Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Cars, strollers... so overated

When I moved to NJ from Queens some 5 years ago I noticed that no one walks in this state. It probably wouldn't bother me so much except I didn't even have a driver license. Believe it or not, I hadn't needed it so far. I moved to US when I was 16 years old, since then I lived either in Manhattan or Queens thus no need to drive. I finally passed a driving test and got my NJ license; more for the purposes of having id than driving. When my son came along, my husband was commuting to work by a car, and since we had only one car, my son's main way of transportation was his stroller. I didn't mind taking him in the stroller and walking around to the parks and to the supermarket. In addition, I had read in one of the parents magazines that walking was good exercise and since I was a new mom trying to lose "baby" weight, I couldn't find a better excuse for not using a car.

Two years, two kids and a double stroller later I still prefer walking through town. Walking with both kids in the stroller has become increasingly difficult since the combined weight is approximately 80 pounds. Then, after my son turned 2 years old, he decided that he preferred walking rather than sitting in the stroller. I wasn't surprised; he is my son after all. At first he insisted on pushing Julia in her umbrella stroller all the way to his school. Although the sidewalk is bumpy and not easily traveled, he's determined and he managed the route in 15 minutes.


David also insists on walking to the town park while I am pushing Julia in her stroller. He stops at the street light, waits for the light to turn green or for me to say "go" and only then will he start crossing the street. Today, for example, he walked 20 min to the park, ran around there for 2 hours, walked back home and still had the energy to take Julia's Fisher Price walker to the balcony and run with it back and forth. I, on the other hand, was exhausted, dehydrated and my feet ached. Nowadays I am so tempted to use the car, especially in this heat, but David refuses to get into it! He wants to walk! So, we usually end up walking, and David will point at all the buses and trucks passing by, shouting out their names as they pass. Meanwhile, I secretly hope that all this physical activity will lead to a sport scholarship for college. (I can dream, can't I?)



1 comment:

Unknown said...

The thought of all that walking around in the summer has me exhausted for you.

It's pretty awful how easy it is to get lazy when you move out to the burbs. I remember all the walking I used to do when we lived in Brooklyn, and that seems a lifetime ago. That was also two kids ago, but I can only use that excuse for so long.