“Get in the car!”  Anyone with kids has shouted this phrase on numerous occasions. Children have incredible timing when it comes to throwing a fit or copping an attitude.  Yet if we have somewhere to go, the immediate response is to get the kids into the car as quickly as possible.  Like transporting a fugitive, the sooner you get them into the car the better.  Once strapped inside the car (or, better yet, into a car seat), kids lose much of their power to disrupt your plans.  And as most parents know, the car has a wonderfully narcotic effect on even the most amped up kid.  But what if you stop using a car?  Kids don’t stop being kids.  They still have plenty of reasons for not wanting to go where you want to go.  And if you’re like me and do most of your getting around on a bike, the opportunities for your kids to hold your plans hostage are everywhere.  This is a regular musing for me since, at least once a week, I ask my kids to join me on a bike ride to a destination that, at best, holds no enjoyment for them, and, at worst, involves doing something they would rather not do.  Like get a haircut.  I remember hating haircuts as a kid and I seem to have passed this trait on to one of my sons.  But now I get to play the parent, and every six weeks I have the same conversation with my son about the need to tame his unruly mop of hair.  Since he never acknowledges the necessity of the haircut, our conversation always ends with me saying, “it doesn’t matter, you’re going.”  And then, to my never ending wonderment, he hops on his bike and rides a mile and a half with me to get his hair cut.  He could easily pull the “I’m too tired to ride” routine or do a slow pedal ride just to annoy the hell out of me.  Instead, he accepts his fate, like a Death Row inmate walking the Green Mile.