My Son Loves His Undriver License Too

Undriver #1874:  Soren, age 3

Soren was excited to get licensed to Undrive at the Sustainable Ballard Festival. Initially, he wanted the license because it was “pretty cool,” and because he loves all things with wheels. However, while waiting in line he began to chat with his mom, Kimberly, about what their Undriving pledge would be. Together they decided to start carpooling to preschool at least one of the two days that Soren attends.

Kimberly continues with the story, “The back-to-school pancake breakfast was a few weeks later, and a niggling at my conscience prompted me to use that event as an opportunity to start talking to some other parents to see if anyone lived close enough to us to carpool. I quickly found two eager families and we figured out a schedule that seemed would work for us.

A few months into the project, it is still a work in progress! One family is eager in spirit, but having a hard time making the carpool a routine. Plus there have been some hiccups in the plan: I managed to lose the booster seat that belonged to another family and there were disruptions like the chicken pox, family trips, and snow days – all of which have threatened to derail our project.

There have been some unexpected benefits from carrying out our Undriving pledge. We have made friends with these two families, had more play dates, and started a conversation with our preschool about creating system in which more families can carpool. Oh, and we have driven less as well!

In talking with my son about global warming and polar bears, he has become another, louder voice encouraging me to Undrive some more. This year, our project is to learn 2 bus routes really well and then ride those two buses from one end of the route to the other. We want to see if we can take the bus more places than we thought. We came up with this idea after learning that our dentist has a Magnolia office, which we can access by taking one bus. Previously I had looked into taking 2 (or more) buses to his (closer) Greenwood office, but it made the journey long and cumbersome with two small children. I am hoping that if I see what stores and offices are along a particular route, I will be inspired to take the bus to them. Soren is very excited about this project because he loves riding the bus! And to ride it from one end to the other, well that also will be ‘pretty cool’.”