Just as the temperatures are beginning to plunge, my preschooler seems to have become conditioned to biking to school.
The unfortunate outcome, I'm afraid, is that I will either a) become very, very cold(Right now, for example, I can't really feel my toes. And I've been inside a cozy coffeeshop,
drinking a Mexican mocha and pumpkin soup working, for 45 minutes) or b) I will cave in, hop in the minivan, and feel exceptionally guilty passing all the bikers on the road (because it turns out there are a LOT, no matter the weather). This is by far the likelier option.
The funny thing is, we don't usually bike anywhere else. When we want to go to the zoo, or the Children's Museum, or anyplace I can think of that will entice them
to get out of the house, we jump in the car without thinking twice. The kids take off their socks and shoes (for unknown reasons, they both prefer to be barefoot in the car) and rock out to whatever's on the
radio.
But when the kids both started new schools this fall, I had to think hard about transportation options, since they both need to be picked up at noon -- four miles apart. And when I discovered driving took just as long as biking, and when the other two families I talked to about carpooling were already planning on biking, a bikepool seemed predestined.
When it's too cold for the babies to be in their
front seats*, though, we have to suspend the 'pool. Today, I was half-hoping my preschooler would revolt at the idea of biking. Instead, he didn't blink. I racked my brain for another excuse, but came up empty.
On the way home, my daughter and I enjoyed the snowflakes and the stillness on the Greenway. Now, I think I'll go for a run to warm up my toes.
*When I was trying to buy one of these locally, a guy at a St. Paul bike shop almost called Child Protective Services, claiming they were so dangerous he couldn't possibly stock them.
The trailer vs. seat safety debate, in reality, is inconclusive.
