Transporting six children by bike

[TigerMom]

I am torn between amazement and admiration and then this nagging feeling that it seems...extreme. It is a great example of what is possible, and it makes her happy, so kudos to her for finding her joy, but I would have to have a motorized option for some situations. What if I didn't feel well enough to pedal everyone? What if a little one wasn't feeling well? I wonder if they end up staying home in a lot of situations that someone with a car would be able to go. I wonder if people end up picking up the kids for playdates and soccer practice and gymnastics because they hate to ask her to pedal all six over? I don't think I would want to take my kids out on a bike in all kinds of Portland weather, even in wool and under a tarp. I really wonder if years from now the grown up kids will remember it fondly or wish they could have taken the the car when they had the flu and needed to go to the doctor or get some orange juice. And just the thought of how long it would take to get everyone ready for the excursion makes me want to beat my head against the wall.

And where on earth is dad, besides at work with his car? Do they do anything together as a family? Does he have his own bike and ride along? Does he ever take all the kids anywhere without mom? His absence in this article is glaring.

+1 Grits! Well said
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[shootingstar]

I really wonder if years from now the grown up kids will remember it fondly or wish they could have taken the the car when they had the flu and needed to go to the doctor or get some orange juice. And just the thought of how long it would take to get everyone ready for the excursion makes me want to beat my head against the wall.

And where on earth is dad, besides at work with his car? Do they do anything together as a family? Does he have his own bike and ride along? Does he ever take all the kids anywhere without mom? His absence in this article is glaring.

Am I the only person in TE forums so far, who grew up as a child in a household/family without a car until I was 14 yrs. old? (I am the eldest..)

If I can respond here as a kid who did have some stuff to do in terms of chores, etc.:

When it was cold /icy winter days, I did wish we had a car. I helped my mother pull the grocery cart over the ice. I helped her carry groceries. We took transit at times. Other times, it was a 15 min. walk to large grocery store. A family of 6 children requires alot of food. I mentioned this memory within first 3 paragraphs of this blog post on different farmers' markets that I've visited so far.

What I did, was also expected out of 2 other siblings below me. We took turns. It was my mother who determined who accompanied her each time. Others were too young. But later they each accompanied parents by car to supermarket.

Did I resent it? Of course, any teenager resents a chore/ adult responsbility at times. But what is the point of protecting children from drudgery of chores at times? If a kid is given lots of time to do a chore at their pace and only carry small weights of stuff, with adult parent near by, then that's the best situation for a child to slowly learn over time about self-sufficiency.

I viewed my upbringing..particularily when we didn't have a car, as how a family learns to cope by helping each other.

When we did get our first car, my father had it to get to work, 40 km. away from home. He worked at restaurant and hence, car wasn't even at home most evenings.

It sounds like...cruelty/harshness to some folks: but keep in mind, we lived in a residential street just 10 min. away from the downtown core. It truly was a liveable, walkable and bikeable area that I lived in....1960's -early 1980's.

My parents could not afford to pay for any team sports. So whatever we were involved were sports/art activities organized by the schools we attended. Those were the days, that we walked to and from school. Or took the local transit bus.

This whole way of living is the only way I've known how to live...near transit, walking and cycling. A childhood/teenage memory where I've lived and how we travelled locally, has influenced every home location that I've chosen for 4 other subsequent cities that I've lived later on, in adult life so far.

[goldfinch]

I grew up rural so we had vehicles. I learned to drive when I was 12 and learned on an International Truck, sitting on the edge of the seat barely able to press down the clutch. Different world than the city world.

And I got my first 22 rifle when I was maybe 8 or 9.

[PamNY]

It sounds like...cruelty/harshness to some folks: but keep in mind, we lived in a residential street just 10 min. away from the downtown core.

It doesn't sound like cruelty; it sounds like NYC. When I first moved to lower Manhattan, which had few residential services at the time, I walked much farther than 15 minutes to the grocery store.

Though many stores have delivery nowadays, what you are describing isn't at all unusual for cities. Lots of kids do similar things.

I do wonder if the woman with the six kids takes them all along shopping -- with four in the bakfiets, where do the groceries go?

[zoom-zoom]

I do wonder if the woman with the six kids takes them all along shopping -- with four in the bakfiets, where do the groceries go?

I hope dad does the bulk of the shopping. Even with just 1 kid it's often easier for DH to hit the store on his way home from work. When DS was little shopping was difficult because it meant schlepping along on the diaper bag. Now it's difficult because he wants to spend an hour looking at LEGO and whines through the food aisles.

[shootingstar]

It doesn't sound like cruelty; it sounds like NYC. When I first moved to lower Manhattan, which had few residential services at the time, I walked much farther than 15 minutes to the grocery store.

Though many stores have delivery nowadays, what you are describing isn't at all unusual for cities. Lots of kids do similar things.

I do wonder if the woman with the six kids takes them all along shopping -- with four in the bakfiets, where do the groceries go?

I am not convinced Pam, that even alot of kids living in cities do what I just described in terms of helping my mother carry groceries walking/taking transit from store over 35 yrs. ago. I don't see that type of scenario often, for all the times I've taken transit often, while living in several big Canadian cities over 1 million people. I just see parents with very young children under approx. 8 yrs. old go on transit.

Only if there is hockey or basketball game in town/other type of event brings a parent(s) with their older children onto transit. Based on what I've seen.

Then there's just a bunch of older teens taking the transit in groups by themselves..from school/movie/cafe, etc.

Just my limited view.

Yes, hard to know how much groceries she can carry with all those children. THere just isn't space for the mega-haul/bike ride homeward. Well, when a few of children get older, they might be required to look after younger ones, while a parent goes grocery shopping.

[chatnoire]

I grew up in a city that is world reknowned for its relationship with the automobile, and we had one in our family for quite some time. My mother would take all 4 of us kids on transit to visit my grandmother 2-3 miles away (by bus) before heading to work, and I recall walking to the store on occasion.

Now, I live in a top 20 bike friendly city, and I can walk to the grocery, ride my bike to the farmers market, yoga, coffee shop, and mass transit, but that's a matter of a house in a good area, rather than the norm. And I don't have to wrangle anyone other than myself (which is hard enough.)

As far as her choice to have 6 kids, it sounds like it wasn't something she was raised to think about, and she seems to be, at some extent, making the best of that "footprint".

[maryellen]

A year or so ago I saw a man transporting 'just' three kids and I was pretty surprised. One in a trailer, one in a child seat behind dad, and one on the handlebars. A mix of admiration and horror that he was brave enough to travel that way in downtown Manhattan. Alas, I did not have the presence of mind to take a photo.