Advantages and Disadvantages of commuting with kids
Ren is used to commuting at an early age. We don’t have our own car and so we have no choice but to commute whenever we want to go anywhere. Sometimes we ride on my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s car but that is only when there is a family outing or they fetch us from the province or take us home from Manila.
When Ren was still very young, my problem with not owning our own car was the pollution in Metro Manila. I need to cover his nose whenever we ride a passenger’s jeep or a tricycle. We can’t go out riding a Taxi every time because you know how much riding one cost. Also, it’s very hard to carry a lot of baggage when you want to go out and you are commuting.
Ren is older now. He is already used in commuting. But his patience is challenged whenever we need to wait for more passengers to fill up a van or PUV or falling in line. He now knows how and when to say “para po!” or “bayad po!”
On the other hand, commuting has it’s own advantages:
- it will train your patience (while you are falling in line or waiting for the van or jeep to be full)
- it will train your memory on what to ride and where to go down
- it will train your reading skills (reading the signages on the PUV, Bus or Van)
- you will meet different kinds of people and observe them
Commuting is a good training for kids. If they know how to commute, I am sure that they will be more confident to go from one place to another. I know because I was trained to commute at an early age. I went to school on my own and rode a jeep going to school at an early age of 6 (I was at Grade 1 then).
Unfortunately, as I become older and since we are now leaving here in Cavite, I feel the need of owning our own car. Commuting becomes tiring.
On my personal FB page, I posted a list of cars that I like and dream to have someday. I don’t know anything about cars so I just asked my FB friends if what they think is the best one from the list. I want a fuel efficient and affordable car that can be used everyday to fetch and take Ren home from school and therapy centers.
I know that if you dream of it you can have it (just like now that we have our own house).
I can’t wait for a new car parked in front of our house. So, what do you think is the best fuel efficient and affordable cars (maybe below a million) in the market at this moment? Kindly share it with me if you know one.
Hi Mommy Levy! It’s my first time here. The partner and I are also planning to get our own car – it’s really difficult to commute to and from your destination, even here sa Cebu. Taxi fare is not getting any cheaper and we do not want to keep relying on my dad to take us from point A to point B all the time. My dream talaga is to have a VW Beetle, yung top-down but it might not be the most practical choice when you have a 1 year old, noh? We’re hoping to afford a second-hand Toyota Corolla by next year. Hehe.
go for our dream Miss Adventure 🙂 I think Toyota Corolla is a nice choice.
Napakahirap mag commute lalo na pag may kasama kang bata kya thank GOD my company car ang brother ko. Pero kung aq papapipiliin mas gusto q mirage ang ganda kse ng porma nya ok na ok sa city driving 🙂
Why not consider the Toyota Vios? It is less than a million too. I also commute with our my children and it is quite hard when it is raining (during color coding). My son saw the news about drivers spraying “something” on their aircon and he is pretty alert looking at the driver all the time!
I am also dreaming to have our own car. Thanks for the info.
at first we thought of buying mitsubishi mirage but we ended buying adventure instead, because mirage is too small for my three kids, and commuting is really hard especially if you have a baby like me and the same time,its hard to have a car if you dont know how to drive,lolz.
thanks for the tip Sherry
Oh well, we never tried commuting at an early age! I started commuting when I was in college when I was 16 years old. I suugest you will pick Wigo. Toyota is still our car nowadays but we seldom use it because of gasoline! One of our advantage is makakatipid ka kapag nag-cocommute! Disadvantage is actually the holdaper and snatcher plus the pollution!
You are lucky to not experience commuting at an early age. Yes I agree, mas tipid pag commute.
I grew up commuting since we don’t have our own car. This taught me how to become independent and now that I have kids of my own I also want them to learn the same. Although of course, there’s no harm in planning to buy a car as well for convenience in long travels. Thanks for sharing this!
I’m a Kia loyalist. Their tagline is actually true – “The power to surprise”. My dad gave me a Kia when I gave birth to my first child and though we have not been able to maintain it well, it has always been reliable. The only times we stalled were because– hehehehehe– we run out of gas (long story, our fault entirely). At times when it would take us longer than we want to take the car for a checkup, we’d discover that one of those things that the tires are attached to are broken but we never got into any accident despite. Thank God too, cause we travel with 3 kids. 🙂
We’re about to retire this Kia and get ourselves a new one next year. Although Toyota and Suzuki have come up with more affordable cars, our hearts are set on getting another Kia. BPI offer great deals on Cars. 🙂
Sorry Mommy Levy, no idea din sa cars, pero someday magkakaron din kami nyan, one at a time ika nga. With regards naman po sa pag cocommute with klids, those given advantages are precisely correct!
Hirap ng walang sasakyan, hinde na sya luho ngayon necessity na specially if marami ang members ng family. Fare pa lang magkakasakit na yata ako sa bulsa hehe 😀
The advantage of it is it made my son a bit matured. But I never allow him alone. Natatakot pa rin ako. That’s why, I decided to transfer my son in a school nearby na walking distance nlang. Ang hirap kasi magcommute most especially pag umuulan. Hopefully makabili rin kami ng car, i know there are good deals you can find in newspaper/magazine called Cardeals or in buy and sell.