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> You can't combat this enormous societal change by making an individual effort to let your kids do more by themselves. Maybe not, but you can do things like:
by rtlfe 4y ago
> You can't combat this enormous societal change by making an individual effort to let your kids do more by themselves.
Maybe not, but you can do things like:
* Live downtown instead of in a suburb
* Ask your school / DOT to close the street in front of the school during dropoff and pickup hours
* Walk with your kid to school instead of driving them
* Support higher-density development in your area
- Tagbert 4y agoIf you live downtown you are unlikely to have a grade school in your area from what I can see of any American cities. Families with school aged children don’t tend to live in the downtowns. Older suburbs are much more walkable in terms of kids walking to school with sidewalks and fewer vehicles than an urban center.
- MiddleEndian 4y agoI think it depends on the city and suburb. I grew up in a fairly large and fairly dense (by suburb standards) suburban city of Boston and it was quite walkable as a child (and also had the benefit of having a few MBTA stops). I live in the middle of downtown Boston now and while I find it fantastic as a somewhat immature adult, I wouldn't say it's especially child-friendly. That being said, I have seen many other suburbs (looking at you, various places in Connecticut) that don't even have sidewalks. That cannot be good for anyone. And Boston certainly has more child-friendly neighborhoods as well.
- adrianN 4y agoYou can ask your DOT to close the street in front of the school, but, at least where I live, even if they are supportive it is likely that your child will be out of school before something actually happens. Increasing the density of an area also takes years or even decades.