Giving kids a 90’s childhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had that sort of childhood. One key was living in a neighborhood with sidewalks where the houses are more densely packed. My sister and I would run around for hours looking for kids to play with. We'd just knock on their doors and see who's around. I also could walk to downtown and to the library. For that reason, when we look to buy a house, I'm looking for a similar setup vs a house that's surrounded by woods.

You won’t find it. If it’s a “good” neighborhood in a good school district, that is mostly UMC, the kids will all be in activities all the time, regardless of house proximity. If you look for a middle or lower class, kids won’t be at as many activities, but they will still be on screens most of the time and no one will be home to tell them otherwise

This, sadly was our experience. We had a good amount of SAHMs through early elementary and there was a decent amount of spontaneous playing outside. But once kids started going to activities nearly every day of the week that all stopped.

This is depressing. It's true I grew up lower-middle class and none of us were in any sort of activities, so had freedom to roam around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had that sort of childhood. One key was living in a neighborhood with sidewalks where the houses are more densely packed. My sister and I would run around for hours looking for kids to play with. We'd just knock on their doors and see who's around. I also could walk to downtown and to the library. For that reason, when we look to buy a house, I'm looking for a similar setup vs a house that's surrounded by woods.

You won’t find it. If it’s a “good” neighborhood in a good school district, that is mostly UMC, the kids will all be in activities all the time, regardless of house proximity. If you look for a middle or lower class, kids won’t be at as many activities, but they will still be on screens most of the time and no one will be home to tell them otherwise

This, sadly was our experience. We had a good amount of SAHMs through early elementary and there was a decent amount of spontaneous playing outside. But once kids started going to activities nearly every day of the week that all stopped.

This is depressing. It's true I grew up lower-middle class and none of us were in any sort of activities, so had freedom to roam around.

+1 I understand that there can be benefits to organized activities, but do parents really not see benefits to unorganized play or time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had that sort of childhood. One key was living in a neighborhood with sidewalks where the houses are more densely packed. My sister and I would run around for hours looking for kids to play with. We'd just knock on their doors and see who's around. I also could walk to downtown and to the library. For that reason, when we look to buy a house, I'm looking for a similar setup vs a house that's surrounded by woods.

You won’t find it. If it’s a “good” neighborhood in a good school district, that is mostly UMC, the kids will all be in activities all the time, regardless of house proximity. If you look for a middle or lower class, kids won’t be at as many activities, but they will still be on screens most of the time and no one will be home to tell them otherwise

It's just such a shame that parents want that for their kids. There is more to childhood than screens and activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had that sort of childhood. One key was living in a neighborhood with sidewalks where the houses are more densely packed. My sister and I would run around for hours looking for kids to play with. We'd just knock on their doors and see who's around. I also could walk to downtown and to the library. For that reason, when we look to buy a house, I'm looking for a similar setup vs a house that's surrounded by woods.

You won’t find it. If it’s a “good” neighborhood in a good school district, that is mostly UMC, the kids will all be in activities all the time, regardless of house proximity. If you look for a middle or lower class, kids won’t be at as many activities, but they will still be on screens most of the time and no one will be home to tell them otherwise

This, sadly was our experience. We had a good amount of SAHMs through early elementary and there was a decent amount of spontaneous playing outside. But once kids started going to activities nearly every day of the week that all stopped.

100%. Our high schooler started creating a nice group of friends in MS that he'd hang out outside of school with, but it's often a challenge to plan around Johnny's violin and Jeff's swim practice and Liz's Chinese school, and Joey's 3 honors bands.

[Anonymous]

Giving kids a 90s childhood: Just move to Alabama.