Advice on transporting two 3 yr olds to playschool

quozl

From Monday I've to get my 3 1/4 year old twin boys to play-school in the mornings. It's a 15 minute walk - maybe even more at their pace - and I'll have to walk back home to get my bike afterwards. So I'm trying to figure out if I can transport them on my bike.

I've read the cargo bike threads but I really don't have room for a cargo bike in our rental gaff and even if I did, I'd struggle to justify the cost. I'd like one obviously but it's not going to be the N+1 bike.

Only options I can think of are:
1 - walk with 2 three year old boys and a hybrid bike. Try to corral them while crossing roads etc. Head melting and dubious safety wise.

2 - Two bike seats. I'd guess the boys are around 15Kg, I'll have to weigh them tonight. I know you can get bike seats that large that go on the seat tube but I'm struggling to find one for the front. Any suggestions?

3 - A trailer. Most aren't suitable for two 3 year olds. They're also huge and I'd need to cycle into work with it and store it in work. At least 2 carrier seats would take up less space in work A trailer would also take up more space at home than the 2 bike seats. I'd imagine a trailer or bike seats are roughly similarly safe. Here's one that will take two children of their size - http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_724051_langId_-1_categoryId_212384

I'm leaning towards option 2 - front and back child seats or just spending the half an hour walking there and back and then cycling in from home.

Any suggestions?

Lumen

Option 1. Exercise is good for their brains.

I don't know why you need a hybrid bike for that though.

I use a carabina to carry three backpacks, allowing the kids to walk unencumbered while I ride my bike slowly. When they were smaller and tired I used to walk the bike.

krissovo

I use a trail-gator towing my 3 year old on her bike and a ibert at the front for a 2 year old. Only issue is that the ibert will soon be too small in next 12 months so you would not get much value out of it.

I would also advise a good strong bike stand with two legs or a bar from my experience.

quozl

Lumen wrote: »

I don't know why you need a hybrid bike for that though.

Ahh, I was unclear. I already have the hybrid - it's how I get to work. So unless I want to walk 30 minutes to their playschool and back home to get the hybrid then it's to come on the walk with us.

I'm discounting the exercise value of all the options as they're three year old twin boys. They barely ever stop moving

07Lapierre

Option 1 for the first day.

Then:

Commute by bike from the school to work.
leave your bike locked at the school?

quozl

07Lapierre wrote: »

Option 1 for the first day.

Then:

Commute by bike from the school to work.
leave your bike locked at the school?

Interesting idea. I couldn't leave my trek 7.5fx locked out every night, it'd be stolen or the elements would wreck it. I could buy a beater bike and leave it there but then I've got a lovely hybrid with dynamo lights, pannier rack etc sitting unused.

It's definitely an option to consider and if I can tell my wife that boards.ie said it was the best approach then that'll make it easier

Lumen

quozl wrote: »

I'm discounting the exercise value of all the options as they're three year old twin boys. They barely ever stop moving

Yes, but consider how you'll transition them back to walking after they get used to being taxied.

Six year olds have much more vocabulary to argue.

RayCun

Walk there, jog back, cycle in.
15 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever

If you get bike seats or a trailer you have the hassle of getting them in and out and the awkwardness of cycling with them. That make sense on a longer journey but you're only going to be saving 5 minutes on the trip to their school. And for the rest of the day you're dealing with the seats/trailer on your bike. And they're going to grow out of them soon enough anyway.

It's a short journey, but its 15 minutes you get to spend with your kids every day, may as well enjoy it.

07Lapierre

quozl wrote: »

Interesting idea. I couldn't leave my trek 7.5fx locked out every night, it'd be stolen or the elements would wreck it. I could buy a beater bike and leave it there but then I've got a lovely hybrid with dynamo lights, pannier rack etc sitting unused.

It's definitely an option to consider and if I can tell my wife that boards.ie said it was the best approach then that'll make it easier

Talk to the School Principal..they might oblige you by allowing you to lock it indoors or in a secure area. No harm asking anyway.

cdaly_

Is a three year old too big for the saddle on crossbar option? That, combined with the trailgator would allow you carry two and they could take turns being towed. You could probably lock the trailgator at the school.

deandean

At that age I think that walk would be too long for them. This time next year they'll probably be OK to walk.

I think unfortunately you'll struggle to find a bicycle-based solution.

The closest I've seen is a mum who towed one kid plus bags in one of those covered-in trailers and the other on a carrier-seat; that was bringing two girls to Jnr Infants; but she only used it a few times before giving up on the idea.

check_six

We use a trailer like the one you linked to. We park the trailer at the playschool most of the time. They fold down flat if you need the space at home. The trailers are very handy indeed for going to the shops etc. We have managed to fit in two lads and the shopping bags with a bit of a squeeze. We've used the trailer for about 2 and a bit years. The bigger lad (7) was only an occasional passenger (he can get around under his own steam). The little fella is now 3 1/2 and goes everywhere in the trailer. I'd guess two 3 year olds would fit in with no problems.

Walking any distance with little kids can be very hit and miss. You'll have requests to be carried coming thick and fast. If we're walking somewhere with our smaller fella we get him to use a scooter as it means he can keep up more easily. Two kids on scooters with you on the bike could be possible, but you'd probably end up walking your bike in order to shepherd the kids along the path.

How will they get home from playschool? This could change how you bring them in the first place.

quozl

check_six wrote: »

How will they get home from playschool? This could change how you bring them in the first place.

Their mother will pick them up in the car but she can't drop them in the mornings as she'd be there over an hour before the playschool opens.

They'll be OK with the distance - we regularly do further at the weekends - but I'm probably wildly optimistic thinking it's a 15 minutes walk. It's about a ten minute walk for me and I bomb around on foot.

I think it may just be too much hassle to do anything other than walk them there, jog home and then cycle in. I'm trying to save time as the later I get into work the later I come home to the family in the evenings but I think other options may just be too much trouble/expense.

I'll definitely see if I can leave a trailer or bike locked up at the school though. That had never occurred to me for some reason.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions everybody. It's great to get some other people's opinions as otherwise I'm deciding between the few options that have occurred to me.