don't commute with my child, but we do run some errands on the bike. When I've gone someplace for an extended period of time, and when I first got our trailer (the Burley Bee--highly recommended) I used an old coiled cable lock that could stretch out far, and locked the wheel of the trailer to my back wheel, and had my back wheel and frame locked to a bike rack with a u-lock.

We commute with our kids (almost 2 and almost 5). We've been using a Chariot (Cougar?) since the younger one was about 5 months old. We chose the Chariot for the ease in which it converts to a stroller, which is invaluable if you want to take the trailer with a sleeping kid into a store with you or if a non-cyclist (like a babysitter) ever picks the kids up from preschool and walks them home.

If you search for my recent thread on "increasing my visibility" there are some great tips for side visibility for a trailer, which is my personal worry (that is, cars see me at 4 way intersections but don't always act like they see I'm towing a trailer--like other posters, I find that cars approaching from the rear are very respectful). I had wanted a bakfiet for the reason you mention but couldn't stomach the cost--but now I'm glad I have a trailer instead. The trailer is actually much closer to you than you initially think, the turning radius is easy to master, and once you drop off the kids you also ditch all your extra weight for the rest of your commute. At preschool, I lock the trailer with a cable lock through its frame; if we're running errands in a part of town with high theft risk I leave the trailer attached to the bike but lock the frame to my rear wheel (and obviously secure the wheel!). If I'm just running into the grocery store I leave it unlocked.

I'm not so sure a trailer actually is an increased risk. If you're struggling with the issue, you might want to look at the website Free Range Kids, which is dedicated to the premise that we stifle children by always focusing on the most horrific but statistically unlikely outcome. (I don't think this particular situation per se is addressed anywhere on the site, but the site's general outlook might be philosophically helpful.) Furthermore, by using a trailer instead of a car (and we use the trailer rain or shine), I feel I'm demonstrating to my kids self-reliance, an active lifestyle, and the fact that you can find joy in even the most mundane aspects of life like commuting.

How far are you going? I used to take my kid in the trailer to and from pre-school and would just fold it up and lock it at the school. Shes 4 now and we have a Weehoo trailer that she can ride along with. Either goes well with running errands as the trailer can hold a few grocery bags and the Weehoo has some build in panniers.

Other parents at her school have the extracycles and heavy haulers and they look pretty cool. It would really depend on how much you want to use it. I couldn't really justify one with only 1 kid. I don't have a car (my wife does but she has to use it for work) and the trailers work well enough. I already have enough bikes

Right. I guess there's just sort of a generally accepted idea that you are going to drive places and have your kids in the car. Personally, driving on I-5 with my kids scares the hell out of me and I white-knuckle it the whole time.

Yeah... that's pretty much exactly the age my kids are. Right now I don't necessarily have plans to have a babysitter pick them up from school but that's a valid point. I'm not sure what my future holds.

I see people with trailers all the time on the streets of Portland and yes... it seems to be a universal rule that drivers see a trailer and instantly think "there's a kid in there... I'm going to be really, really safe with this kid". I can get my visibility up for sure and even though they look dorky (in my opinion) I can ride with a trailer flag.

I've grappled with the safety issues and being overprotective of my kids. I'm becoming more and more oldschool (e.g. trying not to be a helicopter parent and just let them have fun more).

My commute is 4.1 miles each way. I am thinking about selling my car (which I basically never use) to justify it if I get a swanky cargo bike.