Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: children's policies

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

Areas to consider for kid-related policies: 

Supervision: where can/t kids play without an adult? kids of what age?
Here, kids aren't supposed to be in the common house, playing, (vs picking 
up mail) without a responsible adult. 

Safety: Are there areas where it is unsafe to play? to bike/skateboard? Is 
it OK for an adult to take kids on motorized equipment like the tractor 
mower? Is there community equipment (like power mowers) that kids below a 
certain age may not operate? Are there things that shouldn't be left in the 
grass to tangle in the mower? 

Food: Where can they eat? Do you want spaghetti in the kid room, or only in 
the dining room and outdoors? At the dining room sofa? 

Behavior during meals: Is it OK to run through the dining room? Is playful 
screeching and hollering OK while others are eating dinner still? 

TV: If you have a TV or VCR in common space, are there rules?
Equipment: Are there areas where an adult should get down some games, 
puzzles, etc and watch over use, vs self serve? 

AND no matter what you decide, you may have parents who believe nobody 
should tell their free kid what to do or not do, who invite their kid onto 
the tractor mower with them, and/or whose kids just don't listen.
But at least if there is an agreement that the dining room sofa isn't a 
trampoline or place to eat your jelly sandwich, a non-parent, or other-kid's 
parent, has a sense of permission to remind the kid that the sofa they can 
jump on is in the kid room, and they should eat at a table or outside. 

Lynn at RoseWind, where typically have about 7 kids (aged 3-10) at meals, 
and where we have a broad range of parenting attitudes.