Cohousing-L Mailing List: Parenting in Cohousing

[Thomas Lofft (tlofft]

Jessie Handforth Kome
Eastern Village Cohousing
 wrote:


"I have one cohousing teen still at home and one 20 year old who just began to 
move out (into a cohousing neighbor's cross town rental property.). We have 
lived in a couple of cohousing neighborhoods. My experience is that there are a 
couple more key variables. First, was the teen in question raised in cohousing 
pretty much all their lives? If yes, have a community meeting about screen 
time, invite the tweens and teens and come to an agreement. They will probably 
expect to be part of the solution and the discussion may surprise you. If they 
were not raised in cohousing, they may not be willing to come to a meeting. You 
may still want to have a community discussion about how much screen time limits 
belong to the family and how much to the community."

I think this targets what I have long believed to be the epitome of what 
cohousing should strive to be: A community without rules where everyone lives 
by AGREEMENT!
 
Teens are people! Kids are people. So is Soylent Green, but that's a different 
story.
 
The earlier kids and teens are invited to participate (note, I said, invited, 
not ordered or commanded or threatened) the earlier they will learn what we 
regard to be civilized process in discussing differences rather than dismissing 
others without any reflection or consideration or trying to force our opinions 
upon others as a heirarchical mandate without regard to merit.
 
Tom Lofft
Liberty Village, MD