This is the time of year parents rejoice. Their children, who have been "climbing the walls," are finally going back to school.
This is not true at our house.
Happy kids are independent kids.
Independent kids are kids who can walk easily to action.
We have a small fenced in yard. We have used our space creatively -- we have deck space, swings, hammocks, slides, a treehouse and even an enclosed trampoline. Our two doggies are safe.
We have trees planted along all of our property line borders which means we have lots of birds and squirrels whom we regularly feed and enjoy. Our two children, two doggies and all the critters make us feel like we're living in a Disney cartoon. Except ... we live right in town!
When we're at home, we're so ensconced in foliage, we have no sense of living in town. But, when any of us (the kids included) want to go to work to 'action,' it's only a block or two away. So, even if our 14-year old cars don't work, we can still get to work.
My kids can swim at the Rec Park pool (7-minute walk away), take art classes local art gallery (3-minute walk away), go to work (5-minute walk away), go sledding during winter (1-minute walk away), go to restaurants or grocery stores (2-minute walk away) and even take advantage of nifty, summer day camp activities (4-minute walk away).
In other words, my kids don't 'climb the walls' during summer. They not only can find fun on our property, they can easily walk to fun and/or work. They are currently 15 and 11 years old.
As parents, we're working a lot of extra hours because the economy is so crappy, but happily, our kids don't have to rely on us for transportation.
Meanwhile, all the folks who once viewed us as virtually being guilty of child abuse because we didn't live on big areas of land away from town, are beginning to rethink the value of their acreage. Their kids have access to woods, but are never permitted to explore them unsupervised (for good reason). But they don't have easy access to all the town 'goodies' because it requires so much driving back and forth during working hours.
Consequently, there are LOTS of kids who are basically under house arrest during the summer. Of course, they're climbing the walls. Even the ones who were initially ones excited about playing video games are sick of playing them.
Conversely, our kids have learned how to do flips on the trampoline, and have taken that skill to the pool where they learn to do flips (forwards and backwards) off of the diving board. And, they're just in amazing shape. Because they walk everywhere.
And, because they are always 'out and about,' they are constantly having conversations with people of all ages, so they're learning great social skills.
Our kids enjoy a tremendous quality of life because 'life' is within walking distance. I know Atrios belabors this point endlessly. But, as a parent, I can say that you want to pick a residence that is either (a) within walking distance to action, and/or (b) close to mass transit that will take you to action. Otherwise, you're choosing for yourself and your children a life of house/vehicle arrest -- unnecessarily stuck in confined spaces for lengthy periods of time.
I'm telling you ... you might not think it's that big a deal when you're single or married (dealing with adults who can plan trips/commutes), but it's a VERY BIG deal when you've got munchkins.