Comments on: How the Autocentric Lifestyle Hurts Our Kids

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:12:01 +0000

This only touches on the surface of the many issues affecting children. There’s also the pollution which contributes largely to asthma levels.
The terror that parents feel when walking across the street with the kids.
The inability of kids to play out front of the house(which leads to afterschool events)
The sapping of tax money for schools and libraries to pay for roads
The constant noise on EVERY major road (one school in Portland was even prohibited from operating because it was near a highway and the noise levels were above the legal limit)
And finally the sapping of confidence due to a child not being able to discover the world on his/her own.
I feel very blessed that my parents allowed me to bike to my activities and around town. I went first 5-10 miles and kept building up to 50-70 miles and finally to a century. Now that’s REAL freedom.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:06:11 +0000

What I’m disputing is the need to jampack the schedules of kids. I grew up in a relatively car-dependent household, but my summers consisted of: bike riding around the neighborhood, water balloon fights, and tree climbing.

Well, sure. But you may not realize just how car-dependent some places are – to the point where kids can’t get to each others’ houses by bike or on foot. The parents may not feel it’s worth driving just to take the kid over to Dylyn’s house, but a tae kwon do class can be framed as an “investment” that will develop the kid’s talents, so it’s worth it.

By: Ian Hlavacek

Ian Hlavacek — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:33:02 +0000

Corollary: from that same group of childhood friends, I’m also far and away the biggest supporter of alternative transportation modes. Actually, that doesn’t do justice to everyone else’s complete and utter lack of interest in matters of transportation/land use/environmental impact. The only difference I can see is that instead of those ballet lessons, I was riding my bike

By: Ian Hlavacek

Ian Hlavacek — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:27:38 +0000

Cap’n, I don’t disagree. What I’m disputing is the need to jampack the schedules of kids. I grew up in a relatively car-dependent household, but my summers consisted of: bike riding around the neighborhood, water balloon fights, and tree climbing. If I were to abuse my statistically insignificant sample, I’d say that I’ve turned out to be one of the happier, more successful individuals from my group of childhood friends. And that has nothing to do with how my family chose to transport itself.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:00:13 +0000

Ian, the causality is that in a car-dependent lifestyle, your fourteen-year-old can’t walk or take the subway to ballet class.

By: Pursuant

Pursuant — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:38:09 +0000

Yeah, I’m not loving this post, but it at least reminded me of how I was able to bike to swimming, tennis, baseball, sailing, later a paper route and two jobs. Growing up in the boondocks has some advantages as the roads were generally quiet and safe.

By: Ian Hlavacek

Ian Hlavacek — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:03:30 +0000

Or you can live a car-centric lifestyle and choose not to get caught in the rat-race style of raising kids. I’m not seeing the causality here.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:20:14 +0000

This phenomenon seems independent of lifestyle–I didn’t notice it until the 90s/early 00s. But it is certainly accelerating in the suburbs/exurbs, isn’t it.