Yesterday’s weather was beautiful and my neighbor (and fellow apartment mom) and I took our kids to the playground and stayed until the sun faded. We met up with another apartment mom from another apartment building near ours.
I asked them to tell me what their biggest apartment challenge was with the kids. And I’ll be writing more on that. But I learned that the other building is more kid-friendly than ours. They have some big bonuses, like a small playground and a big pool. The pool is an awesome bonus but I want to talk about the playground.
Having a playground is not as big a cost/responsibility as having a pool. It gives neighboring families a gathering place outdoors and kids easy access to much-needed exercise. You don’t have to get in the car and drive somewhere. This maximizes the actual play-time: If I have less than one hour, I’m not going to make a trip to the town park. But if it was a short walk from my door, we’d be there a lot more. I’ve been told by one or two homeowners with play sets in their backyards that their kids still want to go where there will be other kids to play with them.
Our building has space on the property for a play set and in recent years they removed a dilapidated swing set that did appear unsafe, but it was never replaced. The message is clear: don’t play here.
Tell me about your building: What do you think is kid-friendly about it?
We have a nice lawn space between the buildings where the kids can play outside and climb trees. Yesterday I took them out there to run around. An actual play set would be better. But my boys will actually spend an hour running and tackling each other, so grass that is not next to a road or parking lot works for us.
Can you lobby for a play set at your place? I heard they voted for one at my place, but I don’t see anything happening with that.
Oh, from a previous life, my house with yard perspective: My kid was totally bored with the backyard unless other kids were over. However, my kid also spent hours outside on his own with neighbor kids. I miss being able to send him out like that, and having the option to keep an eye on him while staying in my house.