“Hi!” my older son chirps to people walking by on the sidewalk as he pedals by on his bike. A few minutes later, he yells to me about the injustice of how short the green is on this traffic light – we’re stopped at a red light *again* – and how we have to wait for it. Honestly, of all the things he could get angry about, it’s pretty harmless. Throughout the ride, my younger son chatters away sitting behind me, telling me all the observations he held in during class.

I never intended to bike my kids to school. We live just under 2 miles from the school and the route isn’t the kid-friendliest. My kids took the bus and it seemed fine.

But then, of course, COVID hit. Last year, my older son was in virtual school the entire time. My younger son did two months of outdoor preschool, which I hauled him into on the back of my bike. I was working from home and had just gotten my cargo bike, so it was an option for the first time. But even that felt temporary as we talked about how excited they were to take the bus come September. After all, in June, everything seemed like it was going to be okay around us, if not “back to normal.”

But as COVID cases started rising again, I started reconsidering the bus. It would be okay if they had windows open, but what if they didn’t? How well were kids going to keep their masks on? While our school district is legitimately doing its best to reduce risk, I figured it was best to remove a source of risk if I had the choice.

I also knew that biking to school can be valuable to kids, especially kids with attention challenges. A number of studies have found that exercising is associated with temporary improvements in concentration and focus – just like you need in school. Studies that focus on kids found that exercise boosts executive function, including impulse control. Other studies found that kids with and without ADHD were able to focus on memory and skill tasks better after they had done an outdoor activity. The combination of exercise and being outdoors is a big win.

So we tried it out – and it’s been a huge success. Mornings are smoother than ever even though we have to get out the door earlier than by bus or driving. (The mornings where my husband has driven them because I had a work conflict have been…less good.) Moods are better in the afternoon when they’ve had the chance to get all of their frustrations and pent-up energy out on the hills instead of each other. The sensory input of the bike – the outdoors noise, the wind, the balance – helps stabilize all of us. I even see it in myself. On the days I bike them in, I’m more focused and calmer when doing my day job.

Part of the magic is that it’s part of our required routine. They have to get to school somehow and biking is the most fun option. In contrast, trying to get them back outside again once they’ve come home and plopped on the couch is a fight.

It seems like we’re not the only family to have this realization. My older son said when the teacher asked how many kids in his third grade class were walkers or bikers, the majority of the class raised their hands. Overall, the bike rack looks much more crowded than I remember it being in the past. While more than half the school lives in the nearby neighborhood (we don’t), I bet a lot of those kids took the bus before. For the most part, their parents could have chosen to switch to driving, but they didn’t. I’m proud of our school for that.

So if you’ve thought about biking to school, give it a try! You might find out that it’s more doable and enjoyable than you expected.

Here are a few lessons learned:

• Plan your route ahead of time. Find the route that has the least traffic and matches your children’s skills as closely as possible. While ours isn’t the best, my son is a pretty experienced road biker and we’re able to make it work.
• Practice your route in “real” circumstances. A route that’s fine on Sunday afternoon may be far more crowded on a Monday morning.
• Check to ensure there’s bike parking at the school. Ours has a decent (albeit increasingly crowded) rack.
• Teach your kids how to ride in the road. While young kids frequently ride on sidewalks, it’s generally safer to ride in the street in neighborhoods. Drivers often don’t look to see if people are coming from the sidewalk when turning, especially because people biking are coming faster than people walking. Of course, this is not true everywhere. There are a couple parts of our trip on the sidewalk, where the road is too fast for us to take the lane confidently.
• If you have younger kids who can’t ride by themselves, consider how you may be able to carry them on your bike. Some parents are fine with a regular bike seat on the back of their bike, but that can be very unsteady. For smaller kids, a trailer may work – we used one until last year. If you think you’ll be riding every day or want to swap out a good amount of your driving, you may want to consider a cargo bike. I have a Bike Friday Haul a Day and it’s been terrific. I can haul my kindergartener and both kids’ backpacks with relative ease. There are a lot of options out there, so it’s good to check them out.
• Build relationships with other bike riding parents. Waiting to pick kids up can be socially excruciating. But if you see other parents riding, that’s a great conversation starter! I was so pleased to meet a fellow parent with a cargo bike. Many areas also have family biking Facebook groups, which are terrific for answering questions like how to stay warm during the winter.

Do you bike for transportation? Have you tried riding to school?