Which for us often brings up memories of biking to school. That's certainly true for the Spoke-n-Sport supreme leader Chad, so we had him write about it.
Enjoy:
Growing up, both of my parents were teachers.
They were always going to work just a little too early for me. My dad taught high school physics and my mom taught at a pre-school. If I wanted to be lazy it meant I would have to leave with them an hour early.
No thanks.
Kindergarten through 6th grade was pretty easy. School was right over there. It was on the other side of the block. My siblings and I were not allowed to bike to school. Knowing my dad, it was probably the solution to a physics equation. The energy required to move a bike half a block was disproportionate to the amount of energy needed to lock it up.
I don't understand these equations. Junior high wasn't much different. It was two blocks the other direction and also too close to bike to. High school was definitely far enough away. It helped that my dad taught at the same high school
My sophomore year in high school was busy with work, soccer and cross country (Oh, and school). I don't know that I had to be at all three on any given day. I just don't remember.
We had a choice. Bike to school or go early and get home late. Getting up early doesn't compute. Although today, I'm up most days at 6 a.m., I'm hardly functional before two or three cups of coffee. I'm NOT a morning person. I would sleep in as long as I could. It took me 15 minutes to pedal (RACE) to school from my house.
I would maximize my sleep. Coming home late didn't work either. Had to work at the bike shop. Those bike parts wouldn't buy themselves.
I'd be lying if I said I biked every day. I didn't. Most days were a combination. Maybe a car ride to work with a bike on back. When my dad drove his van (as opposed to his 1981 Honda Aero 80) I could throw my bike in the van and take it to work. Life was good. Several friends and I even negotiated with Mr. D. to let us park our bikes backstage at the school.
The days we biked to school we arrived energized and ready to learn. Of course we didn't understand this but the research and science says that's how our brains and body work. Days that I biked to work I left the school with some stress but arrived stress free and refreshed. I love bikes and have always loved biking to school and work. Not once did I ask, "What freedoms am I giving to my parents by being more self sufficient?" I should have.
I have three girls. None of them are a triplet or a twin. This means three separate drop off times and three separate pick up times. This was almost impossible to execute on the days they had to be picked up by car. On the low side it was an hour process in the morning and again an hour at night. On the high side I'd have at least three hours invested in picking up and dropping off.
My dad could probably calculate some effort needed to complete that successfully. Let's keep it simple. In Sioux Falls students will attend 174 days of school. Let's say you have two hours of pick up and drop off everyday.
Not everyone has three kids but the average household has 2.1 and I have yet to see a kid that was .1. For that purpose, I'll round up: 174 x 2 hours. The total is 348 hours invested into picking up and dropping off.
What would you do if you could have that time back? According to Malcolm Gladwell you could be halfway to mastering something. You could ride more. You could bike with your kids to school and teach them traffic skills which they will need throughout their lives.
You could sleep in a bit more (one of my favorites...especially when followed with coffee). Spend more time with family? There are lots of options.
No comments:
Post a Comment