Parenting Guru: Five dreams for my city kids

I grew up in a place with a big yard, cornfields behind the house and plenty of freedom to roam the neighborhood with the neighbor kids. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be raising my own four kids (at least for another few years) in the big city.

While I love where we live right now, I can't say that it is safe for them to venture outside our locked gate without parental accompaniment. Trips to the corner store or even across the street must absolutely be supervised. This is certainly not the childhood I imagined for my children based on my own experience.

I am, however, glad to give them the opportunities that our wonderful city has to offer. Even though my oldest is only eight, she has already had a more diverse and broader range of experience than my own suburban childhood provided me. For as long as we live here, I want to continue to take advantage of all that is now available to us. Here are my five dreams for my big city kids...

1. Well-fed: We may not have the money to travel the world in person, but we certainly have access to a wide variety of cultures in our area, particularly in the restaurants that are available to us. Within a mile or two, we could eat Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Peruvian, Chilean, Spanish, Indian, Pakistani or Lebanese, to name just a few. Many of these cultures also run grocery stores, allowing us to try cooking some of the fare for ourselves. I hope for my kids to grow up well-fed from a variety of cultures and nationalities.

2. Well-read: We end up at the library almost every day it seems, waiting with my younger daughter, when she is done with school, for my oldest daughter to be dropped off by the bus. This gives us time to explore the reference materials kept permanently at the library, as well as taking advantage of the other books and movies available for checkout. Anything not on the shelves at our local neighborhood library can be placed on hold from the vast and extensive resources of the city's library network. Just about any title, audiobook or movie that my kids have wanted has been found in this way. I know if we stay in the city, my kids will have no excuses for not being well-read.

3. Well-ed(ucated): When we first moved to the city, we weren't sure how to navigate the tricky educational system of the city. Now, with three kids in the public school, we are a little more savvy about finding quality teachers for our kids. Not only are they taking advantage of a good education, they have fellow students from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, broadening their own world. At the supper table, we hear words learned in both French and Spanish, as well as English. I hope we are able to continue to maintain a good education for our children, no matter where we live.

4. Well-led: None of the above matters if I haven't been working to educate and take advantage of opportunities myself as well. My kids are going to follow my lead in life, and I want to keep learning, keep growing and keep reading myself so that I can stay one step ahead (or more) of the things they are learning. I don't want to leave my children's upbringing up to their teachers or their friends. I want to be someone my kids can respect and listen to, someone who is willing to listen to others yet stand up for what is noble and true also. I need to be working on myself for my kids to be well-led.

5. Well-tread, er, -trod: With all the museums, nature preserves, parks and events that this great city has to offer, I want to make sure we "walk" as many of them as can. We have lived here nearly four years already, and I am ashamed of how many weekends we have wasted, rather than making the effort to visit a museum or get to an event. Nevertheless, we keep a running list of places to go and things to see, and we are going to keep making a concerted effort to cross as many of those off our list as we can.

Zoe, Tessa, Tate and Lilianna: these are my dreams and wishes for you. I hope above all for you to see that the whole world is waiting, right outside our door. Step forward fearlessly and grasp all that is yours for the taking.

What about you? What unique offerings can your place of residence provide for your children?

photo by compujeramey

Melanie is a Shine Parenting Guru. You can read more about her life with four kids in the big city at her blogs, (after)life and at tales from the crib.