The Wrong Side of my Car
The blog that wants to go obsolete
City or kids?
There is one stage in your life where this urbanist stuff makes complete sense. Back when you were Young, perhaps Unmarried, and definitely still without kids.
This was once my life. I was a yuppie in Milford. All this urbanism stuff made sense. I could walk to the town centre, or to the bus station if I wanted to go to the city, and I could ride my bicycle to work. If I would have had access to car rentals or car share, I would perhaps have sold my car.
And you can probably still do this in Auckland, today. If you’re a single, or a couple without kids.
The myth of permanently supervising children
A point that comes up again and again in discussions about streets is whether or not children should ever be outside of their homes by themselves.
(If you’re Dutch, this entire discussion is going to seem insane, and it frankly is, but it is worth appreciating how unusual the situation in the Netherlands is)
And for sure, it seems the obvious answer to many people is that of course not, it would be totally irresponsible to let children out unsupervised. Also, it is The Law, you have to supervise them until they’re 14 years old.
Wait, fourteen. Fourteen? Really?
Child raising BS: holding hands
Ashley Neal posted a video *1 containing a clip where a toddler rolls into the street, ahead of his parents. If this happens at the wrong time, that can easily end with a dead child.
So a question a few people asked was: why can’t those parents hold hands with the kids?
And the answer is it doesn’t matter, holding hands doesn’t prevent kids running off.
Have you ever walked with a toddler? Has he ever try to run off? It is possible to restrain a toddler by holding his hand. But you’ll have to squeeze hard. And I mean hard enough that it will properly hurt after a few minutes. So that is not how you normally hold hands.
Holding hands will guide your child, but it will not restrain them.
What’s the deal with those backyards?
Here is something awkward for urbanists over here: if you want to raise a kid in Auckland, you need a backyard.
No ifs and buts. Backyard.
And that is very unfortunate. We keep going on and on about how we need to live smaller. Build apartments. The solution to housing crises always seems to converge to 6-storey apartment blocks*1, and Auckland is no exception.
But then you have to find people who are willing to live without a backyard.