How important is the street you live on for kids?

[Anonymous]

We are thinking of placing a bid on a home TOMORROW but I'm having second thoughts based on the street. It's pretty narrow so there's no where for kids to ride a bike. I have a 3 year old and 1 year old. How important do you think it is for kids to be able to go outside and play/ride their bikes? There's a small yard out back. It's hard for me to know how important the street and neighborhood will be for us once our kids get older. Please help!

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about that. You just take them to a local park. Get the house you want.

[Anonymous]

It depends - what part of the greater DC area are you looking at? For many who live IN D.C. - we would never think of our 3 and 1 YO riding their bikes in the street. They do it on the sidewalks on the way to the park.

But what are the norms of the community / area you are looking at? Are there sidewalks? How busy is the street?

[Anonymous]

For us very important-especially as the kids get older. My children spend 75% of their free time in our court. In addition to riding their bikes, they use their scooters, roller blades, and hot wheels motorized jeep.

I think it is great to take your kids to the part, but good luck when they are 9 getting buy in on that. When they are in elementary school they really like to just play outside with their friends.

[Anonymous]

OP here. There are no sidewalks. The street is not busy but it's off MacArthur, which of course is busy. There really doesn't seem to be a place for kids to play on the street.

For those with older children, like the last poster, if you don't live on a court, do children still play in the street?

[Anonymous]

Also agree that it is very important to us. My kids are older and they ride their bikes everywhere. When they were little it wouldn't have mattered.

[Anonymous]

We didn't grow up playing in the street. Our kids would never play on the street. Don't you have a driveway?

[Anonymous]

Just moved with my toddler to a house off MacArthur. I really miss the sidewalks from our old neighborhood. It's not the street that's important but how it's configured. I no longer feel safe letting DS ride his toys with wheels with cars going past in the same space. We only go to the park now and barely use the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

This was very important to us which is how we ended up in N. Arlington. We have sidewalks and a wide street in a low traffic area and there are kids out there all the time. This is a huge part of our quality of life.

[Anonymous]

It is nice when they are little, but when they get older, they don't use it. Also, there are so many parks and trails and so on in that area that we spent our time doing that. Our are girls, however.

[Anonymous]

The no-sidewalk think would be a dealbreaker for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't grow up playing in the street. Our kids would never play on the street. Don't you have a driveway?

Look at the name of this site: the word "urban" appears rather prominently. No, driveways are not assumed in the city, nor should they be.

To answer your question, OP, our kids are older and we live on a one-way street in NW DC. We don't have yards to speak of, and our children play on the front sidewalks. Although I sometimes wish we had a yard, meeting everyone on the sidewalks builds community and makes it unnecessary to schedule playdates. ("Just look outside! Who's out?") We also have pickup games in the street sometimes, with an adult lookout.

[Anonymous]

^^ I feel you PP. Also in DC. I have a yard, and that's lovely for about 8 years. After that, that kids want to go to a nearby park where they can play real ball. As they age, what's really great for us and them is the fact that we live in a walkable neighborhood where there is public transportation and commercial activity steps from home.

I will say that it was great when they were little (4-8) that I could say go outside and see them while cooking. Many suburban houses lack this set up. We use trails for bike riding as a family.

[Anonymous]

What's key is where/how does the neighborhood get its community feel.

We live in an Arlington neighborhood, but on a busy cut-through street. Our kids don't play in the street itself, but we do have sidewalks and front-yards in addition to the neighborhood park which is always busy.

FWIW, I lived on a similar street as a kid, you never rode bikes in the street.

[Anonymous]

No sidewalks was a deal-breaker for us. We go to the park a lot, but we use the sidewalks to get there.