6 ms·

That's the beauty of American suburbs - they are basically designed to raise kids.

anonporridge 4y ago
On the contrary, suburbs are horrible places for kids. Walkable and safe city centers are much better. Suburban homes are also much more expensive (in absolute terms) and time consuming than a city home. A child is almost completely helpless to travel and roam in a modern suburb until they turn 16 and get their drivers license and access to a car. A suburban home is an island of isolation that keeps a child locked under its parents control and gives very little opportunity for a child to develop a strong sense of independence in the real world.
- wussboy 4y ago
  Fully agreed. Suburbs are a disaster for families. I spend hours every day driving my kids to school and activities because there is no where they can safely walk (no sidewalks! high-speed car traffic!) and nothing within range of walking (infrequent bus service! low-density single-family dwellings!). My kids have no friends that they can interact with from our house.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    Suburban neighborhoods are built to limit high speed through traffic. Perfectly accessible with a bike (or no less accessible than they ever have been).
    - FooBarBizBazz 4y ago
      Cul-de-sac developments are relatively safe for kids. But those developments are connected by stroads and highways where it's unsafe even for an adult to ride a bike. And the distances are too large. Every suburban parent I am aware of has to juggle the logistics of shuttling children around. They play taxi driver.
      - falcolas 4y ago
        > Every suburban parent I am aware of has to juggle the logistics of shuttling children around From experience, most of that shuttling is done for extracurricular activities the parents want for their children. i.e. music lessons, non-school sport leagues, additional lessons, etc. Self induced demand. > And the distances are too large. What kinds of "too large" are you referencing? I recall biking some 10 miles to get to activities in the summer. Highways, yeah, those are out. But stroads often have shoulders and/or sidewalks (which are largely unused by pedestrians). Not really a problem for biking.
        wussboy 4y ago
        Parents in walkable cities also want extracurriculars for their children. It's the suburb that makes the shuttling to/from required. Sidewalks are illegal for cycling, and even if a stroad had a shoulder, the vehicle speeds make it far too dangerous for a not-yet-fully-mentally-developed child to cycle along. And even within the suburb, vehicle speeds are often 60-70 kmph and drivers are often inattentive. Cycling on roads within suburbs in all but the most limited sense is not safe for children. It just takes one wayward glance at your mobile phone for me to be attending the funeral of my son. Cars and bikes don't mix.
- falcolas 4y ago
  Hardly. I was raised in a rural space (with much lower access to neighbor children) and had tons of access to "urban" space because I used a bike. Nothing of today's suburban spaces prevents this same kind of access.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    If you let your kids ride a bike in America you’d have the police called or they would be run over by a drunk driver in an F150.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
bell-cot 4y ago
Older suburbs, yes. I grew up in a neighborhood with a total per-house footprint of less than 10K square feet. (That's the houses on their lots, plus sidewalks, streets, and alleys.) Parks & schools were in walking distance; ditto the "candy store" (a party store on a main road). Walking to the "big" grocery store would have been a bit over 1/2 mile, on little residential streets. Kids were free to roam the neighborhood and play all day, mom did not have a car, and that all worked fine.

On the contrary, suburbs are horrible places for kids. Walkable and safe city centers are much better. Suburban homes are also much more expensive (in absolute terms) and time consuming than a city home. A child is almost completely helpless to travel and roam in a modern suburb until they turn 16 and get their drivers license and access to a car. A suburban home is an island of isolation that keeps a child locked under its parents control and gives very little opportunity for a child to develop a strong sense of independence in the real world.

wussboy 4y ago
Fully agreed. Suburbs are a disaster for families. I spend hours every day driving my kids to school and activities because there is no where they can safely walk (no sidewalks! high-speed car traffic!) and nothing within range of walking (infrequent bus service! low-density single-family dwellings!). My kids have no friends that they can interact with from our house.
- falcolas 4y ago
  Suburban neighborhoods are built to limit high speed through traffic. Perfectly accessible with a bike (or no less accessible than they ever have been).
  - FooBarBizBazz 4y ago
    Cul-de-sac developments are relatively safe for kids. But those developments are connected by stroads and highways where it's unsafe even for an adult to ride a bike. And the distances are too large. Every suburban parent I am aware of has to juggle the logistics of shuttling children around. They play taxi driver.
    - falcolas 4y ago
      > Every suburban parent I am aware of has to juggle the logistics of shuttling children around From experience, most of that shuttling is done for extracurricular activities the parents want for their children. i.e. music lessons, non-school sport leagues, additional lessons, etc. Self induced demand. > And the distances are too large. What kinds of "too large" are you referencing? I recall biking some 10 miles to get to activities in the summer. Highways, yeah, those are out. But stroads often have shoulders and/or sidewalks (which are largely unused by pedestrians). Not really a problem for biking.
      - wussboy 4y ago
        Parents in walkable cities also want extracurriculars for their children. It's the suburb that makes the shuttling to/from required. Sidewalks are illegal for cycling, and even if a stroad had a shoulder, the vehicle speeds make it far too dangerous for a not-yet-fully-mentally-developed child to cycle along. And even within the suburb, vehicle speeds are often 60-70 kmph and drivers are often inattentive. Cycling on roads within suburbs in all but the most limited sense is not safe for children. It just takes one wayward glance at your mobile phone for me to be attending the funeral of my son. Cars and bikes don't mix.
falcolas 4y ago
Hardly. I was raised in a rural space (with much lower access to neighbor children) and had tons of access to "urban" space because I used a bike. Nothing of today's suburban spaces prevents this same kind of access.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  If you let your kids ride a bike in America you’d have the police called or they would be run over by a drunk driver in an F150.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

bell-cot 4y ago

Older suburbs, yes. I grew up in a neighborhood with a total per-house footprint of less than 10K square feet. (That's the houses on their lots, plus sidewalks, streets, and alleys.) Parks & schools were in walking distance; ditto the "candy store" (a party store on a main road). Walking to the "big" grocery store would have been a bit over 1/2 mile, on little residential streets. Kids were free to roam the neighborhood and play all day, mom did not have a car, and that all worked fine.