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> That said, "growing up in the countryside" isn't itself necessary. You just need to grow up with some decent nature within walking distance. Yes, many urban e
by MichaelCollins 4y ago
> That said, "growing up in the countryside" isn't itself necessary. You just need to grow up with some decent nature within walking distance. Yes, many urban environments have unwisely paved over all their green spaces with parking lots and high rises. But that's not a necessary feature of a city; look for cities that value green spaces, e.g. Pittsburgh's Frick Park/Schenley Park/Hazelwood Greenway triangle provides ample opportunity for getting lost in unmanicured woods.
I can scarcely imagine city parks providing the country upbringing experience of running off into the woods after breakfast and not coming home until dinner, every day of summer until school season started again. Visiting the park for a few hours once or twice a week just isn't the same.
- kibwen 4y agoI encourage you to visit the places I've mentioned if you're ever in Pittsburgh. They're not "parks" in the sense of mowed lawns and baseball fields (Pittsburgh has lots of those too, though). These parks contain legitimate woods in the heart of the city, Frick most especially.
- MichaelCollins 4y agoI looked up the parks when I left that comment and saw that they have forests. But I am driving at the difference between visiting a park once or twice a week, probably with parental supervision / transportation (young free-roaming children in American cities is largely a thing of the past, the cops will scoop up your kid and possibly accuse you of neglect) vs running around in the woods unsupervised for 12 hours a day, every day of summer.