Kids miss out on so much when they're strapped into car seats all the time
My family lives in your average outer suburb, six miles outside of the nearest small city/town, but every once and a while we spend time at my little brother's house, which is on pretty much the nearest residential block to his city's downtown.
This week we've been chicken-sitting for him while he's off on vacation. So this morning I got my kids up and we walked over to the nearest diner two or three blocks away.
On the way back from breakfast, we passed by some sidewalk construction, and my younger son was mesmerized by the little excavator. The construction dude was super friendly and invited us to get pictures of my two boys sitting in the excavator.
It occurred to me while walking the rest of the way home that this is exactly the kind of healthy, routine, everyday kind of good thing that kids in 100% car-centric areas (like my kids usually are when we're not chicken-sitting) totally miss out on.
Imagine the exact same scenario, but in a car out in the suburbs. By the time you say, "Hey, look, kids! A digger machine!" you've passed it and the kids might not have even turned their heads in time to see it, much less get in it.
Car-culture and car-centric infrastructure means that kids miss out on so much.
