Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Students and Post-teens as Renters

[Fred H. Olson (fholson]

Sharon Hamer  hamer [at] meol.mass.edu
is the author of the message below but due to a problem 
(posted from address other than subscribed address)
It was posted by the Fred the list mgr: owner-nbhd-tc [at] freenet.msp.mn.us
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Wow, this is something else.

First of all, as I say all the time to people who say "when I was young we
did______(fill in the blank)", 1998 is not 1978, or 1968, 58, or any other time
period but 1998. We should never try to teach our children to live in the past,
we must teach them tol ive in the present and prepare for THEIR future, which
will be drastically different from ours, as well as different from "the old
Dutch". What might have worked at one time, even a time 20 years ago, will not
necessarily work now.

To say that 16-25 year olds are READY to live independently is too blanket a
statement for me. This world of 1998 is so media driven, with such accessible
contraband (drugs, alcohol, weapons) that is celebrated in the very music and
videos and movies that YA's love, and frought with such lethal and life long
diseases (AIDS, STD's, etc.), and many of our children have been protected and
babied right through their teens, that letting them loose, even in a modified
way would be the height of irresponsibility.

I don't know of many 16-25 year olds who are ready to buy a home in any
community, much less cohousing. I would imagine YA's would want to live where
there are many other YA's, in rental  apts. as roomates. SInce I think of our
cohousing community as a large extended family, I think we need to understand
that empty nest syndrome is going to happen to us, and that it is a natural and
a good thing.

Sharon Hamer................................hamer [at] meol.mass.edu
Library Media Specialist.................508-497-9820
Hopkinton Middle/High School......(Fax)508-497-9829
Hopkinton, MA 01748

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary"
--Vidal Sasoon

Sharon Villines wrote:

> One of the housing needs in our society is that of young people 16-25 who
> need semi-supervised housing to help them transition into independence.
> College dorms do this job for the college bound but that is a diminishing
> part of the population since many colleges are now non-residential. Those
> who don't go to college have nothing.
>
> In old Dutch houses, this age group used to build lofts in the attic rafters
> or in the barn which served as private living space. During the Sixties and
> Seventies build your own house movement, families found that 16 was the age
> when young people went out and built their own houses, returning to the
> family house for some meals and a bath. By 21-24 they were ready to build
> more independent houses with friends but still returned home frequently.
>
> The building I would like to see designed as a adjunct to cohousing would be
> a dorm-like unit for young people. It would have self-government but with
> requirements set by the cohousing community just as we set behavior codes
> for other residents--no barking dogs, no nude swimming before 10:00, no
> marching band practice at 7 am, etc.
>
> Otherwise, we will have communities with no one in this age group because
> they can't afford to buy and want--or need--to live independently from their
> parents. On a larger social level, many teenagers who live on the streets
> are "throw-aways"--the parents had the problem, not the kids. And the kids
> have no alternatives.
>
> Sharon Villines, Who has moved from Manhattan the movie set to Florida the
> postcard.
> Archives of Detective Fiction, http://www.fictionlibrary.org
> The MacGuffin Mystery Guide is on its way!
> Synergy Cohousing, Delray Beach, FL http://www.cohousing.net



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