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I live in a small town where kids can be out and about, and it is rare to see any kids out doing anything. My house backs up to a park. In the summer time I sometimes see young teenagers, say 13 - 15 that can't drive yet, in the park. It is usually one or two girls, and three to five boys trying to do stupid things to impress the girls around the picnic tables or playground equipment. They'll be out there periodically for a few weeks in the summer, then they are gone. The next summer someone got old enough, or the girls found their guy, and no one is out in the park much. Then in a summer or two a whole new group of the same age/mix are out their again. There is a baseball field. I've never seen anyone use it. Never one pickup game of baseball in 13 years I've lived here. Once in a while we see mom or dad with little ones playing on the playground equipment, but no groups of kids by themselves.
We do see those small groups of kids on their bikes or walking together, sometimes alone, but they are usually going to a friends house I assume, or often on the way to a gas station/convenience store. They generally bypass all the parks in town. They are usually empty of kids unless it is an organized sports event: soccer mainly. The community pool is pretty busy in the summer, but the tennis courts next door in the same park are usually empty.
The freest kids I've seen in the US were all in NYC. I lived in Queens, and I always saw kids out, at the playground or just hanging around "being cool." It may not be a small town, but the individual neighborhoods in NYC can feel like a village.
The freest kids I've seen in the US were all in NYC. I lived in Queens, and I always saw kids out, at the playground or just hanging around "being cool." It may not be a small town, but the individual neighborhoods in NYC can feel like a village.
Yeah, if anything I think kids in cities these days probably get out more than kids in small towns. It's a lot more doable when you can get around without a car. There's a Starbucks in Seattle I sometimes go to that's a couple blocks from a middle school, and it's common to see groups of kids flocking in right after 3 pm.
I was in middle school/high school not that long ago (2000s/early 2010s) in a dense inner-ring Chicago suburb, and most people my age would go places on their bikes together, skateboard, or hang out in our suburb's downtown (theater, restaurants, library, cafes, etc). I still see kids doing those things whenever I go back.
Yeah, if anything I think kids in cities these days probably get out more than kids in small towns. It's a lot more doable when you can get around without a car. There's a Starbucks in Seattle I sometimes go to that's a couple blocks from a middle school, and it's common to see groups of kids flocking in right after 3 pm.
Exactly! Where I'm at in Seattle proper, there's a community center with an indoor pool, library, bookstore, bunch of coffeeshops, toy shop, farmer's market, and 2 parks/fields/playgrounds within walking distance to the main residential areas of the neighborhood. You see kids hanging out after school in any number of those places. The key is being able to walk there safely and pleasantly.
The idea that you have to be in a small town to do that is I think completely not in touch with reality.
I don't know what size of a small town that some have in mind. Here in Tupelo ( 36K pop) , kids & teens play outside in the parks especially the weekends.
Nope. Just proving my point that now is the best time to have as many kids as you want. You can choose low-paying jobs, but I hope people understand that if they put in some effort they can secure the lifestyle they want. It's not a glass ceiling situation. I'm a minority from a poor family and made below average grades. It's a matter of will power and work ethic.
I agree to a certain extent that in today's world, having kids isn't a terrible idea in many ways. But what I meant is that I think it's good that people understand their options better now compared to the 1960s when having kids was just a given. You have to sacrifice so many things in your life, especially nowadays(even though as you have pointed out, there are still ways to have a semi-large family without being in the top 5% or going broke), but the reality of it is, it is a lot more difficult to buy a house on a single-income, have a large apartment, pay for childcare, etc nowadays compared to the past. But there's a lot more to it than that, and kids take away a lot of disposable income, freedom, and overall you will become a lot less mobile.
But seriously, 7% of people cite the expenses of childbirth alone as the cause of their bankruptcy. And numerous studies have shown that having children is possibly the biggest reason why relationships fail. And frankly, while I'm not an anti-natalist or anything like that, but how many people want children because they personally want it, or is it simply life-scripting? (though you can say this about a lot of things. There are few tangible advantages of people with children compared to people without.
There are few tangible advantages of people with children compared to people without.
Particularly true in an industrialized society that has socialized the care of its retired generation.
The working generation always supposed the care of the retired generation, either directly child to parent or in a socialized fashion paying taxes that support the retired generation. In the latter case, the retired childless people can be said to be living by benefit of those who had children.
My three-year-old nephew used to mimic riders on TV on a makeshift skateboard made of old carton boxes, so I bought him one for his recent birthday. I do not remember seeing him so happy when he opened the package.
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