Kids playing out! Dunedin, palm harbor, safety harbor

[floridagirl777]

Originally Posted by PhotoProIP

WHAT????????? I gather you're either retired, or grew up in the 90's?

You can't be serious:


OMG!

Look...this answer is exactly WHY most kids are trapped in some kind of daycare and away from fun stuff! Apparently, everything Florida kids get to do is in some sort of locked up environment...shameful...

OP...I seriously doubt you will find anything close to what you have now here, and that's mostly because of the asinine answer above. Sadly, it is way to popular here to slam the garage door without saying "Hello" to your neighbors!

Wait! It's not like that where I live! I know all the people around me, and everyone is very friendly. And MY Florida kids don't have to be in some kind of locked-up environment, but I'm an old school kind of parent. I believe in safety just as much as the next person, but to me it comes in the form of, "Make sure you wear your bike helmet when you ride up to the ice cream place, honey," and not, "Wait! You can't ride your bike an entire mile up to the ice cream shop because it's just too far and you may get run over as you ride through the park and you and all five of your buddies may get abducted by someone!"

Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder if parents aren't raising a bunch of Nancies instead of kids. Be safe, and be reasonable. There is nothing wrong with kids riding their bikes in a community or playing outside or walking to a park or whatever.

[PhotoProIP]

Originally Posted by floridagirl777

Wait! It's not like that where I live! I know all the people around me, and everyone is very friendly. And MY Florida kids don't have to be in some kind of locked-up environment, but I'm an old school kind of parent. I believe in safety just as much as the next person, but to me it comes in the form of, "Make sure you wear your bike helmet when you ride up to the ice cream place, honey," and not, "Wait! You can't ride your bike an entire mile up to the ice cream shop because it's just too far and you may get run over as you ride through the park and you and all five of your buddies may get abducted by someone!"

Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder if parents aren't raising a bunch of Nancies instead of kids. Be safe, and be reasonable. There is nothing wrong with kids riding their bikes in a community or playing outside or walking to a park or whatever.

You live on ONE street in Pinellas; and before that you lived in Spring Hill!

We lived in South Florida most of our lives(Miami), and then moved to the Tampa area and lived all over it. We did not experience your kind of street and we lived in $250 to $300k and up neighborhoods all of our lives. You live on an exception street, not a rule. You should consider yourself insanely lucky.

What that poster said is exactly what we've seen. HOA's policing people around non stop about their prissy lawns, retired jerks complaining non stop, and kids in after school, or at dance, karate, piano, football etc. By the time 8,9pm rolls around they are inside NOT playing outside, eating and sleeping. The babies are all in daycares so people work hard to afford these $250+ homes.

Plus, nobody in their right mind would allow their kids outside at 3pm when the sun is at it's worst during the summer here.

[floridagirl777]

Originally Posted by PhotoProIP

You live on ONE street in Pinellas; and before that you lived in Spring Hill!

True. I did not allow my kids to run around our old neighborhood in Spring Hill, though … at least once we realized how bad it was. It was far from prissy, but it was definitely NOT safe. And the other kids my kids encountered who were out and about were not the kind of kids I wanted them hanging around. So yes, they stayed indoors most of the time or remained in our backyard.

We lived in South Florida most of our lives(Miami), and then moved to the Tampa area and lived all over it. We did not experience your kind of street and we lived in $250 to $300k and up neighborhoods all of our lives. You live on an exception street, not a rule. You should consider yourself insanely lucky.

What that poster said is exactly what we've seen. HOA's policing people around non stop about their prissy lawns, retired jerks complaining non stop, and kids in after school, or at dance, karate, piano, football etc. By the time 8,9pm rolls around they are inside NOT playing outside, eating and sleeping. The babies are all in daycares so people work hard to afford these $250+ homes.

Plus, nobody in their right mind would allow their kids outside at 3pm when the sun is at it's worst during the summer here.

I do consider myself lucky, but I can't help but think I'm not the only one experiencing what I experience. I've lived in many different places around Tampa, and really … every neighborhood we were in was as I described (except the one we lived in in Spring Hill, of course). Our HOA, admittedly, is pretty lax. That's how we like it. I don't want a bunch of grumpy kill-joys coming around complaining and the less than perfect lawn we have or that we had too many cars in our driveway the other night during a cookout.

And my kids are usually in the pool during the hottest parts of the day, so that's true too.

[steve dunedin]

Originally Posted by Decisions13

Hi, I'm new to this posting malarkey, though have been reading up for a long time! My family (3 kids, age 11, 8 &7) have been thinking about a move to the US from the UK for around 3 years - my husband currently works there and travels half the month working in st Petersburg and half here in the UK. So his company will happily arrange the relocation for us should we decide to make the move. We have visited twice as a family, and earlier this month stayed in dunedin whilst we looked around. We looked at a house in dunedin which I loved however my concern is that there didn't seem to be kids out playing at all, it was so quiet! We also looked at palm harbor, I believe the schools are slightly better there, and again I know its petty but here at home the kids are out in the better weather playing most of the day. I didn't see any kids out and about even in communities in palm harbor. I really also wanted it view safety harbor as I believe from this site that the schools are good there, but unfortunately we ran out of time it's on my husbands to do list for his next visit!
So I guess my question is, where is best for kids in general; schooling, being able to play with friends near the house, and a good sense of community? We would probably rent initially but our budget to buy if we were to do so eventually would probably be up to $300k.
Any advice welcome. Husband thinks I'm mad worrying about something trivial but kids happiness is paramount in such a big move! Thanks.

Living here Dunedin I see kids all the time, there are a lot of summer programs and camps, the community center and pool are some of the recreational spots. A lot of athletic programs also for the children. Perhaps it was a lazy hot summer day and the children are only human like us and where inside enjoying the cool ( lol ).

Spoiler

There are a lot of neighborhoods that support children and I am a realtor at steve@celticrealty.com and certainly can show you some of those neighborhoods.

In school we have our own local bagpipe troupes and what town USA can boast about that...The main thing though it is safe here and it has a working town, and our schools produce some great children that are ready for that next step into the future. Have fun in your search