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How important is it for kids to be able to walk places?
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Anonymous
| We're thinking about a move from our close-in MD suburb and I'm trying to look down the road a little bit to when DC is older. Do you think it's important or useful for tweens/teenagers to be able to walk to places with their friends? I'm considering moving back into the District or to somewhere else walkable but even though that's a criterion for me, I don't know if it's important to older kids. What are your thoughts? |
Anonymous
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My friend's much younger brother grew up in Columbia, MD. He loved it as a child, but got very bored as a young teen. And he got into a lot of trouble.
Kids in the city can be very independent without driving because of the metro and being able to walk places. |
Anonymous
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I grew up in the exurbs where there were good schools, no crime, and absolutely nothing to do on foot. Not even the pool! I vowed never to do that to my kids.
PP is right; we spent a lot of time drinking our parents' booze and having sex and prank calling each other. Reading Teen Beat and painting nails were the most wholesome things we did when left unattended. The tween/young teen boys did a lot of vandalism-type stuff like blowing up mailboxes and positioning yard ornaments to look like they were copulating. |
Anonymous
| I agree with the two PPs. Trouble finds bored kids. It's much better for them to have independent access to more appropriate stimulation. |
Anonymous
| Kids who want to find trouble will find it no matter where they live. |
Anonymous
| Fewer kids will find trouble if they have cool but non-troublesome options. |
Anonymous
| Back home most kids rode bikes. That widens their reach quite a bit. |
Anonymous
| I think it's very important. I was a great kid until late in high school and I could drive by then anyway. As a tween/teen being able to walk to meet friends and go to music stores or the parks meant that we were always in active groups and not sexing or boozing it up. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, all. We live just across the DC line, but there is little to walk to safely. Considering a move back into the District or somewhere else walkable. It is helpful to know that this is important for kids. |
Anonymous
| My kids are still really young. But I know that walking places is a big part of life for the teens in my neighborhood. They walk to the pool, to the community center and to each others houses. Good for them in terms of physical health as well as growing independence. An better for parents, who don't have to chauffeur them around. |
Anonymous
| Growing up in Kansas, we were able to walk to a store or two, the pool and tennis courts and friends' houses. We also rode our bikes around. We had our parents drop us off at the mall and the movies (and the arcade) until we were old enough to drive there. We didn't really get in trouble. I think it would be nice for kids to be able to metro places when they're old enough, though. |
Anonymous
| We walked everywhere. Playgrounds, stores, friends houses, you name it. I don't understand private schools for this reason. Attending a private school means children are from all over, which is fine excpet that they rarely have many neighborhod friends with the same kind of "mutual class/school bond". It seems they are really missing out. But I digress. |
Anonymous
With all respect, that's not exactly what OP was getting at. A choice of two neighborhood places in the otherwise-isolated suburb is precisely the problem. It's not exactly the larger world .... |
Anonymous
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We chose the in-between. We can walk to a metro and when my children is old enough they will be allowed to do that for certain things I assume. We also live near a great bike trail and we can bike to our cute downtown area in 15 minutes (or walk their in 30) so our kids will definitely do that.
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Anonymous
When my children are old enough. Have one and one on the way so still thinking singular. |