Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What is a family?

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

I would also add that the sort of social engineering that so many groups
attempt rarely ever turns out the way they planned. The usual way things
turn out is that once the houses start materializing, the families with
children join the group. But our group, which has had fairly slow turnover,
has had wildly differing age distribution through the years, with little
apparent suffering for the kids. It's certainly nothing we could control,
and our efforts are better spent on things that we can control.

-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento California

http://members.home.net/southsideparkcohousing/
tamgoddess [at] home.com

> I agree with Stephanie's comments about family and diversity. We are
> a family consisting of a married couple and 2 aged dogs, and we have
> a lot to offer to our closest neighbours -- 2 female partners who
> have two young adopted sons -- including babysitting, different
> viewpoints and lifestyles, a male's viewpoint and strengths,
> tea-party hosting for the kids and adults, lots of kids' books and
> videos, and mostly, our unhurried time.
> 
> A small year-round island off Portland, Maine, was advertising a
> couple of years ago for "families" (meaning, with children), and I
> remember my feeling of disappointment then that we were being
> excluded and were unwanted in a community on the basis of our
> decision not to have children. Seems short-sighted. Like Stephanie,
> I can understand wanting playmates for kids, but please keep in mind
> that playmates -- and other important people in kids' lives -- don't
> always have to be the same age as the kids.
> 
> ~ Molly Wms. (Maine)

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