City As Community

I talk a lot about the strong sense of community we feel in the city. For outsiders, cities may appear to be cold and unwelcoming places, but I find it is exactly the opposite. Sure there are lots of strangers and dangers, but for the most part the compactness and diversity of urban living cultivate interdependence and community.

Nowhere is this multi-faceted mingling more apparent than at our local neighborhood association's annual ice cream social on the nearby library grounds. Friends and neighbors and city representatives arrived in droves yesterday to enjoy a beautiful summer evening together, making the city even more welcoming and the unfamiliar neighbors a bit less unknown.

City Parenting

Here are my Top 10 reasons why I love city parenting. What would you add to the list?

1. A dozen parks and playgrounds within a one-mile radius of our house (most with sprinklers!)
2. Museums, universities, and libraries steps from our front door
3. Interesting neighbors
4. Frequent city festivals and cultural events
5. Walking more than driving
6. Coffee shops everywhere for my caffeine fix
7. Lots of independent bookstores, retailers, and restaurants
8. Strong sense of community in the city
9. Variety and abundance of class offerings and resources for kids
10. Spontaneous learning moments fueled by the vibrancy of the city

Swim Lessons

When we first committed to homeschooling when M was not quite three-years-old and all of her friends were enrolling in the city's preschools, I felt the need to make sure that we had structured activities and classes planned almost every day of the week.

Apparently this is a common pitfall for novice homeschoolers, according to the veteran homeschoolers I talk to. At some point we learn to trust our children and realize that although some formal classes and activities are valuable, kids need a bounty of unstructured, open time in which to explore and discover. We have dramatically reduced the amount of structured classes in which the kids participate compared to when we started, and our weekly homeschool rhythms feel much saner as a result.

One class, however, that Daddy and I feel is very important is swimming. We spend a lot of our summer time in or near the water and so the ability to swim is critical. In the city, we have lots of different options for swim lessons. We chose a small class just a quick bus ride down the road at MIT that a neighborhood friend of M's is also taking.

While M and Daddy have done parent-child swim classes in the past, yesterday was M's first class without a parent in the water (though I was sitting nearby on a bench). I wondered how she would do. She enjoyed it so much in fact, that it wasn't until about 20 minutes into the class that she finally turned around, realized I was there, and said enthusiastically: "Look Mommy I'm learning to swim!"

As Dr. Sears says, attached kids grow up to be confident and independent:

"They grow up learning that it is safe to trust others, that the world is a warm and responsive place to be, that their needs will be appropriately identified and consistently met. The trust they have in caregivers translates into trust in themselves."

Knowing that your loved ones are always nearby makes it easier to plunge eagerly into uncharted waters.