Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB
Families with children have lived in the urban core in many cites for years. That is changing here as well.
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Yes! What a welcome change, and a sign of a maturing downtown, to have children living there. I've had the privilege of knowing two families whose children grew up in a mix of skyscrapers and car-dependent gated communities (eg., Rob Roy on The Lake.) In one case, the kids had spent a few years in Manhattan (not the one in KS) and they absolutely LOVED it. In the other case, the kids lived in... oh, yeah, Manhattan (the one sometimes simply referred to as NYC, same as above), and they LOVED it.
Kids dig cities. Freaked out parents think that kids want lawns in sterile suburbs far away from the action, but kids dig action. The only thing kids like more, from my own personal experience, is a rural place where they can spend hours playing in creeks and woods and meadows.
Downtown and the country have this in common, they are both rich complex environments that hold a child's interest. They're full of wonder and surprise. Suburbs are stale, predictable, simple, controlled, controlling environments that make kids want to spend all day staring at screens, where they can get a virtual taste of the unpredictability and chaos that make life beautiful. Death to suburbia!