Baby On Board!?

[Anomaly]

Okay, my wife and I will be having our first baby in April and ... truth be told, we have had a pretty rough go of it here. That being said, I am looking at getting started within the next year. She however, seems pretty intent on getting involved as early as possible to begin both building our future and improving our current circumstances. Before having read much here, I would have thought the idea pure madness ... and still do to a degree, but having seen that others have openly discussed their decisions to bring children along for the ride, for a variety of reasons, I feel it is worth asking. What is your opinion about OTR driving with a very young infant?

Just curious as to the opinions of both experienced and new drivers.

Thanks,
Mark and Ruth

 

[dabluzman1]

one word: INSANE

 

[davekc]

Have to agree with bluz.

Bad idea.

 

[cableguymn]

Okay, my wife and I will be having our first baby in April and ... truth be told, we have had a pretty rough go of it here. That being said, I am looking at getting started within the next year. She however, seems pretty intent on getting involved as early as possible to begin both building our future and improving our current circumstances. Before having read much here, I would have thought the idea pure madness ... and still do to a degree, but having seen that others have openly discussed their decisions to bring children along for the ride, for a variety of reasons, I feel it is worth asking. What is your opinion about OTR driving with a very young infant?

Just curious as to the opinions of both experienced and new drivers.

Thanks,
Mark and Ruth

Right up there with drivers out numbered by pets in their trucks.. Oh hell no.. I just don't see it working out well.

I have a 4 year old that rides with me once in a while on short dash and backs (going less than 6 hours)

That is enough for me.

How do you think a 6 month old strapped in a car seat is going to do? You can't take them out while in motion. And the carrier is not going to care why you spent 2 hours at a truck stop.. They are just going to care that you are late.

I also don't think anyone would sign you with a young child on board.

Sorry

You can always solo but I also know that sucks too (now your away from your kid)

 

[Jenny]

If you and your wife are in the two seats with seatbelts where is the baby seat strapped in?

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[paullud]

If she is eager to work on building a better future then she should be taking care of the future of your family by making a "nest". She can be involved with the business from home by helping to book loads so you are moving and earning money. It would be a very selfish and very poor business decision to put the baby in that situation not to mention there are places they would take the kid away for it's own welfare. The insurance companies also have age limits for kids in ST and TT, I believe 8 is the youngest I've seen so it really isn't an option. If it is to much of a problem for you to be away then this is the wrong side of the industry for you to be looking at.

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[cableguymn]

There are companies like the one I am signed with that do Dash and back. Normally, your home every night. in 3 months I think I have been gone 1 night total. I could have made it home but figured I could use the rest and slept through the night.

I would go that route, or sign with a local courier company (BE VERY CAREFUL. MAKE THEM PROVE THEIR CLAIMS!) as long as there is money to be made.

 

[layoutshooter]

Find a job, come home every night and raise your child. This is more like abuse.

 

[Turtle]

I have to agree with Dave who agrees with Bluz, it's INSANE[SUP]squared[/SUP].

Someone will call the police to report a kidnapped baby in a truck, and they will come out and find that it's not kidnapped, but is rather being abused by subjecting it to a ridiculous amount of diesel particulate matter in a non-nurturing, hostile environment. You will lose your child for being unfit parents and then go to jail for child endangerment.

 

[Anomaly]

My concerns personally were with the issues of insurance, safety for the child in regards to the child seat/being strapped in for long periods of time. I had not thought about sucking diesel fumes as really bad remembering as I do the smell of road-grade diesel burning in everything from the fuel truck I drove to the machines we fueled to our kerosene heaters in our homes. I can see some PC Crowd worried about that however, and I had not really even considered the possibility of CPS getting involved though I could certainly see that happening. We are still about a year out from doing anything if and when we ultimately do decide to do this. Right now, we are pretty much just looking at our options but I must say, my wife does seem to be bit hard by the bug ... Apart from that, like I said originally, I am not crazy about the idea, though it does seem a bit crazy. We are looking at all of our options before we made a decision so this had to be addressed eventually anyhow. I do appreciate the feedback however, and definitely looking at other options first. As for getting my wife to stay home and "make the nest" ... hahahahahahahahaha do not believe everything you read about passive and submissive Asian women LOL Her idea of a day off is working ten or twelve hours in our business, going home, cleaning and cooking and taking care of the livestock twice a day. She can dress a chicken faster than me ... which nobody could do back home in West By God and she can scrape a hog faster than me which a couple of people could do back home but not too many. If you think she should stay home and "rule the roost" so to speak, you convince her LOL (Hope you do not take offense to that but seriously, she is not the kind of woman who could ever be happy just sitting around the house)

 

[LDB]

Well, without being as abrupt as I usually am and as others have been, it's not the life for a baby. More importantly than that, I don't know of any carrier who allows riders under 12 years of age, at least not any that you might want to contract with. Children need a home and they need both a mother and a father, of the appropriate gender, during their 18 years of reaching adulthood. Once the kids are all 18 or over then it's an appropriate time for one or both parents to be away for extended periods.

 

[moose]

. She can dress a chicken faster than me ...
By God and she can scrape a hog

O.K, i have to ask...

 

[Anomaly]

O.K, i have to ask...

Fresh meat on the table

 

[Anomaly]

West By God ... what you may more easily recognize as West Virginia ... but we often tire of people thinking it means we are Virginians ... though there have been some good Virginians throughout our history as well!

 

[The Enemy]

Here's my opinion, for what its worth. Babies, infants, toddlers, young children do not belong in trucks. Seeing as a truck only has two seats and seatbelts, how are you going to properly secure the child seat while moving. There's is also all the diesel fumes and diesel that gets tracked into the truck from your shoes. Then there is the constant bouncing up and down that is produced by driving on theses wonderfull roads.

As your baby grows it will need room to grow, to crawl around, to develop. A truck sleeper is not that place. A brick and mortar home is. I don't know of any carrier that will allow you to bring an infant with you, then there is the insurance thing.

If i saw a baby in a big truck I would call the cops, and i have on one occasion, because to me that's child abuse.

 

[Anomaly]

Here's my opinion, for what its worth.
If i saw a baby in a big truck I would call the cops, and i have on one occasion, because to me that's child abuse.

You do bring up some valid points but I have to question the wisdom of "calling the cops" because you "think", "feel" or "believe" something to be one way. For all you know, it could be a parent who has been on the road for a long time, maybe had an opportunity to pick up his wife and even kid on the way home from the store ... still had to stop for fuel, and here you go busting his *** just for taking advantage of an opportunity to spend a little extra time with his family.

Granted, your points may be valid and you could be exaggerating a bit or referring to a set of circumstances only where you had more personal knowledge about the situation. If you were to know for certain, that would be one thing but to go running for the phone every time you "think" something is wrong seems a bit overboard to me.

Again, this is not something I will be getting into in the coming month or two but something I am looking at as a viable option. It is not a done decision or even very likely but merely exploring options. Still, if somebody called the cops and had you arrested and thrown in jail because they "thought", it might change your tune a little bit.

Just my opinion, for what it is worth.

 

[paullud]

My concerns personally were with the issues of insurance, safety for the child in regards to the child seat/being strapped in for long periods of time. I had not thought about sucking diesel fumes as really bad remembering as I do the smell of road-grade diesel burning in everything from the fuel truck I drove to the machines we fueled to our kerosene heaters in our homes. I can see some PC Crowd worried about that however, and I had not really even considered the possibility of CPS getting involved though I could certainly see that happening. We are still about a year out from doing anything if and when we ultimately do decide to do this. Right now, we are pretty much just looking at our options but I must say, my wife does seem to be bit hard by the bug ... Apart from that, like I said originally, I am not crazy about the idea, though it does seem a bit crazy. We are looking at all of our options before we made a decision so this had to be addressed eventually anyhow. I do appreciate the feedback however, and definitely looking at other options first. As for getting my wife to stay home and "make the nest" ... hahahahahahahahaha do not believe everything you read about passive and submissive Asian women LOL Her idea of a day off is working ten or twelve hours in our business, going home, cleaning and cooking and taking care of the livestock twice a day. She can dress a chicken faster than me ... which nobody could do back home in West By God and she can scrape a hog faster than me which a couple of people could do back home but not too many. If you think she should stay home and "rule the roost" so to speak, you convince her LOL (Hope you do not take offense to that but seriously, she is not the kind of woman who could ever be happy just sitting around the house)

I'm not trying to say she should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I think if she wants to work with the truck she can work more as the manager of the truck which could be done from home so she can still clean chickens and hogs. There is a lot to keep track of in a truck even as a company driver and especially if you get your own truck. It would present an opportunity for her to be involved with the business and make your life a little easier out on the road.

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[Moot]

I do appreciate the feedback however, and definitely looking at other options first. As for getting my wife to stay home and "make the nest" ... hahahahahahahahaha do not believe everything you read about passive and submissive Asian women LOL

Option # 3. You stay home and make the nest and let your wife run the truck.

 

[Anomaly]

I'm not trying to say she should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

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Hehehe I did not think that was what you meant, though it could have been construed that way. However, another option we have is leaving the kid here with its rather large family on our compound. It would be with about ten cousins, grandparents, three aunts, three uncles and have livestock and our financial backing to make sure all of their needs were taken care of. My wife is hooked on the idea primarily I think, because I have told her about the many beautiful places and she really cannot fathom all of the different aspects. How can you describe autumn in the mountains to someone who has never seen anything more than a lone volcano? How can you describe the Elk or deer, much less the meat to someone who has never seen real wildlife? The food as well ... I really would like to introduce her to Cajun cooking, real Mexican food, real Italian food and a host of other local delicacies around the nation. She absolutely loves the idea of being able to travel and get paid and I know she can handle the two ton trucks because I taught her that locally. As for a home, we are pretty set on coming back here to the Philippines eventually but we would still have to buy a place in the states. Since we are both more rural in nature ... read hick, farmin' redneck/hillbilly kinda people, we definitely want a large spread in some out of the way spot. Again, this would require the two of us to work together to make enough to establish that kind of life properly. Sadly, I think I will be relegated to most of the "administrative" tasks for a while though when she does get the hang of it, she should be pretty good with it. Buying our own rig is definitely something we are looking at but again, I prefer to stick with the straight trucks. I miss my old B-Model Mack ... Fuel Truck for SW Rodgers in Virginia ... but would not like to see her trying her hand in that LOL Still, she is quite capable and it would seem, quite set on becoming an OTR driver. Again though, at this point in time, we are just going over different options. As I mentioned in my original post, I was a bit hesitant to even bring it up as I thought it a terrible idea. However, seeing other threads with similar content, it did seem ... especially for the benefit of my wife, worthy of seeing what more experienced long-haul drivers thought about it.

 

[greg334]

Sorry dude but a lot of stupid people do stupid things with children around.

I have this issue with kids in trucks but to each their own. The problem I see is that if something happens to the kid, you are the only one to blame. Sympathy may be difficult to find and you will have someone to tell you that it was your fault that the kid was injured/died due to some need to make money.

On top of that, I know of a number of shippers who will go to great lengths to make it difficult for you, they will call the carrier and really complain about it, some may put the carrier on their banned list.