Where have all the children gone? (Hoboken, High Bridge: chapel, new home, neighborhoods)
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I live in a stunning part of NJ in Hunterdon county, yet I am constantly searching for somewhere else to live. I spend hours reading through posts on city data trying to find the right place, a place where children actually play out!!! It's summer holidays, yet still there aren't any kids out, just being kids and playing. Developments here are not built with children in mind. There are no community pools, playgrounds or even sidewalks, and the kids are so over scheduled you often need to book play dates well in advance. When I think back to my childhood it was full of relaxed, spontaneous fun, and I worry so much that my children will look back at what should be a truly magical time in their lives and think, 'how boring'.
My only real restrictions are needing to be fairly close to an airport, (any state), great schools, oh and money haha, need to be able to buy a 3 to 4 bed house for 5 to 6k
So, does anyone know where my little slice of kiddie heaven is?
I live in a stunning part of NJ in Hunterdon county, yet I am constantly searching for somewhere else to live. I spend hours reading through posts on city data trying to find the right place, a place where children actually play out!!! It's summer holidays, yet still there aren't any kids out, just being kids and playing. Developments here are not built with children in mind. There are no community pools, playgrounds or even sidewalks, and the kids are so over scheduled you often need to book play dates well in advance. When I think back to my childhood it was full of relaxed, spontaneous fun, and I worry so much that my children will look back at what should be a truly magical time in their lives and think, 'how boring'.
My only real restrictions are needing to be fairly close to an airport, (any state), great schools, oh and money haha, need to be able to buy a 3 to 4 bed house for 5 to 6k
So, does anyone know where my little slice of kiddie heaven is?
I would vote for Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC if you looked out of state. In NJ I would have to say much of Morris County from what I have observed.
My sister lives in Charlotte and her neighborhood is FILLED with kids, but she does miss the Northeast and her husband vowed never to go back to Long Island, so she is stuck there. I went to High School in Greenville, and again, very kid heavy and family oriented. All the neighborhoods had pools, and every Saturday night was a kid themed event at the neighborhood rec center.
I think the problem is that kids would rather spend all day playing video games instead of being out and about on their bikes doing traditional kid things which is sad.
I would vote for Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC if you looked out of state. In NJ I would have to say much of Morris County from what I have observed.
My sister lives in Charlotte and her neighborhood is FILLED with kids, but she does miss the Northeast and her husband vowed never to go back to Long Island, so she is stuck there. I went to High School in Greenville, and again, very kid heavy and family oriented. All the neighborhoods had pools, and every Saturday night was a kid themed event at the neighborhood rec center.
I think the problem is that kids would rather spend all day playing video games instead of being out and about on their bikes doing traditional kid things which is sad.
My sister lives in Greenville SC and she loves it, she moved down there 3 years ago and my niece has never been happier, plenty of things for kids to do. It's true that a lot of kids now days prefer to just sit in front of a video game all day, but that's the parent's fault for most of today's parents think that the TV or video games are a cheap baby sitter, I REFUSE and won't ALLOW my son to have a TV, PC, Video Games in his room, as far as I'm concerned the bedroom is to sleep. My son and his friends for the most part spend the summer days playing ball and at the town pool and riding their bikes, but a lot of them is like pulling teeth to try to get them to play outside.
I would vote for Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC if you looked out of state. In NJ I would have to say much of Morris County from what I have observed.
My sister lives in Charlotte and her neighborhood is FILLED with kids, but she does miss the Northeast and her husband vowed never to go back to Long Island, so she is stuck there. I went to High School in Greenville, and again, very kid heavy and family oriented. All the neighborhoods had pools, and every Saturday night was a kid themed event at the neighborhood rec center.
I think the problem is that kids would rather spend all day playing video games instead of being out and about on their bikes doing traditional kid things which is sad.
We almost moved to Chapel hill last year but my husbands' company offered him some perks that made us stay. Financially, we're better off but......
From what I've seen of NC they certainly plan their neighbourhoods with children in mind which is very refreshing.
We almost moved to Chapel hill last year but my husbands' company offered him some perks that made us stay. Financially, we're better off but......
From what I've seen of NC they certainly plan their neighbourhoods with children in mind which is very refreshing.
As for video games ARRRGGGG
Those neighborhoods are very kid friendly, but I think a lot of people move there in haste and they don't realize what they are getting themselves into.
I don't like video games but I do own a Wii, and every Friday night the friends come over and we do bowling tournaments. Ah yes, to be 30, fabulous, and broke.
It's a three-pronged problem. 1) As you've seen, the communities up there don't necessarily offer the amenities for the kids that some other areas do. 2) As you've said, parents are too busy scheduling the kids for music lessons, ballet, karate, Kumon, and god knows what else, rather than just letting them "be kids". 3) There's too many indoor activities now like video games, TV, computers, etc., that we didn't have when we were kids- when we were young, we had to go outside since there was nothing to do inside.
While our neighborhood down here in GA has the pool, tennis courts and playground (which my kids are at every day), they also spend lots of time just running up and down the sidewalk to their friends' houses to play. We try to encourage that as much as possible, but it's tough to break them away from Webkins Online, Spongebob, and the Wii (though they're getting better at wanting to spend more time outside). It's not something that "just moving" will fix for you though.
hey, there's nothing wrong with the odd night of games
Quote:
Originally Posted by HobokenGuy
Those neighborhoods are very kid friendly, but I think a lot of people move there in haste and they don't realize what they are getting themselves into.
I don't like video games but I do own a Wii, and every Friday night the friends come over and we do bowling tournaments. Ah yes, to be 30, fabulous, and broke.
A couple of glasses of wine and it's the kids trying to get me off rockband haha
I'm the kind of Mum that would kick them out of the house if they had somewhere to go
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobKovacs
It's a three-pronged problem. 1) As you've seen, the communities up there don't necessarily offer the amenities for the kids that some other areas do. 2) As you've said, parents are too busy scheduling the kids for music lessons, ballet, karate, Kumon, and god knows what else, rather than just letting them "be kids". 3) There's too many indoor activities now like video games, TV, computers, etc., that we didn't have when we were kids- when we were young, we had to go outside since there was nothing to do inside.
While our neighborhood down here in GA has the pool, tennis courts and playground (which my kids are at every day), they also spend lots of time just running up and down the sidewalk to their friends' houses to play. We try to encourage that as much as possible, but it's tough to break them away from Webkins Online, Spongebob, and the Wii (though they're getting better at wanting to spend more time outside). It's not something that "just moving" will fix for you though.
or someone to go with. "just running up and down the sidewalk to their friends' houses to play" is sadly what I left behind and exactly what I am searching for. Simple pleasures//pics3.city-data.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif
Those neighborhoods are very kid friendly, but I think a lot of people move there in haste and they don't realize what they are getting themselves into.
I don't like video games but I do own a Wii, and every Friday night the friends come over and we do bowling tournaments. Ah yes, to be 30, fabulous, and
broke.
"but I think a lot of people move there in haste and they don't realize what they are getting themselves into". That would be me haha...what would I be getting myself into?
I'm not religious so I wonder if that may be a problem. I've also read that the locals can be very conservative. Other than that ?????
It's summer holidays, yet still there aren't any kids out, just being kids and playing. Developments here are not built with children in mind. There are no community pools, playgrounds or even sidewalks, and the kids are so over scheduled you often need to book play dates well in advance.
Who needs a community pool or a playground? In Hunterdon you have the woods! When I was a kid that was all we needed and kids that live in my parents' neighborhood now are of the same mindset. It's not where you live, its the parents. Summer is for swimming in the creek, building forts in trees, and just messing around in the woods. Of course chances are lots of parents these days don't think it's "safe" to let kids play in the woods and would rather send them to origami camp. Those people are lame-find new kids for your kids to play with. In any event we're moving into our new home in High Bridge next week so it will be interesting to see how many kids are running around. High Bridge is a bit of a different animal compared to the rest of Hunterdon though. It's a small borough, not a large spread out township where the homes are few and far between.
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It's funny you should recommend NC
