parents of young kids - how much do you use your yard?

[Anonymous]

I believe we have a 1/3 acre lot with one child. We used it a lot when he was a toddler and he uses it a good amount now at 9. His friends come over and they play in the back yard, we don't have any equipment but they use it to play catch, football, or soccer. It works nicely for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our yard is just under a quarter of an acre. My elementary son is an outside kid and he is out there playing daily. It saved us during the early quarantine days and I love that he can be out there playing in the fresh air and I can see him through the window. He plays out there with friends, DH and I play with him. It has been the best ever. I also really enjoyed having the ability to entertain outside during this time, which we didn't do a ton of before, and we won't go back to primarily indoor entertaining ever. Backyard BBQs are our favorite.

We don't mind the heat, we have a fire pit and patio heater for when it is cold. the only months that are too cold to be outside at all are January, Feb and March. We have trees and umbrellas for shade and use a baby pool and, sprinkler and slip n slide in the summer.

+1 this sounds a lot like us and i think what you see from this thread is some of this is that you need to know your own families style and personality op. We have a small but flat and very useful yard with a patio and a front porch with small front yard, we use them like this poster all months except those few winter months. But we're a pretty "outdoor" family and it's what we really enjoy. We try to make sure there is no standing water, use citronella if needed, and usually don't have a huge issue with mosquitos/don't mind. Our kids certainly don't mind/notice.

I think it also matters a lot what you put in your yard. If you have a half acre of just grass, you may have a huge nice yard but unlikely kids will play in it much. Out yard is on the smaller end but we have a little area for a garden, a big sandpit, a slide, a little hideaway house (kids are preschool) and then comfortable areas for adults to sit on the patio. It makes it very enjoyable to be out there with friends and neighbor kids. Adults relax, kids play. Also being fenced in makes a huge difference when they are little. We put a lot of work in to make our yard useable and enjoyable. And i plan to switch it up as the kids grow, maybe put a trampoline instead of the sandbox etc.

[Anonymous]

family's style* sorry have to correct my grammatical error. I'm sitting on our front porch now enjoying this lovely day. I truly don't understand how people complain so much about the weather here, I spend so much time outside. I don't get it personally, but I think everyone has their own comfort level and preferences and you just need to know yours! Don't not bid on a house ot have a yard if you're someone that prefers to be cozy inside - that's ok too!

[Anonymous]

We have a decent sized yard and our young kids used it a lot but we could have gotten away with a much smaller yard.
We live by 2 really nice playgrounds and we went 5-6 times a week when they were young because they wanted kids to play with. Now that they are a bit older, they run down to their friends houses to play in their yards.

[Anonymous]

this is a very subjective question -

Are YOU outdoor parents? (We entertain outside allllllllll the time when the weather permits, we also garden, and general are outside with out kids, we love having friends over with kids to play in the yard/set up a sprinkler/jump on the trampoline etc)

Are you moving into a neighborhood with lots of kids? we have a TON of kids on our block and they are always coming in and out of our yard to play with my kiddos.

I agree with everyone else on stages of life -- but I also know after my kids are older that we will still grill/garden/entertain outdoors

[Anonymous]

Every day. We live in the city in a row house on probably .1 acre but we have a front and back yard and our 10yo uses it every day and has since she was a baby. We also have parks nearby and use them frequently as well. The yards are one of the reasons we bought this particular house. Outdoor space is definitely an integral part of our home. We use our porches all the time as well.

[Anonymous]

We use our small 350sqft front yard on nice days for hours a day. We have a huge deck in our sloped backyard, but almost never use that. We live on a street where kids roam from house to house, so the front yard is, unexpectedly, the hub. Owned the house for almost two years, and have upgraded the front yard to be conducive to this. In our older neighborhood, the new families with young kids are replacing wooded yards with small grass yards for this reason.

[Anonymous]

We rarely use ours and go to the local parks and playground instead.

[Anonymous]

We use ours and it is nice to have esp when we have friends or family over with kids too and there’s somewhere for kids to go. We have a swing set which kids use a lot too. That being said, if we had a playground or big park like right across the street or something like that we could get away without the yard. Right now our playground is about a 10-15 minute walk through our neighborhood or a short bike ride through the neighborhood so it’s not like we can just send our kids to the park without our going with them at their ages. It’s nice to have our backyard where our 5 yo can safely play on her own or with a friend where we can sit in our deck or be inside the house and still monitoring.

So I would say it depends how close your park is.

[Anonymous]

Never use our backyard. We live a block away from the neighborhood pool and playground. And even if we treat, there are still mosquitos. No regrets over getting a house with a not-great yard.

[Anonymous]

I am jealous of all these families who can tolerate the mosquitos in DC. We can't and I don't want to spray Deet every day (it is the only thing that works for us) and then bring it onto our furniture and beds. So our small yard is great from March - June and then we are done with it. It is frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am jealous of all these families who can tolerate the mosquitos in DC. We can't and I don't want to spray Deet every day (it is the only thing that works for us) and then bring it onto our furniture and beds. So our small yard is great from March - June and then we are done with it. It is frustrating.

Have you tried a mosquito fog? We will spray the greenery surrounding our patio and yard about 30 minutes before we are planning to be outside. We carefully avoid any area where we'll be sitting or potentially touching, focusing on the perimeter plans (hostas and boxwoods). We'll also fog the unfinished area under our deck. It lasts for a couple of days or until it rains.

It's not perfect, but gives a 95% improvement and is enough we can continue using our outdoor space.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RNB1RQ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_GVT44VFRYDB7P7XXE755?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1" target="_new" rel="nofollow">OFF! Outdoor Insect & Mosquito Repellent Fogger, Kills & Repels Insects in an up to 900 sq, ft, area, 16 oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RNB1RQ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_GVT44VFRYDB7P7XXE755?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:considering making an offer on a house with a VERY small yard and have two young kids (toddler and baby). how much will we miss not having a big yard for them to run around it? fwiw, lots of parks nearby.

Not much as on weekdays, we are at work and kids in school/daycare, weekends running errands, visiting family/friends, going to children’s sports/extracurriculars, eating out, in park etc. I say buy near a park where kids can play when needed.