In my day - I'm 37 - I remember being VERY free in my play time. We didn't do bamboo blackpowder cannons, but we did tin foil blackpowder rockets, and no adult complained - because they didn't need to know. But I was raised up in smallish, very safe cities. Now I live in a big city (Rome), I have a little daughter and I would be worried to let her go around as freely when the time will come.
One of the reasons I'm using almost all my free time to work on my bootstrapped startup ideas is to be able to move to a little city and still be able to do what I like while earning enough money, so that I could hopefully give my daughter that same freedom that I got - if my wife allows that!
But do you think that moving to a small village to give children the opportunity to play outside will outweigh the disadvantages of living in such a village? I grew up in a small village and I feel like I missed out on a lot because of it:
- Only limited access to like-minded children (i.e., rather nerdy people who like to actually design and properly build tree houses rather than putting together some old sheets and then move into 'let's attack the tree hut' mode)
- Access to intellectually stimulating activities
- A proper library (maybe less important with the internet nowadays)
- Role models who aren't factory workers or construction workers (nothing wrong with them, but being exposed to a variety of role models is the key - I didn't really get the concept of an office job until I was in my early teens).
I have no desire to move back to such an environment, and even less desire to let my daughter grow up in it. Not saying that cities are perfect either, just that I don't think the advantages of villages outweigh the disadvantages.
I'm not talking about a small village, but a small city: The cities where I grew up were 100k and 30k residents respectively, and very quiet.
It's true that it is more difficult to find like-minded friends and more intellectually stimulating activities there, but I think that that would only become a concern when you're over 13 or something, and there's a lot of time for that. Big libraries (which I missed back in the day) wouldn't be a problem today, and as for role models, that wouldn't be a problem in that kind of city I'm talking about.
Of course, there is no perfect choice, but in my opinion a small city would be the best compromise. Then, only time will tell...
I think smallish university cities are a good bet. They have enough going on to make them interesting, but aren't full-on big cities with all of their problems.
In Italy, places like Padova, Pavia and Pisa - back in the US, places like Eugene, Oregon or Boulder, Colorado (although I've never been there) may qualify.
Agreed. Another nice example is new paltz, new york (has a small university there). It's easy to walk to from the university through the neighborhood to the main street for a slice of pizza.
I also recall where rensellaer poly is to be a nice little town next to the university.
I can't think of many towns in Texas that offer a small university town without being so spread out parents don't have to worry about cars though.
Boulder is also really nice near campus (getting sprawlish outside it), mountain hikes are a bike ride away.
Oh OK, yeah that makes sense - I was actually comparing village with medium-sized university city (in which I live now - but I guess that city size is relative, most Chinese would find my city (120k) a village I suppose).
I did a variation on the bamboo blackpowder cannon, and it was the plastic pipe blackpowder pistol. It didn't end well, my friend had blackpowder speckles all over his face and eyes, and I had not much skin left on my lower right arm.
There was also the hot summer, midday trek when we got lost in the hills. Well, we found out the way back at last, but it could have been serious :)
I'm not mentioning the bad habit to illegally ( 12 y. o. aren't supposed to) drive regularly motorcycles without helmets. Fortunately nobody ever got seriously hurt.
One of the reasons I'm using almost all my free time to work on my bootstrapped startup ideas is to be able to move to a little city and still be able to do what I like while earning enough money, so that I could hopefully give my daughter that same freedom that I got - if my wife allows that!