Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Build where the kids are

[Shava Nerad (shava]

> >I've heard several cohousing groups say they have trouble attracting
> families
> >with kids, even though it would seem they would be prime beneficiaries of
> the
> >cohousing environment -
> 
> Are you requiring people to prequalify before they join you? Are you making
> it clear that you plan to build homes that cost the mediun or more in your
> area? Are you meeting new people at the door with a list of demands/ work
> hours required, etc? Are you requiring EVERYONE to put the same amount of
> money into the pot, whether or not they can afford it? Are you meetings too
> full of items to allow human interaction?

[lots of good stuff snipped]

Also -- do you provide childcare during meetings?  This is one of the 
hardest items facing parents of young children.  Something like working
with a coho committee is not something that many couples would want to 
delegate to one parent -- and what about single parents?  Inviting your
kids to the meetings and letting them meet each other is probably an
important part of community building too!

I find myself very active in child/family advocacy, at this point, in my
community -- not because it's my choice of primary interest, but because
it's something I *can* contribute to -- and it's the only set of community
activism that always gets childcare during meetings!!  This is actually
a worse problem than when I was a little kid (I think...) in the 60's.  I
remember going to no end of meetings with my parents at churches, the
UN club, labor organizations, civil rights and peace orgs, etc, where they
had space set aside to take care of the kids.  Now, it seems to be assumed
that if you are socially active, you have money for babysitting, have an
extra person to watch the kids at home, or (sometimes it seems, preferably)
have no children at all.

One of the reasons I'd like to be in coho, is to participate in the lives
of kids, in a positive environment, without having to have more of my own
to do it...;)

Shava