Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: site location/size and children

[Racheli&John (jnpalme]

** Reply to note from Sharon Villines <sharonvillines [at] prodigy.net> Sat, 28 
Apr 2001 10:25:25 -0400
>From Racheli
Sonora cohousing, Tucson.

While I agree that the connection between location and
the perceived quality of the local public school is significant 
for some families with children, it's important to remember
that some people don't send their kids to public schools,
and some don't send their kids to school at all!
We have loads of kids in our community.  Some go to
public schools, some are in private or charter schools,
and a few are home/unschooled.  
About all those other difficulties Sharon mentioned about
having kids and participating in building a cohousing
community: It simply doesn't agree with my experience
here in Tucson.  We've always had families with children
who were very active in doing the work towards carrying
the idea to fruition, and for all of us - having children and
wanting them to live in a community has been a major
motivation.  When my husband and I joined, our younger
son was 7 yo.  He didn't like going to meetings, so one of
us stayed at home with him, while the other attended 
the meeting.  After a while he got to know some of
the other kids, and he liked the babysitter we hired, so he
started coming (and we could both attend).
At a later date, when we had more families with children,
we started hiring two babysitters, one for the younger
kids, and one for the older.  
If a community walks the extra mile(s), they should be
able to attract families.  This means, among other things,
having flexibility, and  tolerating a certain level of chaos which
kids bring with them.  (Some noise in meetings; people
who have to go in and out - because their child needs them,
etc.).  While this might appear on some level as self-explanatory, 
it seems to me that in this country the presence of children is 
often seen as a form of nuisance.  So, making families feel 
welcome is not always easy and natural.  It is, rather, something
which a group who wants families with kids might need to
make a special conscious effort to achieve.

R.



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