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We have two girls, 9 and 10. We currently live in Seattle and love it but we are now facing middle school next year and not crazy about our public school options. We are looking at private schools but we are also thinking about moving to Boise or somewhere else that is smaller than Seattle (also somewhere with a little more sun!).
We don't want our daughters to be sheltered but I am hoping that there is somewhere that kids can stay kids for a little bit longer. Any thoughts on Boise?
Most of my daughters friends at 9 and 10 have cell phones, are texting, watching rated R movies, dressing like teenagers, swearing a lot, being unkind, etc. (For some reason, there are still a handful of 5th grade boys who are still mostly goofy kids which is nice...).
I know we will find that anywhere but I'm hoping it might be a little less?
My girls still like to play with legos, have no wish to have a cell phone, love to ride their bikes, play outside, etc. and are a little lost in this environment. I just want them to be able to enjoy being kids while they have the chance.
To be honest, that is something you really cannot control. Kids will grow up at their own pace. Any attempts to stifle that generally lead to problems.
With that said, if you are looking for better public school options for middle/high levels, then by all means find a new place...but I'm pretty sure the Seattle area has some great public school systems nearby (not in Seattle, but in suburbs).
I have two boys about the same age as your girls and they seem to be a little sheltered but it is more because of our wife and I rather than where we live. Boise is a great place for kids, our neighborhood is alive during the summer with kids running up and down the street, riding bikes, heading down to the local park - all of the stuff I used to do 30 years ago when I was young.
Our family is active in our local church and we teach Sunday school to 4-6th graders so I have a front row seat to that age group. Half the girls are growing up too fast, have cell phones, boyfriends, etc... and it really is up to the parents to know what their kids are up to. We have tried to give a heads up to some of the parents whose daughters are growing up too fast and many times are met with the response of "not my little girl, she would never do that" and then they stick their head back in the sand.
It sounds like there are still girls (the other half?!) who are not in such a rush? We would love to hear there are even that many kids - my oldest just doesn't have anyone to play with anymore. She plays basketball with the boys at recess which is great - just want her to have the option of bike riding, playing tag, etc. with girls too.
Thank you so much for your help!
As far as the schools and communities go, West Boise and Meridian would be more conservative in general. Not saying you won't run into any of that stuff here, but it might be more of the exception than the norm. As far as the cell phone/texting thing goes, I am afraid that is a national problem. I agree that it's ridiculous for anyone less than their teenage years to have a cell phone as it sets a bad precedent. Before long we are going to have people that are so tuned out to face to face relationships that they won't know how to interact with one another without having to use some lame electronic device. I could give you my personal opinions on texting but I would offend too many people.
I live in west Boise, very conservative and our neighborhood voted just a tad over 80% Republican in the last national election. Only downside is the neighborhoods out here are heavily Mormon, so that means that the majority of the kids on the block stick together and never interact with our kids. Our youngest has some Mormon friends, but I have a feeling that will change by the time he hits middle school. He's already beginning to wonder why his friends are always "busy" when we call the parents to see if my son's friends can come over to our house.
The thing to keep in mind is that the LDS community is very active and has lots of activities, events, volunteer projects, etc. so it's not necessarily because they choose not to associate with him, it's the fact that they have a lot going on. I agree though that it is sad though that some LDS members don't make enough of an effort to associate with those who aren't members of their faith. Anyways, back to the original post though, it seems that their values would match up well with the areas mentioned.
"...the majority of the kids on the block stick together and never interact with our kids..."
GRMI66,
Not to derail the thread, but do your children experience this at school or during other common activities in addition to around the neighborhood?
I live in west Boise, very conservative and our neighborhood voted just a tad over 80% Republican in the last national election. Only downside is the neighborhoods out here are heavily Mormon, so that means that the majority of the kids on the block stick together and never interact with our kids. Our youngest has some Mormon friends, but I have a feeling that will change by the time he hits middle school. He's already beginning to wonder why his friends are always "busy" when we call the parents to see if my son's friends can come over to our house.
"...the majority of the kids on the block stick together and never interact with our kids..."
GRMI66,
Not to derail the thread, but do your children experience this at school or during other common activities in addition to around the neighborhood?
What we have experienced is that the Mormon kids all stick together when kids are running around the neighborhood or are gathered at the park. At school our third grader has a few Mormon friends and occasionally he gets together with them outside of school, but it's a chore to find out when his friends have spare time to play. From what other parents around our neighborhood have told us is that starting in middle school and high school is when the Mormon kids really start to self segregate and pretty much exclude us "Gentiles". The couple of times that I have volunteered to chaperone a field trip I got the cold shoulder from the other parents as soon as they discovered I was not LDS.
Overall it is a minor issue, but it is something that you need to be aware of if you live in west Boise or Meridian. We found out that our family is the first non-Mormon family to ever live in our house since it was built 25 years ago. The first week we were in our house we had a steady stream of people from the neighborhood dropping off cookies and trying to figure out why they only saw two kids running around our yard. Once they discovered our family was not LDS it was the last time most of them have stopped by. I always joke to my friends that we are first family in our house to bring in a coffee maker and a six pack of beer.
But to get back to the original thread, I would heartily recommend Boise to any family looking to find a great place to raise kids. It's nice to be able to let our kids run around outside all summer and not have to worry about them.
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