This goes along with my other post about wanting to dump my minivan. How often do you drive other kids in your car? We got our minivan 4 years ago thinking we absolutely needed a 3rd row to drive other kids/family members. Well, adults won't climb back there at all. I can count on one hand (literally) the number of times we've used the third row seat. But one of the responses on my other post got me wondering if we will regret not getting a vehicle with a 3rd row if we go that route. We live in a small town, and all friends/schools/etc. are within a 5-minute drive. It seems like most people just drive their own kids around. Putting carseats into another car just seems like a big pain...but am I missing something? As kids get older, will I be wanting space to drive extra kids in the car? My twins are currently 5 years old. Input appreciated!
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We drive other kids about once every other month, just one kid, the age of my son (2.)
I feel like in elementary it's not that common to drive other kids UNLESS you have a family you are really close with. When I was in middle school, I rode with my friends a lot.
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We have a third row and I only very occasionally drive other kids so far (oldest is 6). My niece some, but that depends if you have local family. Now that they have 2 kids I probably never would just due to overall circumstances. My mom sits back there most when she visits, she is a tough it out type
. I really did it for the possibility of a third kid.
Also Fitting a kid in your middle seat of a second row will be more doable as they age, backless boosters can come very narrow and are cheap. I also think as they age you’re less likely to have both your own kids ... like you might be carpooling to one event and someone else is taking your other kid to another event. -
I’ve wondered about this. I had hoped once we are out of big car seats we wouldn’t have to worry about going bigger but now i realize that’s when carpooling gets more common anyway. At this point, our kids are 2 and 4.5 and not harnessed In large car seats, so we cannot fit a third person between them. There have been a handful of times I would have driven another kid if it was easier to move car seats (a close friend’s kid goes to the same preschool as mine) but that’s it.
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We have a 4yo and are expecting twins. We were driving a sedan, and yesterday we bought a VW Atlas which is their 3-row SUV. Luckily the annual Auto Show in our area was two weeks ago, so my husband and I went and sat in about 20 3-row SUVs. For its size, the Atlas seems to make the best use of the interior space and the seats are really easy to maneuver. We specifically did not want the captain's chair option so that we can fit three across while the babies are small. And this way we can leave the back row down and use the huge cargo space whenever we need it. (Right now with one child, we often use the extra back seat space for cargo in our sedan, but the two additional car seats will remove that option.)
We don't drive during the week because we live in an urban location. We both take public transit to work, and my son walks to school. So I don't think carpooling will be an issue for us. But we sometimes do take an extra passenger on the weekends, especially my sister who does not have a car.
We were originally eyeing the Audi Q7 or the Lexus GX430 but the third rows of both were a complete joke. The third row of the Atlas has enough legroom for even an adult to be reasonably comfortable.
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I only have one 3 yo with a second on the way currently and don’t envision driving other kids around any time soon. That said, I like the idea of a minivan eventually because 1) our family is out of town and visits often (4 times a year the last two years), 2) we drive to my In laws with my BIL and SIL when we can, to avoid driving two cars 4 hours each way, and 3) we are open to more kids down the line. Right now we have an 11 yo Lexus 330 that is still kicking, so my guess is we will drive it till it dies and then decide whether a mini van makes sense when it does. My gf has three and I’ve also seen how nice it is set up for this stage of life, too, which I think is why it makes sense to me.
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Pretty much never drive anyone other than my son in our cars, he's in first grade.
He has been picked up for an after school play date by a friend of mine, but that's it.
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It's pretty regular for us. Weekly.
My daughter is in first grade and we carpool with our neighbor whose daughter is also in first grade, so we'll drop off both girls at elementary school then swing over to DS's preschool and drop him off.
DD is also in a weekly gymnastics class with a friend, who comes over after for a couple hours every time, so we take both of them home with us after gymnastics.
But even without the third kid, the extra space in the trunk is so nice even for things like sports. Right now DS is in T-Ball so we leave some of his gear in the car out of convenience - helmet, glove, a folding chair, and a sports wagon to lug around all our equipment.
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My daughter just turned five, we drive her friend home from a playdate once a month or so. Most of the time we leave the back row down. Right now it had two bikes and a stroller in it. But we are having a third in the fall, so we definitely want the third row.
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I think the carpool/Pick-Up other kids becomes more common when kids are out of boosters and just sit in regular seats. For example my brother and I both played competitive hockey growing up and we always were picking up teammates and extra equipment in my parents minivan.
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We never drive other kids around. Ours are 4 and 1.5 and everyone’s kids we know all need car seats so they only ride with their parents.
We do have a minivan, but not because we intended to drive other kids. When we’re with my family we drive my parents around. We’ll move one kid to the third row and I’ll sit back there with them. That way my mom can sit in the front seat and my dad sits in the 2nd row captains chair. DH also drives a lot when his co workers go out to lunch, they don’t mind jumping in the third row.
We like the space of the minivan. We have two kids and a dog and we were running out of space with our large SUV. The doors are easy for our older one to get into himself, the room is great both for the adults and for carrying around stuff. But we didn’t really have any interest in a 3 row SUV. I’ve sat in them in they’re hard to get into and with the third seat down th cargo space is practically nonexistent.
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We've never driven other kids. Either no need or too much of a hassle to install car seats back and forth? But my family and I have both sat in the back so that we could all just squeeze in one car for trips.
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I have picked up my neighbor's daughter a few times in an emergency. I actually wish I had a larger car because I would happily trade pick up and drop off with her and her parents!
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I pick up my friend's kids every once in a while, maybe once a month or two. I think the biggest reason it's not more often is because installing car seats is such a pain. Once they're old enough to travel without any car seat, I imagine I'll be driving more kids much more often.
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I dont' drive other kids at all, however my kids are young.
My mom got a minivan when I was a jr and my bro was an 8th grader bc that was when we had friends with us more often, specifically for sports/practices/games/dances etc. We always had extra kids with us at that age.
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I have a small sedan, and my back seat only accommodates to car seats (no space for anyone to sit in the middle). I have only driven my niece before when I have one or both of the kids in school.
I can imagine car pooling when the kids are older and do not require a car seat or booster. I don't plan on upgrading, and I'm fine with transporting only my two kids.
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I think as kids get older, the opportunities to have other kids in your car increase. I have two under 5 now, so it rarely happens. However, I just spent the week at my sister’s and her kids are 12, 10 and 7. At least three times that week, someone else’s child was in their car for a play date or a practice/game of some sort!
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@mrsbookworm: yep, that's what we concluded...we did some test driving but decided to keep the minivan. I was thinking about when they're about 9+, taking groups of kids and dropping them off at the movies etc. when they get to that age.
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We don’t have a third row (we drive a Corolla) but in the last year we’ve driven another kid once for a week. We temporarily took my 4 year old out of her car seat and into a travel car seat and the other 4 year old was also in a travel car seat. (We have mifolds and a RideSafe vest). This was an emergency scenario during the wildfires in CA but I was surprised how well it worked. For adults, we have rented larger cars 3 times this year to transport guests. If you have an occasional emergency, renting a couple times a year might be much cheaper than owning a larger, less gas efficient, more expensive car.
As your kids age I would expect that carpools will naturally gravitate towards people with bigger cars. It just depends whether it’s important for you to be in that group.
. I really did it for the possibility of a third kid.
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