Posts about Families

Melissa made "a stink about a pregnant lady giving up her seat for someone on crutches," she says, and only then did people offer seats to both of them.

Folks, many people don't want to go around loudly asking others to give up seats. If you see someone who is less physically able than yourself on the bus, please volunteer the seat. If someone asks you to give up a seat or move over to accommodate someone, please cheerily agree.

In particular, the row of seats nearest the door is reserved by law for seniors and persons with disabilities when necessary. If you're in one of those, it's extra important to give up your seat.

Meanwhile, Emily (@TheFrogget) was riding the G8 bus in Bloomingdale. A mom placed her folded stroller on a shelf next to the door; Emily was sitting in the seat immediately adjacent, but there was a seat right across the aisle.

Emily says, "I got the stink eye for 30 mins and then a scolding when she got off. If the bus had been full, I would have happily given her my seat. But there was an open one 3 feet away." The woman didn't ask Emily to move, just fumed that she didn't.

It seems to me that while anyone should have been willing to give up a seat for the mom and child had there been no seats, there's no rule that the seat has to be the one they specifically want when there's another within easy eyeshot of the stroller. On the other hand, if the woman had asked nicely, I'd hope Emily would have happily moved over. Only the woman didn't ask.

What do you think? Have you had any bad (or good) etiquette experiences on buses?

As the organizer of Kidical Mass DC, I love to share the ins-and-outs of biking with kids. Biking around DC with my son during the past 2 years has been more fun than I ever could have imagined. It's a joy for both of us because my son loves that we can pull over on the road whenever we see anything interesting. And I get a very real thrill that unlike other parents in the area, I don't have to worry about hunting for parking when I'm dropping him off at daycare. Plus, by using the bike to run everyday errands with him in tow, I'm teaching him that bikes are a safe, useful, and normal way of getting around.

I've learned a lot about the different approaches to biking with kids and think that with the right knowledge, nearly any parent can share the delights of cycling with their own children. Below is a summary of some of the most common cycling options for parents who have kids aged from infancy to early school age, listed in order of cost.

Bike Seats ($)

If you want to try biking with your children without making a big investment in gear, aftermarket bike seats are a great first step. Easily adaptable to a variety of bike types and brands, relatively cheap, and offering the intimacy of having your child within arm's reach during the whole ride, bike seats that bolt onto either the front stem or rear rack of your bike are a great economical choice.

The most commonly-seen bike seats bike seats are Topeak's rear seat (ubiquitous in bike shops) and the iBert front-mounted seat, a neon green contraption that is outstanding for its ability to fit onto a broad range of bike types and sizes.

I have used both front and rear seats and there are pluses and minuses to both. Front seats are unbeatable for staying in contact with and monitoring the comfort of your child. Your child gets to see everything that's going on around him or her, and drivers can't miss the fact that you're child is with you.

A front seat's main disadvantage, in my view, is that they're only usable for 2 or maybe 3 years because most have a maximum weight limit of 35 pounds. Rear-mounted seats, though, will hold kids weighing up to 50 pounds. Kids riding behind cyclists are also a little more protected from the weather than kids riding on the front of the bike.

You should keep a few considerations in mind before you head out to the local bike shop. First, what kind of handlebars does your bike have? Front-mounted seats go best with upright or mountain-type handlebars. Also, some front-mounted seats only work with certain stem diameters and otherwise require adaptors to be used.

Additionally, make sure your kickstand is sturdy and well-balanced enough to handle the additional weight of a child on your bike. You might even want to look into aftermarket centerstands like this one available from Velo Orange to provide more balanced support for your bike.

One more consideration: I strongly recommend using a mixte, loop, or other step-through frame if you're going to bike with a child on the back of your bike. It makes it easier to get on and off your bike without kicking your child in the face (ask me how I know!).

With a price point of $100 to $200, child seats are the most economical way to start biking with kids if you already have an appropriate bike.

Front seats:

• iBert*
  
• Yepp Mini
  
• BOBike Mini
  
• WeeRide

Rear seats:

• Topeak*
  
• Yepp Maxi* (includes option for mounting without a rear rack)
  
• Peanut Shell*

Trailers ($$)

For many years, trailers were the ultimate bike accessory for the hard-core, year-round cycling parent in the United States. They attach to nearly any kind of bike, include canopies to keep out the cold and rain, can carry a significant amount of cargo, and can accommodate a broad age range of passengers. Many trailers also convert to strollers, meaning that parents can potentially address two needs with a single tool.

If you're on a limited budget and need to invest in a single kid-hauling accessory that will carry your child from an infant (in a car-seat, of course) to school-age, trailers are probably your best bet. There is also a strong resale economy for trailers, so it's usually easy to either find a used trailer online or sell your own trailer when you're finished with it.

The two big names in the trailer world are Burley and Chariot. Made in the U.S.A. and Canada respectively, Burley and Chariot offer trailers in a wide range of sizes and weights at prices ranging from $300 to close to $700 depending on the size and features. Thanks to its many years in the business, Burley has a fantastic customer support system that offers replacement parts even for models that haven't been made in five or more years. Chariot produces a similar fleet of trailers but focuses more on the multi-sport market: they offer conversion kits for walking, jogging, and even skiing to increase the versatility of their trailers.

Trailers:

• Burley*
  
• Chariot*
  
• InStep*

Longtails ($$$)

A recent innovation, longtails are a great compromise between the speed and maneuverability of a regular two-wheeled bike and the cargo capacity of a boxbike. The original longtail is Xtracycle's Free Radical. The Free Radical is a frame extension that bolts on to an existing bike frame in the place of the rear wheel, moving the rear wheel back and adding an extended platform to the back of the bike.

Since first developing the Free Radical, Xtracycle has continued to refine its design and has spawned several variations on the original concept of bikes with extended tails. The company partnered with Surly to design an all-in-one longtail bike, the Big Dummy, that incorporates the longtail concept in a single frame and is therefore sturdier and able to handle larger loads. Recent other variations have included Xtracycle's Radish (a lighter-weight, step-through frame), the Yuba Mundo, and the Kona Ute.

Longtails are a great way to carry multiple children at the same time or to carry older kids. Even after they outgrow bike seats and trailers, kids can perch on the rear decks of these versatile bikes. With a little creativity, you can even fit three kids at a time on a longtail.

Longtails are relatively lightweight for their cargo capacity and, though even a simple FreeRadical conversion kit costs more than some trailers, are a great investment for their ability to accommodate many different combinations of cargo and kids. FreeRadicals are about $500 while other longtail styles can cost from $1,100 to $2,000.

Longtails:

• Yuba Mundo*
  
• Surly: Big Dummy*
  
• Xtracycle: Free Radical, Radish
  
• Kona Ute
  
• Madsen (longtail/boxbike hybrid)

Boxbikes ($$$$)

The true SUVs of the cycling world, cargo trikes and bakfietsen are low-maintenance, weatherproof, nearly bombproof kid-hauling machines. Both types of cargo bikes feature a dramatically extended front end with a large, sturdy front box mounted on the frame. Cargo trikes have one rear wheel and two front wheels on either side of the box while bakfietsen (the Dutch plural for "boxbike") have one rear wheel and one front wheel that sits in front of the box. Some bakfietsen sport a box large enough to comfortably accommodate even four children, or two children, a dog, and a bunch of groceries.

Equipped with weather canopies, plenty of cargo space, built-in seats with seatbelts, and sometimes even integrated lighting systems, boxbikes are the ultimate turn-key option for families who want to make a full commitment to going car-free or extremely car-light. They often feature fully enclosed shifting and braking systems for maximum weatherproofness, so keeping these bikes outside shouldn't be a problem. This is especially important for those without dedicated garage space. Many boxbikes have chain guards while some even include full chain cases for the ultimate maintenance-free drivetrain.

As you might expect, all these features come with a price. Boxbikes typically start at $2,700 and, depending on capacity and other factors, can increase in price to $4,000 or more.

Of course, that's about 10 times more than most people would ever dream of paying for a bike. But $4,000 is about one-third the cost of the very cheapest car you can purchase new. Plus the annual maintenance costs for the boxbike are practically nil. More than any other family biking tool, boxbikes are designed to serve as true car replacements, giving that price tag a different context and making them a worthwhile investment. Additionally, considering how much space car seats take up in the back seat of a sedan, a cargo trike or bakfiets could even carry more children than your typical family sedan!

Bakfietsen:

• Larry vs. Harry Bullitt*
  
• Gazelle Cabby*
  
• Workcycles Cargobike
  
• Metrofiets
  
• CETMA
  
• JoeBike Shuttlebug

Cargo trikes:

• Boxcycles Christiania*
  
• Nihola

If you want to explore these options further, be sure to stop by the ABC's of Family Biking this Saturday. Thanks to several helpful bike shops and a cadre of enthusiastic (evangelical, even) parent cyclists, we will be demonstrating many of the types and brands of bikes and bike equipment described above.

* available in local shops, either in-stock or by special order

After the meeting, Peter May, Associate Regional Director for Lands, Resources, and Planning with the National Capital Region of NPS, approached us with his business card offering to join us on a walking tour to look at the property. We had already been talking with Councilmember Tommy Wells, who chairs the DC Council's commitee overseeing parks, and organized a group tour to see how NPS and the District could work together to build the much-needed playground.

The early December walking tour was an amazing show of cooperation on all fronts. Besides downtown playground advocates, May, and Wells, we had Bob Vogel, Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks; Steve Lorenzetti, Deputy Director of National Mall and Memorial Parks; Daniel Connor, Deputy Director, DC Council Committee on Libraries, Parks, Recreation and Planning; and, members of the Washington Interfaith Network.

As a group, we spent over two hours walking around the neighborhood identifying potential sites for playgrounds and figuring out how to work together to make them happen. Almost all of the sites visited will require participation by both DC and federal officials, and in this meeting, we saw that such cooperation is possible.

Our walking tour included the four small pocket parks surrounding Carnegie Library; Milian Park, on the northeast corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 5th Street; Franklin Square, between 13th, 14th, I and K; and Pershing Park, on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th.

Mt. Vernon Square pocket parks are best immediate opportunity

NPS officials felt that the 4 pocket parks surrounding Carnegie Library ought to have already been transferred to the District along with Mt. Vernon Square. Peter May said that the NPS would be willing to turn the land over to the DC government to accommodate play areas in those currently-empty spaces.

The small parks have a lot of potential for varied use and would be a great way to enliven the overall space. They could become an attraction and leave the open lawn of Carnegie Library as a place to gather for picnics or other activities.

To make that happen, Mayor Gray needs to send NPS a letter requesting the land. Tommy Wells promised to ask the mayor for such a document. This will start the process of creating what will, with any luck, become a world-class play space near the Convention Center.

Why downtown needs a playground

Right now, there are absolutely no playgrounds in the downtown DC area. Since the area is only newly residential, there was little need for playgrounds years ago. As more and more children move in to the neighborhood, they need space to play where parents needn't fear they will run into the streets.

The problem affects more than just downtown DC residents. School children from the surrounding areas lack sufficient play space, too. It is ironic that the closest public elementary school to the White House, Thomson Elementary, has absolutely no outside space to play.

First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campaign has, as one of its primary goals, to get kids outside and active. Yet, these kids have absolutely no opportunity to do so. Moreover, the children in this school are at high risk of suffering from obesity, as over 75% of the students qualify for free and reduced price lunch. It is unacceptable that these children get absolutely no opportunity to play outside.

To appreciate the severity of this problem, all you have to do is walk around the downtown area in the mid-morning on any weekday. You are sure to see some of the hundreds of toddlers and preschoolers being walked around on ropes by daycare supervisors. Much of the time, those children are not headed for any particular location, because there is nowhere for them to go. Instead, the caregivers are simply walking them around the block, strung together for safety, day in and day out.

Regulations require that the children spend this time outside, but neither the District nor the federal government (which controls most of the open space in the area) is providing a place for them to go to play. Those kids who are lucky enough to be in government daycare do have access to playgrounds, but those are fenced in and closed to the public. As a result, many children spend much of their childhoods holding onto a rope instead of learning to run and jump.

Until our parks catch up with the rest of the world-class development taking place in our capital's downtown, we will never have a truly healthy neighborhood. It will benefit all of us to reprogram our park spaces to be useful and beneficial to all.

Although the need is clear, it has proved difficult to meet because many different entities control the park space in downtown DC. Much of the property is federal land. Some is District land, some is private land, some is federal land leased to the District, and some is federal land turned over to the District which in turn leases it to private entities.

As a result, Congressional oversight, historical considerations, and the need to reserve space for future memorials all complicate considering any change to downtown green space. In short, it will take a lot of cooperation among numerous entities in order to bring play space to the neighborhood.

We are very thankful to everyone for the time and effort that they have already put into this project and that which will be necessary to fully realize our goals. Every child needs access to a playground, and we are very happy that NPS and the District government are willing to work together to meet this need.

If you are interested in helping us move forward on any of these initiatives or have other ideas for play spaces in downtown, please join us for our meeting Wednesday, March 14th, 6 pm at Calvary Baptist Church.

A school bus is powered by the kids pedaling to get to school, and has a backup motor for when the kids aren't on board.

It's not the only pedal-powered bus, either. They've sold 25 of the $15,000 bus/bikes, thus far all in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, BeyondDC recently linked to a 2009 UK Daily Mail article about a stroller (or "buggy" in British) called Taga which converts to and from a bicycle, so that a "yummy mummy" can "pedal to shops," getting exercise and saving "petrol," and then turn the unit back into a "pushchair" to walk around with the child.

We could use these here in the "States," too! In early 2010 it looked like these were coming to America, but now the Taga store locator webpage just says they are out of stock.

Did these turn out to be too expensive for a mass market? Can some major manufacturer get on this, work out a licensing deal, mass-produce some more cheaply and merchandise them at major baby stores?

The Child Find provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that all states have a comprehensive system "to assure that all children who are in need of early intervention or special education services are located, identified, and referred."

This provision emphasizes the importance of early intervening services since providing services to children before they reach kindergarten "can have a significant impart on a child's ability to learn new skills as well as reduce the need for costly interventions over time" for children with developmental delays and disabilities as well as those with learning disabilities.

While DCPS, including Early Stages for preschool-age children, and DC Charter Schools are responsible for identifying students in need of special education services between the ages of 3 and 21, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education is responsible for identifying all DC residents from birth to age 3 in need of special education services.

Sadly, these obligations to the most vulnerable in the District are still not being met. Testimony in the continuing class action lawsuit, DL v. District of Columbia, demonstrates that DCPS must strengthen several elements needed to have a comprehensive Child Find system. The suit was brought about by 7 families in 2005 "who encountered barriers and delays in securing special education services for which they were eligible".

A judge overseeing the suit ruled last week that DCPS had failed to provide some parents with a timely evaluation, as determined under IDEA. Early Stages staff acknowledged that "at least four patients per day contacted Early Stages 'to report that a Child Find Coordinator had failed to return their calls regarding providing their children with an evaluation or an eligibility screening.'"

The testimony of another DCPS witness, Maxine Freund, a professor at George Washington's Graduate School of Education and Human Development, also illustrated how "leadership turnover and lengthy vacancies in key positions" hindered Early Stages' efforts in becoming a comprehensive child find system.

Poor leadership has most likely limited the development of a tracking system "to determine which children are receiving services and ensure follow-up once children are referred" as well as complete coordination among agencies in Washington, DC involved in providing services to identified children.

The opening of the second Early Stages center is certainly a step in the right direction. Before the opening of the second Early Stages center, 40 percent of the referrals in the Ward 6 Early Stages center were from children in Wards 7 and 8. This high number of referrals is consistent with the most recent census data that illustrates that 40 percent of DC children live in Wards 7 and 8.

Furthermore, children who live in poverty are more at risk for having a developmental delay. While less than 3.1 percent of children who live in Ward 3 live in poverty, over 40 percent of children who live in Ward 7 and about 50 percent of children who live in Ward 8 live in poverty. Early Stages staff believe that at least 12 percent of children in this age group have a disability or a developmental delay.

While the implementation of the Early Stages program has played a role in increasing the identification of preschool-age children with disabilities or developmental delays, DCPS must strengthen its efforts to fill the position vacancies with people who are not only experienced in Child Find, but also have strong leadership skills.

Including strong leaders in management positions and reducing turnover would increase the likelihood of Early Stages developing a culture that supports the aspects of a comprehensive Child Find system, including timely evaluations, communication with families, interagency coordination, and the development of a tracking system.

On other issues, Greater Greater Washington has provided an opportunity to have a thoughtful discussion about the issues and policies that could address them. We are looking for contributors who can do the same for education and child-raising topics.

Whether you have kids of your own, have a professional background in these issues, or just read obsessively about them, we'd welcome having you contribute. You can either take a topic that's been in the news, or some of your own experience and knowledge, and provide some explanation and policy analysis, like Caroline's, Mitch's, Ken's and Bruce's articles, among others.

All GGW contributors (and editors) are volunteers. We'd like you to be willing to write about 2 articles per month or more. If you are interested, please email info@ggwash.org. We're looking forward to helping share your ideas with our over 75,000 monthly readers and many of the area's policymakers.

It's faster than driving—only 70 minutes from Union Station or 45 minutes from the Rockville station, which is right next to the Rockville Red Line stop. And best of all: toddlers love big trains.

We like to take the Amtrak line which leaves Union Station at 4:05 pm and arrives in Harpers Ferry at 5:16 pm—perfect timing for napping toddlers. The second time we did this trip, the conductor even remembered my son's name and gave him high-five, as well as a kid's book. My little guy was in paradise. Make sure to walk to the lounge car which has floor-to-ceiling windows for great sightseeing on your trip.

If you need to leave later in the day, the MARC train leaves Union Station at 4:55, 5:40, and 7:15pm. It costs less too, but isn't as fun.

Where to stay: You have two choices for accommodations with kids that don't require a car, the Town's Inn and the KOA Campground. We've stayed in both, and which one you stay in depends on whether you plan to spend most of your trip in town or at the campground.

The Town's Inn is the only hotel in downtown Harpers Ferry. You can walk there from the train station in 2 minutes. Best of all, it's in the middle of everything you will want to do.

The KOA Campground is a mile from the train station. You can either walk there or take a National Park Service bus. The walk is a pleasant one through Harpers Ferry and the next-door town of Bolivar, except for one crossing of a 6-lane expressway at an intersection with no walk signal. Most of the walk is part of the Appalachian Trail, so you'll see hikers. I walked to the campground, with my supplies in a big backpack and my little guy in a stroller.

Or you can take the NPS bus, which runs between downtown and the NPS Visitors' Center every 10 minutes. The NPS Visitors' Center is a pleasant 10 minute walk from the KOA Campground. The primary purpose of the bus is to shuttle visitors who drive from a vast parking lot at the Visitors' Center to downtown, which is great because this keeps cars out of downtown Harpers Ferry.

What to do downtown: There are basically 2 fun things for kids to do downtown. They can play in the Shenandoah River, and watch NPS reenactments of 19th century Harpers Ferry. Both are within a 5 minute walk. And pedestrians essentially rule the road, as there are few cars in downtown, so you can feel safe with your kids running around free.

The Shenandoah is a 3 minute walk from downtown. My 2-year-old built sandcastles on the banks of the Shenandoah while throwing rocks in the river for hours. And about every hour, a freight train goes by about 100 feet from the river which leaves the toddlers' mouths hanging open.

For the older kids, the NPS puts on a great show of reenactments throughout the day. Kids can write articles for an old-time newspaper, then churn butter and talk to a Union solder all before lunchtime. Older kids also love the ghost tours which depart from downtown most evenings.

Keep in mind that the downtown restaurants don't currently serve breakfast, as they make most of their money off of day trippers. Fortunately, the Town's Inn sells breakfast food and has refrigerators and microwaves. Also, the Country Cafe serves a fantastic breakfast, and is a 2/3 mile walk from downtown and 3 blocks from the fabulous Bolivar Public Playground.

What to do at the KOA campground: The Harpers Ferry KOA is a kids' paradise. A regular pool and kiddie pool, super pillow for jumping, playground, arcade and mini-golf make the day fly by.

And you don't have to bring a bunch of food to cook, because there are free pancakes on weekends for breakfast and a fully-stocked convenience store on site.

For the parents, a coffee shop and wine store has daily wine tastings on the campground. Anytime you want to go back into town, the NPS bus stop at the Visitors' Center is a 10 minute walk away.

Getting back: The only real challenge to visiting Harpers Ferry without a car is taking the Amtrak train back to DC. The train is supposed to stop in Harper's Ferry 7 days per week at 10:55am, stopping next at Rockville at 11:40am and Union Station at 12:40pm. But it's always late—2 hours late on my first trip and 4 hours late on my second.

The Amtrak trip to Harpers Ferry is generally on time, because the Capitol Limited route is beginning its Union Station to Chicago journey. Coming back to DC, though, it can have been delayed by Norfolk Southern (between Chicago and Pittsburgh) or CSX (between Pittsburgh and Washington). Fortunately, Amtrak has a great mobile site and iPhone app which provide real-time status updates so you can enjoy downtown while waiting for the train.

If you're returning on a weekday and are willing to leave early, MARC is also an option. Trains leave at 5:51am and 6:56am.

Know any other car-free family trip destinations? Mention them in the comments.

Correction: The original version of this article spelled the name of the town incorrectly as "Harper's Ferry" in some places. The correct name has no apostrophe.

Update: The article mentions the lack of breakfast options downtown. The owner of the Town's Inn contacted us with the good news that a shuttered downtown restaurant, the Town's Pub and Eatery, has reopened with service from breakfast through dinner. I haven't tried it, but initial online reviews are positive.

One of the great mysteries is dealing with the [National Park Service]. Numerous people have told me that NPS does not support playgrounds on the parks they control. However all of the parks in Capitol Hill are parks maintained by the NPS and they all have playgrounds. How did this happen? Did Congress intervene?

NPS playgrounds rare and hard-won

To get an answer for Ms. Armijo, I talked to Peter Harnik of the Trust for Public Land. He addresed this very issue in a Washington Post op-ed (pay required for full article) on October 10, 2004:

The almost 7,000 acres of national park land in the District contain a grand total of 11 playgrounds. If you include playgrounds on the 800 acres operated by the DC parks department, Washington's total reaches 71. This compares with 129 playgrounds in Baltimore, 162 in San Francisco and 504 in Chicago.

Each of the 11 playgrounds on national park land has a political history akin to the passage of some major piece of legislation. The newest one, which opened last winter on Capitol Hill, took a group of Lincoln Park mothers six years of campaigning and resulted in an unfenced tot lot rather than the adventure playground they had hoped for.

It's not just a problem for small children: Even counting the wide open spaces and recreational facilities of Anacostia Park, the Park Service provides only 18 soccer fields in the whole city, compared with, for instance, 75 on a smaller land base in Seattle.

Frustration felt citywide

Steve Coleman, of Washington Parks and People, says the challenges of getting NPS to accommodate children goes beyond downtown. He wrote in an email:

Yes, the parks on Capitol Hill tend to have playgrounds. Residents have generally only gotten their concerns addressed through massive community effort. Stanton Park neighbors, for example, had to campaign for years just to make simple safety upgrades to their play area.

For some, the wait is even longer. At Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park, the Park Service approved, ordered, and began to install several play areas in the 1930's, then halted work because of budget cuts for World War II, never to be re-started. As a result, thousands of families living in the densest area of the city have faced the same dilemma as Chinatown residents of whether to give up on the neighborhood because of lack of adequate play facilities.

The Park Service has built some beautiful playgrounds in DC. But sadly, NPS has shown a tendency to build and care for play areas in some more affluent neighborhoods such as Montrose Park in Georgetown while providing far less care or support for the families living in many less affluent areas.

The Park Service's enabling legislation cites its mission as preserving the nation's natural and cultural resources unimpaired for the education, inspiration, and enjoyment of this and future generations. Many dedicated people in the Park Service work hard every day to advance this mission for all, despite budget shortfalls.

There are signs that Park Service leaders may want to finally address the under-investment and shortcomings of inner-city DC parks management. Yet in many under-served parts of the capital, the reality is that the enjoyment of this generation of children has been all too often left by the wayside.

Park Service spokesperson Bill Line did not respond to multiple emails sent over the course of 2 weeks asking for comment on Ms. Armijo's question.