Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: "Latchkey" kids in community

[Gerry (gerryk]

Hi whoever you are at Sunshine Oakmeadow.   We had what sounds like a
similar situation here when we first moved in 4 1/2 years ago. A couple
who both worked did not make any arrangements for their 6 yeer old
daughter when she came home from school, so she just wondered around the
community, hanging out with whomever would have her. After several weeks
of this, a group got together and went to talk to the parents about
their concerns. Their intervention was successful without alienating the
parents who then made formal arrangements for child care with other
families here. We have many people living here who have taken training
in communication skills and mediation and are able to approach
situations like this in a manner that is problem solving using "I"
messages rather than "You" messages that are blaming,  accusatory and
confrontational. We try to encourage people to use this approach  when
conflicts arise. For those who do it, it works marvelously well.
Gerry Kilgannon


Sunshine Oakmeadow wrote:

> Do any of y'all have families in your communities
> where the kids are pretty much latchkey kids?  I'm
> looking for ideas of ways that other communities have
> dealt with this.
> By "latchkey" I mean that the kids are often left at
> home without a parent/sitter/contact person.  Also
> inherent in my use of the word is that the kids would
> be left to pretty much do as they would without
> parental guidance when they are in community, i.e. at
> meals and events.
> How do y'all work with this?
> Thanks!
>
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