Re: Kid Stories | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Dahako (Dahakoaol.com) | |
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 18:30:27 -0700 (MST) |
Hi - I don't know if stories from cohousing communities in development count or not? At Eno Commons, half our households have kids (bringing us to a total of about 16 kids, almost all of whom are seven years old or younger). We have business meetings every weekend, plus some socializing during the week, so the kids are all pretty good buddies with each other and with the grownups. One of our grownups, Robert (hi!) is a vegan, but he started this running joke with my son, Harry, who was then two years old. Robert would come into our house and ask Harry for the mustard, so Robert could eat him up. At first, Harry was a bit intimidated by this stranger, but after he got used to Robert, one day Harry went to the fridge and got the mustard, gave it to Robert, then pointed out one of the other kids for Robert to eat. Over time, this joke has been adopted by all the kids. They now call Robert, "Robertburgers!" To continue the joke, Robert is planning on painting his house the following colors: mustard (body), ketchup (door) and mayonnaise (trim). The kids love Robert's silly jokes, and Robert, who used to say he didn't know what to do around kids, really enjoys his time with them and has been known to trade babysitting for food. Our youngest current member, a little girl under a year old, regularly gets passed around our pancake breakfasts and business meetings. One of the people that is best at soothing her (except when she's hungry) is an experienced parent with older kids (and she also happens to teach at a Quaker preschool). So the child gets an extra grownup to bond with a bit and the parents get to enjoy more of the meeting and social time. The older kids have decided they are in charge of designing the playground and have already gone through a couple of rounds of planning. A little while back they came to us and asked for help facilitating their meetings (we're still working on that - here's one for the list: how do you facilitate a meeting when the participants have 15 minute attention spans?). Then they told us they would be fundraising so they could have more control over what went into the playground. This from a group of kids whose median age is about 5. One of our 5-year-olds told her mother one day that Eno Commons was better. "Better than what?" her mom asked. "Better than anything!" her daughter replied. Jessie Handforth Kome Eno Commons Cohousing Durham, NC Where El Nino has finally relented enough to allow the first house foundation (mine) to go up - with home completion expected in late May. The builder has many more permits in hand, ready to move very soon. The construction drawings for the commons house are almost ready. We have 16 of 22 lots sold, with a 17th under option. Just looking for a few more good neighbors so we can experience community without marketing!
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re: Kid Stories Joani Blank, February 28 1998
- Re: Kid Stories Dahako, February 28 1998
- kid stories MartyR707, March 1 1998
- Re: kid stories Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob, March 1 1998
- Re: Kid stories Fred H. Olson, March 10 1998
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