Adults drive cars. Children don’t. They walk or ride bikes.
In suburban areas built mostly for cars, adults in cars dominate. On the other hand, children suffer. They usually stay inside or wait to get driven by their parents because: 1) most places of interest are not within walking or biking distance, and 2) the streets are unsafe for young pedestrians or bicyclists.
Fortunately for children, high gasoline prices are making adults less interested in driving their cars, and more interested in walking.
Continued on Playborhood
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Last week, the Community Foundation of Oakville released a report that explored a number of issues deemed important to ensuring a healthy, happy, strong and well-balanced community. Entitled “Vital Signs” the report measures the vitality of our community, identifies significant trends, and assigns grades in 11 areas critical to quality of life. This particular report is part of a series of similar studies coordinated nationally by Community Foundations of Canada. The purpose of these studies is to encourage dialogue, increase awareness and, hopefully, develop a desire to deal with these …
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Sheridan Valley Park reminds me of a little playground I used to frequent when I was a kid. Nestled deeply among the trees and in the heart of the neighbourhood, this little park is wonderful. Located just south of Upper Middle Road at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Fleetwood Road, the park boasts direct links to a number of other parks, natural spaces and walking trails in the area - Fleetwood Park, Iroquois Shoreline Woods, Lancaster Woods and Valley Brook Park.
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Alfie Kohn is a Boston-based author who regularly speaks about educational and parenting issues. He was in Toronto this week to talk about his belief that homework just doesn’t work. It’s the kind of argument that’s been made here before on Playbourhood. Our contention is that kids need time to just be kids - to play and develop in an unstructured manner. It isn’t necessary to restrict formal learning to the classroom - after all there are all kinds of educational toys, games and activities that reinforce and benefit the academic foundations. But they also need a healthy dose of social …
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A Club for Active Kids. Outdoors! Clearly the kind of thing that we’ve been promoting here at Playbourhood is not an isolated concern. The folks over at Active Kids Club have taken up the challenge and are putting the concept into action. Here’s a quote from their web site expressing the importance of playing outdoors starting at a young age: “Increasing your child’s exposure at an early age to outdoor play doesn’t just benefit their physical development. It enriches all aspect of early childhood development, mind and body. By exposing your child to both structured activities and …
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Here at Playbourhood, we talk a lot about kids playing outdoors, doing things on their own in an unstructured environment and putting away their GameBoys. There’s nothing wrong with television, computers or organized sports - they all have a valuable role to play in our kid’s development. But it’s only one part of the bigger picture. Providing a good balance is what it’s really all about. Mike Lanza talks a little bit about this over on the Playborhood site in this great post about “shunning technology” in favour of more “face time” with family and friends.
Martindale Park is located in a wonderful spot. It’s smack dab in the middle of a thriving and well-established residential part of town just south and east of the Trafalgar and Upper Middle intersection. The park is large and backs onto the main campus of Sheridan College. That means the area has a great mix of people of all ages which makes for a healthy Playbourhood atmosphere.
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This week I’ve found myself wondering if I’ve become a hypocrite. It stems from a struggle between a sincere belief that a living in a Playbourhood is both desirable and vital for our children’s healthy development and the natural instinct as a parent to protect my kids.
Yet again, reports and studies show that a rising number of children are becoming obese because they are not active enough. They are spending far too much time in front of television screens, at computer terminals and with game consoles in their chubby little hands. Here’s an article from Parentcentral.ca which talks about this very problem.
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When we first arrived at Glenashton Park, I was struck by the quiet silence. Despite being located next door to the busy Iroquois Ridge Community Centre, there wasn’t a soul on the playground. That’s a shame, because it’s a great park. Lots to do for all ages with both low and high slides, tons of swings, and a variety of things to climb including two low rock walls. The only drawbacks are the pea-stone play surface and the liberal use of metal used for construction. The problem is that the park is far in off the road and in the middle of a large green space. Homes area a bit of a walk …
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The folks over at Safe Routes to School have just released their latest newsletter. I previously mentioned this excellent group and praised them for their efforts in encouraging kids to walk to school. It’s an important concept on many levels - walking is good excercise, it promotes social interaction and it connects kids with their neighbourhood surroundings. Read the newsletter here. Oh… and look at the nice “plug” they have on page 4 about this Playbourhood site.
Valley Ridge park is located in the Upper Glen Abbey Greens area of West Oak Trails. It’s at the corner of Valley Ridge Drive and Highvalley Road just a block west of Bronte Road (Highway 25). Having recently been built in a new development, the park is clean and well-kept, the equipment all in great shape and of the latest design and features. The park also has a soccer field and the kids coming and going between games took full advantage of the playground area. I was there with my two young children (aged 5 and 2) last weekend and the playground was jam-packed with kids.
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Taking a page from the Guerilla House Hunting guidebook, I thought I’d help out anyone looking for a great Playbourhood. While I suggest that you do your own research of the sort Mike Lanza suggested in his Guerilla articles, here’s the low-down on the area immediately around this home that’s for sale on Copperwood Drive. It’s a fantastic place for families. Okay… I may be a bit biased, Copperwood is where I live, but it really is a wonderful child-friendly neighbourhood.