Most days we take the train to get to school. Two trains, actually: walk to our closest stop, wait for the train, take it 2 stops, switch to a different train, take it 3 stops, walk 10 minutes through the park to the boys' school, say goodbye to the boys, walk through the park and streets another 10 or so minutes to get to Autumn's school. To get back home, I'd take a different train 3 stops. Switch trains. Take it 1 stop. Walk home.
We leave the house at 7:25. School starts at 8:00 for the boys...about 8:15 for Goose. Whoever takes the kids in the a.m. doesn't return till about 8:30 if there's no stopping for groceries, etc.
A few times now, we've taken bikes. We did it once just after we moved here (to this flat) and, at that time, it was not worth repeating: Dalton had a broken pedal and lacked confidence when it came to navigating the "bike lane" between parked cars and pedestrians, the route we took didn't always have crosswalks so we once had to cross a rather busy street by running to the center median, lifting our bikes up on to the median and then waiting to run across to the other side. Some parts of the route didn't even have specific bike lanes so you just share the road with the cars. As the solo parent on that particular endeavor, it was completely nerve-wracking and didn't save us a bit of time. We didn't even attempt it again with the time it took to get down to our building's bike room, unlock it, unlock all the bikes, lock the room back up, set out on the harrowing journey, and then lock all the bikes up again at the school. We went through the winter perfectly content to continue our train tradition.
Then the weather began getting nicer and we started thinking about the bikes again. But Jason cannot ride my bike (mine's way too tall) and mine is the only one with the child seat for Autumn so, if it was his day to take the kids, bikes weren't an option. However, one day recently, Autumn had a field trip and she had to be at the Kindergarten at the same time the boys needed to be at school. So, two parents were going to have to go...so we opted to try the bikes again. We live, like, exactly 2 km (1.3 or so miles) north of the boys' school. But, going straight south is the terrifying, oft bike-lane-less, occasionally crosswalk-free route. Instead, Jason mapped out a different route that only added a bit more distance: 2.5 km (1.6 miles) but always had a bike lane and crosswalks. He led the way and I picked up the rear and the kids all loved it...I broke off to take Autumn to her Kindergarten and he took the boys on to their school. If you don't count the gigantic fight Jason and I got into when we both arrived home, as far as the kids were concerned it was a huge success. :)
And, of course, when I picked them all up later (Jason-less) we still did okay.
And that is where our bike luck ended. The next time, I did it all solo. Easton led the way and does a very good job with following all the rules and knowing when to stop, when to slow and look both ways. He did great. Until he misunderstood my directions and went a slightly different way and got all mad at me. A few minutes later, Dalton couldn't make it up a very short but very steep hill and fell over and cried from frustration. But, with Autumn on the back of my bike, I can't just stop and hit the kickstand and run to help him...I have to take her off the back first. We made it, though, and when it was time to ride home later, something happened to my bike where my back wheel would not roll anymore as we were about halfway home...but I couldn't figure it out. And that was the day I discovered my bike lock was completely broken so it's not like I could even leave it where it was till someone could come help. I called Jason and messed around with it quite a lot and eventually got it ride-able, but no idea how. So we continued on home.
And yet, somehow, we opted to do it again another day. This time my chain came off my bike, which I was able to fix, but when you have another person affecting balance on the back, it was a bit of a surprise as I took off pedaling, expecting to go...but didn't. So, again, had to hop off super quickly so we wouldn't tip, take her off, fix the chain, then go get the boys. The boys rode around on their bikes for a bit in the school yard and their friends took turns on them too, when the friends left and we tried to leave as well, suddenly Dalton's bike wheel was locked. The brake was locked on it and, again, I couldn't figure it out. I locked the boys' bikes back up and pushed my bike along to take the trains home. But, you can't take your bike on the trains for free, you have to buy it a ticket. And you can only hop in certain designated bike spots of which their weren't any on the first train but the kids had already jumped into the train and it was leaving! So I desperately jumped on with my bike in a non-bike spot and was going to play the ignorant American card if I got in trouble. I didn't. Whew! But, my bike isn't light or small and carrying it up and down subway steps is not my idea of a good time at all.
Jason took the kids to school the next day with a few tools to fix D's locked brake. Turns out, it was just that the handles had twisted around too far and were pulling on the wire from the hand brake so all one had to do was untwist the handle bars. Silly me.
I picked them up on the bikes, though, and within, like, 2 minutes of leaving school, Dalton had wiped out on his bike. He was trying to get out of the way of some people and, instead of jumping up to the brick inlaid border, his wheel skidded along the brick border and he fell. So, stop with Autumn, get her off, go help Dalton, put Autumn back on, ride again. Probably a minute later, Easton wipes out and starts howling in pain. People walking the park paths next to him stopped to help till they saw me and then some people on the tennis court stopped and were calling to him to come over to where they were so they could help him (they couldn't see me but even when they could see I was helping him they kept asking me (in German) if everything was okay--very friendly). Apparently, E was riding too close to the wire fence on one side and his hand got caught against it and shredded his knuckles a bit. But, same ordeal as before: stop, take Autumn off, run back to Easton, help, walk back to my bike, put Autumn back on, ride again with sobbing child two spots behind me. :( It was at this point they said we weren't going to ride our bikes to school ever again.
Dalton has a hard time balancing with his backpack on because it slips off his shoulders a lot (even when walking) but I can't often wear his backpack for him because I have my own, usually full of groceries and such and scarcely allowing room for Autumn as seen here in my window reflection:
At 5, it unusual in Berlin that Autumn would be on my bike at all. Most kiddos in the city grow up with what they call a "Laufrad"...basically what we call a "balance bike" or "strider bike" back home. Laufen is "to run" and Rad is "bike" (or wheel). Anyway, the kids get those as wee tikes and by 3 or certainly by 4, they are pedaling two-wheelers all on their own. What we call "training wheels" and apparently the proper (British) English call "stabilizers" are very rarely seen, in my experience. Also, of possible interest to you American friends: you hardly ever see "bike trailers" here. If there is more than one kid, you still won't really see the back trailers, you're much more likely to see something like this:
A non-self propelling kid is, more than likely, going to be on the back or *gasp* in the front of the parent's bike!
Anyway, Autumn is way behind on her cycling skills as compared to Berlin-Kinder but that's okay. We'll work on it. Even so, I'd be uncomfortable with her riding the very busy route to school just yet.
Most of the journey to school is 6 lane streets....3 lanes going in each direction. It is a fairly major thoroughfare. Sure, it's not the highway but these are not suburban paths...this is a huge city, Yo. However, biking is a very legit way to get around here and there are special bike lanes, bike laws, and bike traffic signals. By law, you must have reflectors in place and a bell:
The bell is to warn the inattentive wanderers and bus loads of unsuspecting tourists to get the heck out of your way (Dalton loved getting to ring his as some group of touring senior citizens waiting to board their bus got in the way):
And because of so many year-round cyclists and pedestrians, German drivers are very good about looking out for people. It's scary to my American self, but living here has changed us all. I'm a lot more comfortable with things I wouldn't have dreamt I'd be comfortable with (and probably the same is true for a lot of you back home in the States who see some of this on my blog and Facebook--"What is she thinking?!?!?" Germany is not America.). :D
Case in point:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!! Right?!?!?
Eh.
Germany laws about car seats are similar to the regulations back home. If you're under 12 or under 1.5 meters tall (59 inches, aka 4' 11"), you need at least a booster. That is all of my children. All of 'em. Buuuuuuuuuuuut, I really don't think people follow it the same way here. I don't. I see short under 12s at school hopping out of Kindersitz-free cars left and right. There is a mom at school that has her rear-facing infant seat in the front passenger side. I know you'll find plenty of that ignorance in the States, too, but all my friends were all very car seat safety savvy and I was too (and will be again when we visit). I once refused to take a kid to the Krispy Kreme drive-through in an expired (by a couple of months) car seat.
Based on living here going on a year now (!!), I'm led to believe that the police don't enforce the car seat law the same way here either. Not that these are official websites, but here are two different sites that say basically:
Transporting a child greater than three years of age without a car seat is allowed only if all other car seats are in use. Seat the child in the rear seat and fasten him with a seat belt or other safety device attached to the seat.Again, I know those aren't official sites, but that info likely came from somewhere. I spent some time looking for the official laws today but, Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen (Oh wait! I just did!) and so I can't find the official info so easily.
Anyhoo, we don't ever ride in cars here. Seriously. The last time I was in a car was October when I took a taxi from the airport with my mom, Grandma, and sister. However, yesterday I rode in cars twice. So weird, right?
Yesterday morning, I had to have a brief meeting with another parent at the boys' school. So I hadn't yet walked Autumn to her school. Thanks to the meeting, we were late for Autumn's Kindergarten, so that mom offered us a ride in her Mercedes. (Yuh-huh!) She took basically the exact same roads I'd take at basically the exact same speeds if I'd had Autumn on my bike. And it was like, "If our friends take this exact road with their helmetless, kids-in-front rickshaw things" (on the street part...no bike lanes there), "then why am I suddenly 'against' doing the exact same thing in a car?"
I'm not.
To convince myself further, I took into account how we stand and walk and climb stairs on moving busses (and trains) all the time...the same busses that are on bigger roads than this car just took. Busses that have to slam on their breaks all the time when a rogue bike cuts them off. I realize busses are different if there was a crash, but a young'un seems more likely to be injured by falling down in a moving bus than she does by traveling 20 km/hour (~12 mph) buckled in the back seat of a big ol' Mercedes driven by a German on a road we're sharing with possibly more bikes than cars.
Also, riding car seat-less in cars is certainly not a habit we're adopting. I would most definitely not hop on the Autobahn without my kids in a car seat. Even if German drivers are excellent, focused drivers, I really do believe in car seats. I never see car accidents here. I know they happen, but they just seem much more infrequent than back home.
I'm sure it's hard for some of you to see where I'm coming from with this, but that's okay. I repeat: Germany is not America. And an American living in Germany has to adjust some ways of thinking.
So we try. :D
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