Free range children
Yesterday was our block party. It was great fun... there were relay races, a fire truck visited and the firemen sprayed children with the hose, a bounce house, a cake walk, and our friends loaned us a popcorn machine, so there was popcorn as well. The street was blocked off, so many children spend hours riding up and down the middle of the street on bicycles and scooters. And there was lots and lots of food.
We have had several new families move in this past summer, so it was a great opportunity to get to know them. By far, one of the best results of the party was the fact that the all grade school age boys who had been living on the block finally got a chance to really know each other. D. announced to me before bed that he had made a whole bunch of new best friends. It's not that our block is particularly unfriendly, but as a whole we just hadn't seen these boys out and about; my children tend to be the only ones roaming the street during the day. Making it even more difficult to meet people is the fact that nearly every family on our block attends a different school... we have children who attend Montessori schools, other private schools, magnet schools (there are two in our city), the local public school, and, of course, there's us, the lone homeschoolers.
It was great to see all the children finally get a chance to connect and even better that today was a holiday. This morning the first thing everyone did was to head out the door and look for their new friends. I hope we'll see more of our neighbors now that these connections have been made. And the boys love being able to head out the door in search of friends.
We have had several new families move in this past summer, so it was a great opportunity to get to know them. By far, one of the best results of the party was the fact that the all grade school age boys who had been living on the block finally got a chance to really know each other. D. announced to me before bed that he had made a whole bunch of new best friends. It's not that our block is particularly unfriendly, but as a whole we just hadn't seen these boys out and about; my children tend to be the only ones roaming the street during the day. Making it even more difficult to meet people is the fact that nearly every family on our block attends a different school... we have children who attend Montessori schools, other private schools, magnet schools (there are two in our city), the local public school, and, of course, there's us, the lone homeschoolers.
It was great to see all the children finally get a chance to connect and even better that today was a holiday. This morning the first thing everyone did was to head out the door and look for their new friends. I hope we'll see more of our neighbors now that these connections have been made. And the boys love being able to head out the door in search of friends.
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