Is cohousing life easier or
From: Laura Bagnall (Laura_Bagnallterc.edu)
Date: 10 Mar 1994 17:07:38 -0500
        Reply to:   Is cohousing life easier or harder?
This is actually in response to a message that was sent several
months ago.  It was talking about the experience at Sharingwood
in how much time different people put into tasks.  The paragraph
which caught my attention read as follows..

Rob Sandelin said -- "From my experience groups that demand
"equal participation" 
tend to lose members who can't or won't put cohousing above
their personal, 
family or job needs.  This is an especially acute delemma with
families 
with young children.  It is almost impossible for someone who
works 
full time, with two small children to attend hours and hours of 
meetings.  It's also a pretty unreasonable expectation on
parents, 
especially if high quality childcare is not happening.  Through
my work 
with the Puget Sound Cohousing Network I have heard four groups
express 
regret at losing parents with small kids because the
expectations and 
demands made of the members were more than the parents would
endure."

This part jumped out at me because I am a single parent with a
four-year-old, and the main motivation for joining a co-housing
community is to make my life easier, not harder!  I understand
that it is a lot of work to get the community going (we're very
early in the process and don't even have a site yet), and I've
certainly been doing my share of committee work.  I of course
know that I will need to do my share of work in the community. 
However, my hope is that taking advantage of economy of scale,
that life will be easier in the community than it would be if I
was living on my own, not harder.  One of my main motivations is
not to have to cook dinner every night, for example.  

What has been the experience of people in existing cohousing
communities?  

Laura




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