[stuckinhell]

I'm an aging millennial as well.

I love having a car! I can't imagine not having a car when you have KIDS! Driving them to their various sports games, with a car full of their equipment. Going camping with them. Getting groceries for a family of 5.

I can't imagine doing that on public transport.

[warner25]

I think we can recognize the tremendous utility of something without having an emotional connection like love for it. I agree that I can't imagine not having a car with my four little kids. I also can't imagine not having laundry machines with four little kids, but I don't love my laundry machines; I'm not passionate about them. If you swapped them out with different but reasonably equivalent machines, I wouldn't even blink. Edited to add: And when I don't have four little kids anymore, I'd be happy to live car-free in a walkable city or use a laundry service.

[stuckinhell]

I chose the word Love and I meant it. Humans are emotional beings first and thinking beings second (Though this maybe my day job of management leaking through). Every time I look at my car, I remember my children's "firsts", and honestly I know I'll be very sad when that car breaks down.

[warner25]

Fair point. My car has served me a lot longer than my laundry machines, and it indeed has many more memories connected to it. Now I'm wondering if that's unique to my car or any old object that been close to me for 15 years. I guess I have a simple backpack like that too.

[e63f67dd-065b]

As a kid who grew up in a dense city, I can’t imagine having to be driven by my parents to see a friend or to play some sports, instead of just walking there myself anytime I wanted. I can’t imagine it’s great for the parent either, you have to plan your schedule around your kids and the flexibility just seems miserable.

[stuckinhell]

You might also be discounting a generational change. My coworkers in the city don't let their kids under 13 walk around in the city by themselves either. We often coordinate when we all are planning on doing stuff with our kids, so slack coverage is always 100%

[Xorakios]

Agree with you on generational difference.

40 years ago I walked to school, played in parks, rode my bike with friends.

Now my grandchildren would be confiscated by Child Protective Services and their parents face prison if anyone under 13 isn't accompanied at all times, both inside and outside their homes, by an adult.

[t0bia_s]

Family of 5, no car, just bikes.

It is possible. It just depends on where do you live and how comfortable you are.

[dclowd9901]

I worked with a guy who had two kids and no car. They rode their bikes everywhere, always. He insisted on it. I think his wife was miserable lol. But his kids seemed to like it!

[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

Bringing home groceries on a bike for a family of 4 in the rain sounds awful. Though today grocery delivery isn't too bad, I suppose.

[steelframe]

> Bringing home groceries on a bike for a family of 4 in the rain sounds awful.

It's 100% about the equipment. Gore-Tex. Neoprene. Fenders. Front and rear racks. Waterproof panniers. Lithium-ion batteries. Motor.

Park right in front of the market. Pop the panniers into a cart. Stow the groceries directly into them. No hauling bags out to your car, loading them into the trunk, and then unloading them at home. Instead, transfer straight from the panniers to the fridge and pantry.

I do it year-round in the hilly and rainy Pacific Northwest, and it's actually kind of fun.

[frosted-flakes]

I go grocery shopping by bike. Of course it's only for me, but I can easily fit a week's worth of food in a milk crate. I even get heavy stuff like cartons of canned drinks or gallon jugs of milk. I live about two kilometres from two grocery stores in an isolated northern town in Canada, and even though there is zero bike infrastructure here, it's so close that it doesn't really matter if I need to go multiple times per week.

Rain or snow doesn't really matter either; that's what fenders and a jacket are for, and in any case it rarely rains heavily non-stop, but comes in waves, so I can just wait until the rain pauses for a little while.

It's great fun, actually. I hate getting groceries by car now.

[frenchy]

It totally depends. I do half our shopping on a bike, but I was very intentional about buying a place that was only a km from a grocery store. I could walk if I really wanted.

The worst part is that the shopping carts aren't near the bike rack, so its quite a hastle to deal with toddlers trying to run away.

[JohnFen]

It's not bad at all if you have a decent trailer and raingear.