Playbourhood
We Play or Play Wii
We talk a lot about the benefit of taking our kids outside to play on the street and getting them away from too much “screen” time. But in this part of the world, that’s a difficult thing to do during the long, dark, cold months of winter. Most families with young children understand the benefits of having a way to keep the kids engaged and busy indoors for more than a few minutes. Books, games crafts and free play only work for so long. Television and computer games help fill the void, but aren’t that great at encouraging family unity. But they can’t be completely avoided in our modern, tech heavy world. As a compromise, our family decided to get a Wii system because many of the games provide an opportunity to get up off the couch and be active. We like the way we can play as a family spending time together. The problem, however, is that simply having time together is not the same as spending quality time together.
Oakville North General
Mom’s Town
Came across another great site offering networking and support for moms in our community. Check it out. I really like the intro that says “Odds are that when you were growing up your mom knew all of your neighbours. Your street was full of kids you knew and your mom invited the neighbourhood over to run through the sprinkler while the other moms had coffee and chatted.” If that doesn’t sound exactly like a Playbourhood, I don’t know what does.
Playbourhood
Skating together, not apart…
There have been some stories recently in the local newspaper about residents complaining that a skateboard park has been causing some problems for neighbours. The complaint is that young kids have been congregating in the evening and behaving badly, which has been causing some annoyance for people who live nearby. The stories have not only been reported in the newspaper, but have also been communicated to town council to such a degree that I recently received a letter in the mail indicating that town council was looking into the issue and assessing a number of alternative solutions. In the interests of being transparent, let me tell you that I live pretty close to the park in question. So I think that I have something constructive and personal to add to this debate.
Oakville North General
Moms in the Loop
I recently discovered this new web site for Moms in the area. It’s being promoted as a site “intended for use by mothers only. You must have at least one child enrolled in school or about to enter pre-school.” Like many group sites, it has a variety of resources, information and ways for families to connect and share. What I find most interesting about this particular site, however, is the ability to create groups and forums based on the school your children attend. What a great way to connect with people in your neighbourhood! While I’m not a “mom”, I still plan to check out this site regularly to see what’s going on in the community. I’ve added a link over on the right, but you can check it out here.
Playbourhood
Bikes for Fun (and excercise)
A great article in the Globe and Mail suggests that making excercise fun makes it easy. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Andre Picard writes, “When reports are published and news stories written about hot-button topics like childhood obesity and physical inactivity, the responses are as impassioned as they are varied.The release this week of the annual report card of Active Healthy Kids Canada – which concluded, among other things, that only 12 per cent of children are physically active enough and that one-quarter of preschool kids are already overweight – is a case in point.” Read the entire article here.
West Oak Trails
House on my pick for Playbourhood of the Year
I sat down a while ago with the intention of writing an article about my pick for a Playbourhood of the Year award. I’m easily distracted I guess, because I never did get around to it. I did however write this little article about missed opportunities. And I promised not to let another one go by. So here you are. A house listing on a great Playbourhood street.
West Oak Trails
Lease a home in a great Playbourhood
If you’re visiting this site, you obviously appreciate the value of living in a great neighbourhood that is play friendly. If you’re also in the market to live in one, why not check this out. This place is just down the street from where I live. It’s a great street with lots of families and lots of activity. I won’t try to sell you on the merits of the house, but I can tell you it’s a great area to live!
Oakville North General
Vital Signs Stagnant
Last week, the Oakville Community Foundation released it’s 2009 version of Vital Signs, a study that measures a number of important issues facing our community. It looks at things like health, culture, the environment, safety, learning and housing issues. The first significant results of the study were released last year and showed a few disturbing things that are important to young people in our town. If we consider those results as the baseline, then this year’s updates should provide us with an understanding of the trends and let us know where we need to focus our attention. Sadly, in my opinion, we’re not improving. And in fact, the OCF has chosen not to even highlight these imporant areas. I talked about them in this article. I hope as we move forward, things will improvem, not only in terms of the statistics, but also in what community leaders consider important. Remaining stagnant is not an option where our children are concerned. Read the entire report here.
Glen Abbey
The Message is Spreading
I was thrilled to see the editorial in last week’s Oakville Today newspaper promoting the idea of holding street parties. The author, Michael Howie told a story about attending a nearby neighbourhood party held on Rushbrooke Drive in the the Glen Abbey area of North Oakville. He says that “the kids were running around (safely), the adults were laughing (without malice) and everyone was having a good time. The best part was that it brought an entire community together”. Isn’t that what Playbourhood is all about? Congratulations to the folks who planned and hosted the event. And thanks to Michael for telling the world about it in the newspaper.
West Oak Trails
Missed Opportunities
The interesting thing about having a blog is that you need to spend time writing on a regualar basis in order to be relevant. The problem I have is that the reason I do this is to encourage people to spend more time with their kids, playing outside, connecting with their neighbours and generally having fun. Over the last while, I’ve been following my own advice and have been spending a little time on the former and a lot of time on the latter. Which has been great for me, and I trust, good for my kids. The problem, however, is that I’ve missed out on some great opportunities to write some great stories. Sorry about that. Or not… depending on how you look at it.
Playbourhood
Local Day Care and Nearby Schools
Remember when we all walked down the street to school. Remember when “day care” meant you spent the day at a neighbour’s house a few doors down the street? My how times have changed. My son has just finished kindergarten and will be in school full time next September. For now, however, he attends a pre-school day care centre part-time along with my daughter who is there full-time and will be there until she too reaches grade one. Luckily, both the school and the day care centre are a short walk from our home and when we can, my wife or I or both, walk or ride bikes back and forth. What’s really amazing is how these nearby facilities have helped us build a stronger Playbourhood. Mike Lanza recently posted an article about how kids attending the same school can develope closer ties to their own community and neighbourhood.
Oakville North General
Follow the Progress of the New Hospital in North Oakville
Unless you’ve been asleep for the past year or so, you will know that the new Oakville Hospital will be located at the intersection of 3rd Line and Dundas in North Oakville. With the vast majority of our community’s population now residing north of the QEW, the move to have more direct access to medical facilities is a good one. And it will be even more important as Oakville continues to grow in the new areas north of Dundas. It’s an exciting project and you can follow it here at the official new hospital web site. You’ll also find a link over on the right. 
from Playborhood
Promote Your Kid Friendly Neighbourhood
The gang at Playbourhood is taking our mission to the streets! I’ve discovered that one of the best ways to help promote the development of our neighbourhoods into playbourhoods is to promote the idea. While I think I’m fortunate to live on a street where there’s lots of playing and interaction with the neighbours, it still amazes me how when I start talking about the Playbourhood idea, it opens eyes and encourages participation. The more we’re all aware, the more it seems people are willing to work together to help the process along. In that light, I’m thrilled that Mike Lanza has come up with the idea of promoting Playbourhood in a real way. By posting a sign you can announce to the world (and perhaps potential home buyers) that your’s is a great neighbourhood to live in. Check out the signs here.
Playbourhood
Spring Thaw and Being Active
Now that the weather is finally turning warm, it’s about time we all shake off the hibernation blahs and get outside. Around my Playbourhood the number of kids out on the street has certainly grown in the last few weeks and I’m thrilled by all the excitement. One of our neighbours is teaching his daughter how to ride her bike without training wheels. Kids are slowing down traffic with their pick up hockey games and several basketball nets have been moved to the curb. It’s a wonderful time to get outside and spend some quality time with the kids and the neighbours. And to encourage that healthy attitude, the folks at Today’s Parent magazine have a new contest going on. It’s called Every Minute Counts and you can find out more about it here. The idea is to promote a healthy and active lifestyle, but I’m sure they won’t mind if we suggest that it also helps to build great Playbourhoods, too. The contest has an educational element where you track the activities of your family members (walking the dog, doing yoga, or playing basketball at those curb-side nets I mentioned) for a week. The results can be quite enlightening. Then with that information in hand, you log onto the contest site and enter to win a great prize or two. Check it out here. Even if you don’t win, the benefits of being outside, helping to build your own neighbourhood connections are well worth the effort.
Playbourhood
The Right Fix
A recent article posted on the Toronto Star web site addresses a concern for school-aged children who don’t have access to “structured programs” in the hours between the dismissal bell and the dinner-time arrival of parents returning home from work. You can read the article here. This kind of story always catches my interest because it speaks directly to the kinds of things we talk about here at Playbourhood. The difficulty, of course, is reconciling our need to protect and nurture our children with our desire to just “let them be kids”. In other words, what is the problem we’re trying to fix, and are we fixing it right?
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