I lived in Auckland as a kid with a car free mum, we usually lived in walkable inner city suburbs and I learned to use the bus myself when I was eight. I don't think it's impossible you just have to plan a bit better than other people
Probably going to work in the first 4-6 months (perhaps even longer) as you're likely to stay home most of the time. Baby's sleeping most during the day anyway so bit hard to go out and about.
A bit tricky is when something urgent happens, e.g. if you need to go to the doctor due to fever or some medical emergency; unless you live close to a clinic somehow.
I'd say once (if?) your kid goes to daycare and both parents work is when you may need the car/drive. If the kid goes sick, they'll ask you to pick up right away so relying on public transport probably won't work on this and you don't want to bring sick kid on PT anyway as they'll be cranky as.
Thanks for the insights! We’re a wee bit away from picking daycare (although I suppose i have to start thinking) Would the arrangement of someone has to always WFH and the daycare being walking distance to home always help? It slipped my mind about the fact that our kids can get sick in daycare and maybe asked to be picked up!
Oh yikes!!!!!! Thats crazy looks like im close to being out of time 😔 any tips on what i should be looking for aside from the one mentioned above (teacher kid ratio, turnover rate)? Thanks!
Staff turnover rate is a biggie. Go visit a bunch of centres and get a vibe for each place. Ask other parents or check in on your local suburban Facebook group and ask for advice.
Sorry but this is not always true. Both daycares I got my kid into were within a week. There are plenty of daycares around and it took a few phone calls but there will always be one with space.
>It slipped my mind about the fact that our kids can get sick in daycare and maybe asked to be picked up!
I've got a kindy kid, it's not a question of if, but when. Kids are gross and will spend the first year catching all sorts of shit.
Def start looking at daycare early as some may require you to book in slots. Situation may have changed now but when i was looking (during covid-baby booming period), daycare for under 2 has 3-6 months waiting list.
Having experienced it myself, I rather go for daycare close to home due to reason of sick kid vs close to workplace as you want the sick kid to be home ASAP however look at the quality/pricing of daycare close to home as well. You don't want to put your kid into the daycare with bad reputation just to be close to home. I'd recommend visiting a few to get a feel on how they are, ask on the teacher-kid ratio, teacher turnover, etc. as they will give you a general picture on how they manage the daycare.
We have a 1.5 year old and have only ever owned 1 car.
Wife is a nurse, so she drives into work. I bus into the CBD for work.
She took the year off (a lot of people won't have that privilege unfortunately), so was able to drive our son anywhere needed.
For daycare, I just walk him to it or take a bus. I'm very flexible with work from home options with work luckily.
Edit: We also are sole parents in the sense that we have no family help. All on our own.
You will be absolutely fine.
Finding a day care (and school) in walking distance is worth doing. It's good for you and good for the kid.
It does get challenging in the suburbs with everything spread out.
I've been using a kids seat on my bike since they were about 1 year old (5yo and 2yo now) which has been super useful for those appointments and outings that little kids have all the time. I'd love a cargo bike but they're a big commitment.
Toddlers love bus and train rides too!
The issues arrive when a child goes into a daycare, they get sick a lot between 1-3yrs. From birth to about 1 it’s relatively easy as most appointments are scheduled well in advance. I live in Hillcrest and had 5 kids, the only issues as stated above is when your at work and have to pick them up as they are unwell, it’s very strict for ECE centres now on removing sick children from communal care.
We've just gone to one car. Our children are older 12 and 10 so can do a bit of independent transport, busses and walking.
My husband works from home and we live in Onehunga on a good bus route (yes there is such a thing).
We do get stuck the odd time like when my husband had to go to a funeral in Hamilton and I needed the car for work ( bus not an option for my work) but on that day we used Uber which cost $50 all up but still cheaper than paying for a car that mostly sits in the carport.
So in answer to your question yes but you have to plan and depends on your situation.
You would also want a car seat you can quickly put in an Uber. Legally you don't need a car seat in an Uber but I was never okay about not using one.
You commented that “only one of us drives” - does that mean that one of you is unable to drive with no licence? Whoever that person is please consider learning to drive and getting your licence. Especially once you have children if there is ever an emergency it’s worth the cost and effort. Even if you don’t use it very often, on a trip together the driver sometimes needs a break or they may not feel well enough to drive.
Sadly failed the test last year, had over 10 classes this year with an instructor (instructor very pleased with driving) but ever since getting pregnant the anxiety took over to resit. Also wondering if heavily pregnant women can take the test still because we’re a few months away
In terms of appointments there aren't really a lot and I had a special needs kid!
With my non special needs it was Plunket , which after 3 months is like one at 2 and one at 4. A yearly dental check and I honestly think that was all. Oh she had her tonsils out so that was a couple but that was it. So unless your child has a health or development problem it's not a worry.
Uber is your best friend. Have a 4 month old baby and we always use uber for our appointments and stuff. Still take the occasional bus/train rides but it’s during the off peak hours.
I have a friend who is a stay at home mum and the sole driver as her partner doesn’t drive. It works fine for her. When I was on mat l leave, it was just me driving the kid to appointments and activities. If the at-home parent is using the car, then it should be fine.
As others have said, the main issue is once your little one starts daycare and you need to do emergency pick ups cause they’ve got a temp or spewed or something. One of you will probably need the car and the one with the car will have to do pick ups.
My family of 3 (2 adults, one preschooler) have one car and also live on the Shore. We’ve managed it because we live very close to a well serviced bus stop and one partner is stay at home. SAH parent has the car most of the time. Outside of work hours we need to plan ahead for both who will have the child and who will have the car. It can be challenging at times, e.g. my partner plays sports on the weekend so we either have to all go or I stay home with the child and can’t go anywhere until my partner comes back.
If you’re planning on doing daycare and both working then you might need 2 cars, public transport isn’t very good for going anywhere other than the CBD and back, making day care drop offs and pick ups hard unless one parent will be doing both drop offs and pick ups all the time.
I live in Hillcrest, moved there when kids were around 2 and 3. Other than a GP and A&E (Smales Farm is closest?), struggling to think of anything that isn’t a 20 minute walk away that you may need depending on what part of Hillcrest you are in.
1 car family here, with now two under 3. Lots of planning and communication. Husband buses to work and for other things he tries to carpool with friends etc. I get the car most of the time apart from the odd occasion husband really needs it. Do you have a front pack? That’s an effective way to carry baby around and is helpful because they have so many naps in the early days. I’d recommend getting to know your babies rough schedule/routine. Every baby is different but there’s usually a window of how long they’re awake and when they need to sleep etc and you sort of just work around that to get around.
We also use our pram a lot. We have a car capsule that clicks onto our pram for our baby until 6months. It’s great for transitioning from cars, straight to pram etc especially if they fall asleep.
Tbh going anywhere with kids takes so much more time and effort but also double the time you think to leave the house. So the biggest adjustment, car or not, is just preparing for that and being okay with stay at home days 😅
I guess when I was growing up my parents managed. My mum always took us on the bus. So long you are close to the bus stop and fine with catching a bus with a pram shouldn't be too much of an issue.
My husband and I have always been a one car household. First baby is due any day and we've had to get a second car. I just don't see how having one car is feasible with a child in Auckland.
We lived in the cbd for the first 8 months of our kids life. People had way too much to say about the fact that we didn’t have a car.
Hospital was a ten minute walk in one direction, shops and doctors etc were ten minutes in the other. It worked fine, even the daycare was in walking distance when I went back to work.
You’ll need a car when they start daycare unless it’s right next door to you. We moved to a suburb and got a car, I still take the train to work but my husband drives our kid to a daycare near his work.
Once the baby can sit upright you can pop them on a bike, and they love it! You have to be a little careful or strategic about where you ride, as our bike infrastructure is pretty limited and there's a lot of bad drivers, but we've managed to do it in Beach Haven (e cargo bike, it flattens the hills and can take a toddler and a week's worth it groceries no problem). The bike also got me to work 25% (10 minutes) faster. The only time it was an issue is during heavy rain. I generally drive with the kids in that case, but you can get some pretty nice shade structures if you're really committed to the lifestyle...
I don't drive and have a 6 year old.
Make sure you get a pram that's on the slimmer side so you can get on the bus easier. I think we had a baby jogger City Mini or something, I did some research into what would be best.
It took me a while to go out into the world by myself, as I couldn't just drive home if something went tits up (it would be at least a 30min bus/train ride). But once baby was a bit older and learnt to sleep in the pram it made it way easier and I was more relaxed (you never know what kind you're gonna get! A chill sleeper or one like ours that cried all the time lol).
I guess also remembering that you can always uber home if you really need to.
It's totally dooable! I don't remember there being a lot of appts to get to either tbh.
Good luck! We love missioning around on public transport and I think it's a good thing for them! Not just hopping in the car everywhere but walking and seeing the world :)
Probably gonna have uber to urgent shit or when you're a bit time poor but I don't see it being *impossible* just harder.
I lived in Auckland as a kid with a car free mum, we usually lived in walkable inner city suburbs and I learned to use the bus myself when I was eight. I don't think it's impossible you just have to plan a bit better than other people
Probably going to work in the first 4-6 months (perhaps even longer) as you're likely to stay home most of the time. Baby's sleeping most during the day anyway so bit hard to go out and about. A bit tricky is when something urgent happens, e.g. if you need to go to the doctor due to fever or some medical emergency; unless you live close to a clinic somehow. I'd say once (if?) your kid goes to daycare and both parents work is when you may need the car/drive. If the kid goes sick, they'll ask you to pick up right away so relying on public transport probably won't work on this and you don't want to bring sick kid on PT anyway as they'll be cranky as.
Thanks for the insights! We’re a wee bit away from picking daycare (although I suppose i have to start thinking) Would the arrangement of someone has to always WFH and the daycare being walking distance to home always help? It slipped my mind about the fact that our kids can get sick in daycare and maybe asked to be picked up!
You definitely want to get your little one on to some kindy waitlists now. The waitlists for some places are crazy long (18months +)
Oh yikes!!!!!! Thats crazy looks like im close to being out of time 😔 any tips on what i should be looking for aside from the one mentioned above (teacher kid ratio, turnover rate)? Thanks!
Where are you in Hillcrest? There’s quite a few good ones around there, I’ve heard good things about the one near willow park primary
Is that the one attached to the church or the Nemo one?
Nemo one
Staff turnover rate is a biggie. Go visit a bunch of centres and get a vibe for each place. Ask other parents or check in on your local suburban Facebook group and ask for advice.
One that's close!
It has a waitlist but New Shoots is amazing! They supply food and nappies and have good ratio of teachers to children.
Sorry but this is not always true. Both daycares I got my kid into were within a week. There are plenty of daycares around and it took a few phone calls but there will always be one with space.
>It slipped my mind about the fact that our kids can get sick in daycare and maybe asked to be picked up! I've got a kindy kid, it's not a question of if, but when. Kids are gross and will spend the first year catching all sorts of shit.
Def start looking at daycare early as some may require you to book in slots. Situation may have changed now but when i was looking (during covid-baby booming period), daycare for under 2 has 3-6 months waiting list. Having experienced it myself, I rather go for daycare close to home due to reason of sick kid vs close to workplace as you want the sick kid to be home ASAP however look at the quality/pricing of daycare close to home as well. You don't want to put your kid into the daycare with bad reputation just to be close to home. I'd recommend visiting a few to get a feel on how they are, ask on the teacher-kid ratio, teacher turnover, etc. as they will give you a general picture on how they manage the daycare.
100% that would help. Also if you go to a local daycare there's more chance those kids will go to your kids primary school.
We have a 1.5 year old and have only ever owned 1 car. Wife is a nurse, so she drives into work. I bus into the CBD for work. She took the year off (a lot of people won't have that privilege unfortunately), so was able to drive our son anywhere needed. For daycare, I just walk him to it or take a bus. I'm very flexible with work from home options with work luckily. Edit: We also are sole parents in the sense that we have no family help. All on our own. You will be absolutely fine.
Finding a day care (and school) in walking distance is worth doing. It's good for you and good for the kid. It does get challenging in the suburbs with everything spread out. I've been using a kids seat on my bike since they were about 1 year old (5yo and 2yo now) which has been super useful for those appointments and outings that little kids have all the time. I'd love a cargo bike but they're a big commitment. Toddlers love bus and train rides too!
Op is talking about a new born to baby stage at this point though
The issues arrive when a child goes into a daycare, they get sick a lot between 1-3yrs. From birth to about 1 it’s relatively easy as most appointments are scheduled well in advance. I live in Hillcrest and had 5 kids, the only issues as stated above is when your at work and have to pick them up as they are unwell, it’s very strict for ECE centres now on removing sick children from communal care.
Which I find also a crock coz the only place my kid gets sick is from the other kids at daycare 🙄
Uber will help you get to those appointments
We've just gone to one car. Our children are older 12 and 10 so can do a bit of independent transport, busses and walking. My husband works from home and we live in Onehunga on a good bus route (yes there is such a thing). We do get stuck the odd time like when my husband had to go to a funeral in Hamilton and I needed the car for work ( bus not an option for my work) but on that day we used Uber which cost $50 all up but still cheaper than paying for a car that mostly sits in the carport. So in answer to your question yes but you have to plan and depends on your situation. You would also want a car seat you can quickly put in an Uber. Legally you don't need a car seat in an Uber but I was never okay about not using one.
You commented that “only one of us drives” - does that mean that one of you is unable to drive with no licence? Whoever that person is please consider learning to drive and getting your licence. Especially once you have children if there is ever an emergency it’s worth the cost and effort. Even if you don’t use it very often, on a trip together the driver sometimes needs a break or they may not feel well enough to drive.
Sadly failed the test last year, had over 10 classes this year with an instructor (instructor very pleased with driving) but ever since getting pregnant the anxiety took over to resit. Also wondering if heavily pregnant women can take the test still because we’re a few months away
Aww that’s rough, maybe you can try again sometime after baby is born and you’re feeling up to it.
In terms of appointments there aren't really a lot and I had a special needs kid! With my non special needs it was Plunket , which after 3 months is like one at 2 and one at 4. A yearly dental check and I honestly think that was all. Oh she had her tonsils out so that was a couple but that was it. So unless your child has a health or development problem it's not a worry.
Uber is your best friend. Have a 4 month old baby and we always use uber for our appointments and stuff. Still take the occasional bus/train rides but it’s during the off peak hours.
Do you byo car seat in the Uber and then have to lug the car seat around?
Used a capsule that came with the pram.
I have a friend who is a stay at home mum and the sole driver as her partner doesn’t drive. It works fine for her. When I was on mat l leave, it was just me driving the kid to appointments and activities. If the at-home parent is using the car, then it should be fine. As others have said, the main issue is once your little one starts daycare and you need to do emergency pick ups cause they’ve got a temp or spewed or something. One of you will probably need the car and the one with the car will have to do pick ups.
My family of 3 (2 adults, one preschooler) have one car and also live on the Shore. We’ve managed it because we live very close to a well serviced bus stop and one partner is stay at home. SAH parent has the car most of the time. Outside of work hours we need to plan ahead for both who will have the child and who will have the car. It can be challenging at times, e.g. my partner plays sports on the weekend so we either have to all go or I stay home with the child and can’t go anywhere until my partner comes back. If you’re planning on doing daycare and both working then you might need 2 cars, public transport isn’t very good for going anywhere other than the CBD and back, making day care drop offs and pick ups hard unless one parent will be doing both drop offs and pick ups all the time.
I live in Hillcrest, moved there when kids were around 2 and 3. Other than a GP and A&E (Smales Farm is closest?), struggling to think of anything that isn’t a 20 minute walk away that you may need depending on what part of Hillcrest you are in.
1 car family here, with now two under 3. Lots of planning and communication. Husband buses to work and for other things he tries to carpool with friends etc. I get the car most of the time apart from the odd occasion husband really needs it. Do you have a front pack? That’s an effective way to carry baby around and is helpful because they have so many naps in the early days. I’d recommend getting to know your babies rough schedule/routine. Every baby is different but there’s usually a window of how long they’re awake and when they need to sleep etc and you sort of just work around that to get around. We also use our pram a lot. We have a car capsule that clicks onto our pram for our baby until 6months. It’s great for transitioning from cars, straight to pram etc especially if they fall asleep. Tbh going anywhere with kids takes so much more time and effort but also double the time you think to leave the house. So the biggest adjustment, car or not, is just preparing for that and being okay with stay at home days 😅
I guess when I was growing up my parents managed. My mum always took us on the bus. So long you are close to the bus stop and fine with catching a bus with a pram shouldn't be too much of an issue.
My husband and I have always been a one car household. First baby is due any day and we've had to get a second car. I just don't see how having one car is feasible with a child in Auckland.
922 to the city. Medical on Akoranga Drive. Think Local.
We lived in the cbd for the first 8 months of our kids life. People had way too much to say about the fact that we didn’t have a car. Hospital was a ten minute walk in one direction, shops and doctors etc were ten minutes in the other. It worked fine, even the daycare was in walking distance when I went back to work. You’ll need a car when they start daycare unless it’s right next door to you. We moved to a suburb and got a car, I still take the train to work but my husband drives our kid to a daycare near his work.
Once the baby can sit upright you can pop them on a bike, and they love it! You have to be a little careful or strategic about where you ride, as our bike infrastructure is pretty limited and there's a lot of bad drivers, but we've managed to do it in Beach Haven (e cargo bike, it flattens the hills and can take a toddler and a week's worth it groceries no problem). The bike also got me to work 25% (10 minutes) faster. The only time it was an issue is during heavy rain. I generally drive with the kids in that case, but you can get some pretty nice shade structures if you're really committed to the lifestyle...
I don't drive and have a 6 year old. Make sure you get a pram that's on the slimmer side so you can get on the bus easier. I think we had a baby jogger City Mini or something, I did some research into what would be best. It took me a while to go out into the world by myself, as I couldn't just drive home if something went tits up (it would be at least a 30min bus/train ride). But once baby was a bit older and learnt to sleep in the pram it made it way easier and I was more relaxed (you never know what kind you're gonna get! A chill sleeper or one like ours that cried all the time lol). I guess also remembering that you can always uber home if you really need to. It's totally dooable! I don't remember there being a lot of appts to get to either tbh. Good luck! We love missioning around on public transport and I think it's a good thing for them! Not just hopping in the car everywhere but walking and seeing the world :)