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Where do the children play?

(unpublishablepapers.substack.com)
409 points casca | 1 comments | 16 Nov 25 13:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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retube ◴[17 Nov 25 08:49 UTC] No.45951914[source]▶
As a parent, I relate to all this. Great piece.

When the kids were babies we had the standard debate of move to the countryside for fresh air and gambolling in the fields etc. But so glad we stayed in London, the kids have so much freedom with public transport they can organise their own meet ups and activities and go running around all over town without any parental assistance or intervention at all. Whereas elsewhere we'd need to drive them everywhere, they'd be stuck at home way more, they'd have no real agency in their lives - I grew up like that and hated it.

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dukeyukey ◴[17 Nov 25 10:20 UTC] No.45952337[source]▶
You're more thinking suburban, or super rural. I grew up in a rural Welsh town (~3000 people), and was is walking distance of basically everyone we knew. I walked to school, to the pool, to the shops, my friends, everything.
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1. Cthulhu_ ◴[17 Nov 25 11:17 UTC] No.45952629[source]▶
Same, somewhat bigger town but it had everything within walking or cycling distance, it was only when I was 17 or so that I had to cycle to the next town over for school. But small towns are emptying out too, a lot of aging, elementary schools are merging and closing, local shops and amenities are closing down. The town used to have a bank, post office and police station, but banking and mailing changed to the point where it was no longer viable to have those services in town.