Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Integrating middle-aged kids into community

[Joani Blank (joani]

Shelly,

> You have been told that "the kids roam in packs there and it would be fine 
> once we get there."

I say, "the kids roam in packs there (and in all cohousing communities) and 
it WILL be fine once YOU get there.

My daughter recently moved into cohousing with an 10 1/2 year old boy, and 
7 year old and 2 year old girls. My grandson Milo is the oldest kid and 
definitely in the "everything sucks" stage, but he's having a grand time, 
especially with several of the adult men who are befriending him and 
involving him in projects. Also, fortunately, he's made friends right away 
at his new school. And this is his first year in public school. (He's been 
in Waldorf schools ever since kindergarten.)

It's lucky that you are moving into cohousing before your kids are deep 
into their adolescence. That can be a really hard one, but now, I'll bet 
your boys will be at that head of some of those packs, simply because they 
are boys and are older, and you may be surprised at how eager they are to 
be given the responsibility to watch out for and set good examples for, and 
teach stuff to all those "babies."

Joani
p.s. Some of us know how long and hard you almost singlehandedly worked to 
get cohousing going in Hartford, so yay that you are finally getting to 
live in it!  One of the t-shirt slogans that never got printed on a Coho/US 
shirt is "Cohousing: The Ultimate Experience Of Delayed 
Gratification."  Ain't it so!

Joani Blank
510-834-7399
Cell: 510-387-1315
joani [at] swansway.com
www.joaniblank.com