Another reason I love this neighbourhood, is that many of us take the concept of it takes a village to raise a child seriously. My son has bevy of buddies all of the same age. They are a lovely group of boys, who get along marvellously. They each have a skill that the others appreciate. They compete in the sense that they play hard and enjoy what they are doing, without humiliating each other. All in all, our son is a very fortunate kid.
More fortunate though, may be his parents. In addition to his friendships, we have developed ones of our own with the parents of all these kids. The moms, in particular, get together on a regular basis for glass of wine, coffee, bad movie, whatever… We count on each other when someone is running late and needs a hand picking up their kids, car pooling to baseball or soccer, on those extreme occasions when we need a quiet moment to get something done, we ship our kids to each others houses. We meet for walks, talks, and generally good companionship.
This summer four of us are sharing a nanny off and on. Rather than send our boys to camp the entire summer, which as working parents we inevitably have to do, the nanny share allowed us to let boys enjoy being in their own neighbourhood, meeting friends at the park, etc. Because most weeks one to three families (never more than five kids on a given day) are using the nanny together, they always have a pal to hang around with, yet can find some solitude if they want. I am pretty pleased with how it has worked out, my son even more so.
Most of the boys either play soccer or baseball in the summer. My kid chose to play both. The baseball team is especially funny, as the kids team isn’t determined so much by ability but more so by the compatibility of all the parents. When the teams were formed, the parents called one another to make sure their boys were on the same team, not so much for the kid’s interests, but for mom and dad, who actually could spend two hours watching baseball while talking with other adults.
It may sound like a clique, but the group does ebb and flow. New families join in all the time, some families lay low for a while with other commitments.
I recently noticed a group of moms about a decade younger than I, also getting together on a regular basis.
Ironically, I was not a joiner most of my life, and even now I feel out of my element sometimes, but I enjoy the candour, sincerity and humour of the moms, and dads for that matter. Most of all I am thrilled that there are others nearby looking out for my son just as I do for theirs.
