I grew up in a medium-sized, suburb-focused town called Kamloops, and I can see why my parents wanted to raise my brothers and me in that place. It was peaceful, safe, and abundant with natural settings (desert, but what did we care?) It's an interesting thought potentially raising our child in a much larger city, Vancouver. I don't know quite what to expect, but we made the choice for a couple of reasons.
First, it's a beautiful place with a lot of smart people. The city's clean. The architecture is great. The natural surroundings, while a little less accessible, are spectacular. And there are just a ton of people who seem to be actively interested in creating a cultured, eco-friendly, diverse city. In my experience, there are countless intangible benefits being around people who actively focus on these things. Ideas seem to seep up from nowhere. There are always interesting events going on. You're always on top of new trends and new patterns of thoughts. Hell, forget about the kids for a second, I'm really excited to have these these things for myself. I think choosing this environment is a way of keeping horizons open for our children.
More generally, I like the idea of cities as places of opportunity and increased chance for personal growth. One of the drawbacks about Kamloops was that it could be difficult to imagine how to innovate there. I never really saw anything cutting edge in that kind of environment. I have a decent imagination, but without any clear pattern for how to grow or expand or push myself, it was way more challenging than I believe it needed to be. I'm sure the bright people were there, but in a big, vital enough city, what I'm hoping is that there will be entire communities of innovators and free thinkers. They'll be much more apparent, and this will have big pluses should our child have inclinations in that direction.
Moving to the city, for us, is definitely not about trying to force our kid into some picture of what we think he or she should be. It's merely about providing as many alternatives as possible. If our kid decides that the life of a garbage truck driver is the only way to go, that's fine, but I certainly don't want to have raised the kid in an environment devoid of options. Let's face it, the world has limitless possibilities, and when you're young and creative, that's a very good thing. Better to have the exposure to as many of them as possible.
Having said all that, I have no idea what it would be like to be a kid in a large city day to day. If we have it our way, our neighborhoods are going to be fairly urban, so that likely means less space at home and a whole different kind of daily surroundings from the ones where I grew up. My friends and I used to ride bikes down to the beach or go hiking in the hills on a whim, and I'm guessing when our kids get old enough they'll also want to go exploring. I don't know precisely what that looks like in a city, maybe its parks, maybe its more indoors. Nonetheless, both my wife and I believe firmly in our choice, and I can't wait to get started on this great new experiment.
October 1 is the day she starts her new job, so there will be more to follow on this topic leading up to the big move!
First, it's a beautiful place with a lot of smart people. The city's clean. The architecture is great. The natural surroundings, while a little less accessible, are spectacular. And there are just a ton of people who seem to be actively interested in creating a cultured, eco-friendly, diverse city. In my experience, there are countless intangible benefits being around people who actively focus on these things. Ideas seem to seep up from nowhere. There are always interesting events going on. You're always on top of new trends and new patterns of thoughts. Hell, forget about the kids for a second, I'm really excited to have these these things for myself. I think choosing this environment is a way of keeping horizons open for our children.
More generally, I like the idea of cities as places of opportunity and increased chance for personal growth. One of the drawbacks about Kamloops was that it could be difficult to imagine how to innovate there. I never really saw anything cutting edge in that kind of environment. I have a decent imagination, but without any clear pattern for how to grow or expand or push myself, it was way more challenging than I believe it needed to be. I'm sure the bright people were there, but in a big, vital enough city, what I'm hoping is that there will be entire communities of innovators and free thinkers. They'll be much more apparent, and this will have big pluses should our child have inclinations in that direction.
Moving to the city, for us, is definitely not about trying to force our kid into some picture of what we think he or she should be. It's merely about providing as many alternatives as possible. If our kid decides that the life of a garbage truck driver is the only way to go, that's fine, but I certainly don't want to have raised the kid in an environment devoid of options. Let's face it, the world has limitless possibilities, and when you're young and creative, that's a very good thing. Better to have the exposure to as many of them as possible.
Having said all that, I have no idea what it would be like to be a kid in a large city day to day. If we have it our way, our neighborhoods are going to be fairly urban, so that likely means less space at home and a whole different kind of daily surroundings from the ones where I grew up. My friends and I used to ride bikes down to the beach or go hiking in the hills on a whim, and I'm guessing when our kids get old enough they'll also want to go exploring. I don't know precisely what that looks like in a city, maybe its parks, maybe its more indoors. Nonetheless, both my wife and I believe firmly in our choice, and I can't wait to get started on this great new experiment.
October 1 is the day she starts her new job, so there will be more to follow on this topic leading up to the big move!
RSS Feed
