Finding A New Car For Your Family - Buying Advice

 **Collaborative Post**

Finding A New Car For Your Family - Buying Advice

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When finding a new car for our family, it can take time to figure out what it is that you need. Do you require a sporty hatchback

for your suburban living, or are you more interested in a powerful 4x4?

Furthermore, how will you use it? Someone living in rural environments

may convince themselves that the 4x4 is the way to go, while only ever using it on

flat roads to perform the school run.

A car isn’t a car. It’s a long-term financial investment, a morning experience during the commute, and a means in which you can feel peace of mind, knowing that your family are safe while travelling within it. This means that any new car must conform to all of your standards, otherwise you’re likely to feel unhappy or even tired behind the wheel.

But how can you find a new car for your family, and what buying advice could we give to bring you towards a better result each time? Let us explore those answers, together:

Finding The Best Offers

It’s important to consider your budget to start with, because ‘the perfect car’ will always be tied to how much you pay for it. It’s worth checking out these Audi Q2 motability offers to see just how affordable even the best vehicles are provided you use financing options or other concessions for purchase. This can help you understand just how wide your options may be, which in turn helps you approach a higher standard looking for the best deal. A good place to start, then.

Understanding Your Current (And Future) Needs

What needs do you have for your family car? Do you often use it to travel long distances for familial holidays? Do you perform the school run? Do you live in a mountainous or rural area, one with plenty of pot-holes? How comfortable are you behind the wheel of a new vehicle type? Is it likely that you’ll be asked to drive your neighbour’s kids to school when the new year rolls around, and vice versa?  Predicting your future needs from your current situation and what requirements could develop will help you be more precise in your vehicle search. That’s a good place to start.

Safety Is Essential

Safety is, of course, essential. It’s very important to ensure that your car will protect your family, but more than that, that you feel safe and comfortable while driving it. This is why many parents prefer to opt for larger people carriers, or those with great handling, as this helps them maintain more of a presence on the road. Safety can also mean ensuring that it has room for your booster seats, or that when you pack to go on holiday, you can do so safely without jam-packing your suitcases on top of your children’s laps.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily find the perfect car for your family. This, in turn, will help you transport them more safely, and with more confidence.

Living Arrows 2020 12/52

Welcome to Living Arrows 2020! This is the third year I have taken part in this linky and I love taking part each week! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" 

Each week I share one photograph of James and one of Freddie and share what they have been up to during the previous week

This week has not been the best with all the stuff in the media! James had now had Beavers called off and Freddie had forest school called off.

Then by Wednesday we were on self isolation due to daddy being sent home, then the announcement of the school closures came! 

It was also mummy and daddy's wedding anniversary which again all got cancelled.

We have made the best of it though and spent time as a family over the weekend. James has learnt how to make gluten free bread in our bread maker and Freddie has been practicing for the virtual camp the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts are having in April to replace our activity day! 

Living Arrows 2018 22/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This has been another great week for the boys! Lucky for James he only had to do four days at school due to teacher training day on the Friday, So we took a walk to Tesco to get a few bits in from the free from range to take to Nana and Gaga's house!
James came bouncing out of school on Monday beaming as he had got a certificate in assembly from the head teacher for his academic achievement, although when I asked James what it was for his answer was I don't know!

Freddie has had another brilliant week at playgroup! On Tuesday he ran into the room and went to the door that leads into their little playground and waved to me!! He is doing so well and is so settled!! 

We again had our normal Thursday Sure Start group! Mummy is part of the parents group which is planning the activities for the summer holidays and we have come up with some really good ideas!! I love the fact that the summer events cover older children too as James would be totally huffy if Freddie got to go out and he didn't!

With James having a teacher training day on Friday we decided to venture to another local sure start centre to try out their 0-5 group. Both boys had a brilliant time so I think mummy and Freddie might try and go a bit more often!

We finished the week by going to stay with Nana and Gaga and having a BBQ on Sunday to celebrate Nana's birthday a day early!

Mobile Phones in Primary School Yes or No?

James is now in his second year of primary school and he is ver aware of the technology in the world around him. A topic that keeps creeping up is mobile phones. Now both me and his daddy have them and also both sets of his grandparents. Now James keeps saying he wants one because his friends do. I have no idea if or how many of his friends do have them but we don't feel James can have one till he is much older!

Having been in his school on a morning I have seen first hand the older kids from year five and year six who are ten/eleven years old coming to the office and handing over their mobiles to be locked away. This got me thinking about phones in schools, especially primary schools. 

As our school does not let kids walk home themselves unless they are year five or six then a phone is a good idea especially in an emergency for example if they are meant to be staying for an  after school club and it gets cancelled then the child can ring a parent and tell them they will be home earlier etc.

I asked around to some other parent bloggers to see what they thought and this is what they said:

Helen from https://www.kiddycharts.com says Our school let them have them but not use them in class it’s only for Year 5 and 6 IF they walk to and from school. That’s fine with me - they are there for emergencies or if we need to contact them. Other than that not sure why they’d need them I guess? 

Pete from www.householdmoneysaving.com says I think they should be locked away. Kids have no need for them in school, and I think they can only cause a distraction. 

Star from Https://autismkidsontour.com says  I think in primary school they should be allowed them for getting to or from school but not while they are there. It is a good idea to put them all away somewhere safe like the office, to stop them getting stolen or broken.

Cherry from https://thenewbytribe.com says Former primary head here and we allowed kids in years 5 and 6 who were walking home alone and had permission (written) from parents to have a phone in school. It had to be turned off and handed in at the office every morning and they signed a contract (with parents) to say they wouldn't take photos of others in school and post them on social media (as many of them had social media accounts sadly) - in all honesty we had about 2 children bring phones- most parents made the sensible decision that if they lived close to school it wasn't needed! 

Julie from https://ponderingparenthood.com says I'm a primary school teacher - I don't think there's any need for children to have their mobile phone in class. I think it's reasonable for them to bring them to school if they walk home alone but agree that they should be locked away during the day - this helps protect the phone's owner from potential theft and the other children should the owner feel the need to misuse the phone, for example by posting photographs on social media. It also prevents the phones becoming a distraction during lessons. 

Adam from http://youvegotallthistocome.wordpress.com says  We have a few bring theirs in, but like others, it's a case of locking them in the office all day and then they take them home. They're not bothered, and it's fine. 

Emma from Https://bubbablueandme.com says Our school have a no phones on-site applicable to parents and presumably kids as a safeguarding thing in case of photos. (Although doesn't apply at school performances when you can take photos for personal records only). The school is small, the village is small, so even kids who walk alone (very few of any) would make use of one). I think the rule is fine and avoids them getting lost, stolen or putting pressure on the owner. 

Rachel from https://thedaisypages.com says I’m not aware that any of the kids in my son’s primary school have mobile phones. My son won’t get one until he’s eleven, which I think is pretty standard where we live. Perhaps it’s different because we live in a rural area, no children walk to school alone. 

Carol from https://virtuallyallsorts.com says I see no need for primary school children to have mobiles at school. The only time they'd need them, surely, is if they're older children and they walk to and from school alone.

And our view is: At the moment James is only five and in Year One. As previously mentioned our school does not let kids walk home alone unless they are in Year five or six, James will definitely not be getting his own mobile phone till he is in at least year six. As I will be still going up to the school to collect Freddie, James will probably walk home with us. Once he is in year six, especially towards the end of year six when they do their transition to secondary school we will see about getting him a phone then as the secondary school he will most likely go to finishes before the primary school so he will most likely get home before me and Freddie.