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A coworker of mine actually move to Saskatchewan just in order to be able to buy a house he dreams of. It is completely nuts to me.
It depends on what he likes to do with his life (particularly outside of his work time).
If all he does is watch American Idol and CSI and Hockey Night in Canada and hangs out at Tim Hortons and Kelsey's, then you don't really have to live in the 416 area code in order to live that exact same life.
Of course, some people do live that life in the 416 and stay put to remain close to family and friends.
Whether people want to accept it or not, your life does revolve around your child, even if you have one. The problem is that people like to strictly define what "child friendly" truly is. To some its having a yard, large home, living in a zero crime suburb. To others it is living in an urban area and introducing and including your child in your own personal interests, when they are age appropriate.
Children are more adaptable and tougher than we give them credit for. They assume that they cant be exposed to the day to day life of the city and they assume they cant move around with ease. You pick children up and put them in a situation, they will surprise you. Actually they adapt alot faster than adults who are stuck in their ways.
At the end of the day each family is unique and choosing to live either an urban or suburban life is their personal choice. But they are both equally "child friendly" in their own ways.
short but excellent post! I think most parents simply follow the tide and force their idea of "child friendly" upon their children.
This is why people should travel more. Millions of kids grow in mid and high-rise small apartments in Europe, Asia, South America and they still have a wonderful and often more interesting childhood. It is better to adapt them to the real world than trying to protect them from an sterilized environment. The concept of "my child needs a backyard to play in" is ridiculous, like the backyard is a super interesting and intellectually stimulating place for a toddler to grow up. This is why you call "stuck in their ways".
And parents do it only because everyone else doe it. I witness most immigrants do the same although they are from a totally different background, not necessarily because they think the Canadian way is the better way, but just to keep up with the Joneses. It is sad, really.
Yeah. We've always kept our kids with one foot in the adult world (within reason) and haven't excluded them from stuff and experiences simply because some people don't consider them to be kid-friendly.
We've travelled to lots of countries around the world that are infamous for not being kid-friendly (or at least kid-practical) and it was perfectly fine.
My kids have eaten dinner at midnight in South America when they were barely into elementary school age.
They are now a bit older but we still go to restaurants fairly late around where we live and even on schoolnights we sometimes come back home from a family dining outing at 9:30 or so. (Luckily we live close to the school so they don't have to get up too early in the morning.)
We have tried to raise our daughter in a similar fashion. The restaurants in our area know our little one and places that most would consider not "kid friendly" are very welcoming and accommodating to a well behaved child. In quite a few countries it is not a huge deal to see families eating out late, even on a week night.
It depends on what he likes to do with his life (particularly outside of his work time).
If all he does is watch American Idol and CSI and Hockey Night in Canada and hangs out at Tim Hortons and Kelsey's, then you don't really have to live in the 416 area code in order to live that exact same life.
Of course, some people do live that life in the 416 and stay put to remain close to family and friends.
this reminds me of what I experienced in Portugal.
In Lisbon, my walking tour guide showed us the bars in Bairro Alto - their "entertainment district". He told us that in Lisbon, people don't go to bars and drink inside with a few of your old pals. They buy the drink and hang out outside on the street, because the bars are very tiny. In this way, everyone mingles, irrespective of who you know and what your economic situations are, because everyone is outside. You get to talk to people you don't know, not the same pals you always hang out with for the past 10 years, or the people who frequent this particular bar. And that's why I call real urban life.
Isn't that wonderful? Of course it has to do with Lisbon's warm weather, but it tells us even if you enjoy life by going out often (instead of staying at home watching CSI), there are always more interesting ways to do things.
Of course there are people who only want to associate with people they know (Canadians are mostly like that), but that really limits one's horizon and life experiences, because the pals we know for a long time tend to share the same background as themselves (same school, same company, etc.). Many people are narrow-minded and prejudiced for a reason, and mostly because they always hang out with people who know and believe exactly the same stuff.
They tend to reorient your focus as to what the definition of "joy of your life" is...
and you are suggesting people could enjoy life simply from raising multiple kids itself by spending 20 years of their life doing nothing else?
It is not worth it even for the most loving mother.
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