Raising kids. Acreage vs Suburbia

[Trillian]

But is is still something to think about for when they are a lot older. I worry about Lindsay and the girls being excluded in some things because we are out of town, but on the whole, we've decided that we have to make that extra bit of effort to get them involed in town activities like sport and socialising.

[Lucy]

V.true. I asked DH about this last night, as a result of this thread......he explained how his parents made a "committment" early on to be totally open & happy about doing a LOT of ferrying at weekends for sport and social stuff......it sounds like they had a fair amount of co-ordinating to do between them all for cricket, swimming, music classes etc, but was one of the things that his parents KNEW they would have to accomodate due to their choice of location.......

[visitor2]

Kerrie i think you know in your heart were you want to live and that is were you are now.

I always said i would love to live near the beach but if someone said here's a house with lots of land to go with it I'd move tomorrow. It's safe for the kids and you have room for a pony. I would love to have a horse and the kids to have a pony.

Maybe when they are older move closer to the city.
If it's about the money can you not sell abit of the land to get some extra $$$.

GL with what ever you end up doing.

[Fire Fly]

Kerrie i think you know in your heart were you want to live and that is were you are now.

Yeah i think your right about that. The running around has already begun. We do swimming and kindergym. She hasnt even started school yet, lol.

The issue of subdividing has come up but unfortunatly we arent able to yet, who knows whats done the track though. Might come just as we want to build hey.

[Jennifer13]

Hi Firefly, it's a toughie isn't it? What's best for us, what's best for our kids?

Like Fletch, I love suburbia, I grew up in suburbia (although nowhere near as big as Sydney is, more of a country town than here!), I plan on raising our kids here, but when I retire I'm going to have 6 mths a year up in Coffs Harbour on a couple of acres! We would also love to buy a holiday house in the country somewhere so that some part of each year we are spending there.

I think you can create the environment you want for your kids no matter where you live. Although I don't think I'd cope very well in a unit block!

We have friends who have horses on properties only about 10-15 mins away (not their homes), so plenty of offers on that front. My MIL keeps chooks in her backyard only 20 mins from the city. We have two dogs in our backyard and lots of parks nearby. We go to the beach in summer and do bushwalks in the national parks around here all year round. We also take the dogs for walks just around the block and there is plenty of wildlife in our area. Picnics all year round when the weather is good, plenty of different locations for those. BBQs with friends at our place, theirs or in a park or reserve somewhere. We won't be able to let our kids roam around as freely as we would in the country, but I think we can make up for it with team activities when they're old enough (not too many, I don't want to overschedule my kids!). They'll also have plenty of friends nearby, probably like I did, across the road, so they can visit often.

And I'm sure in the country, even though it might be a slightly longer drive to everything (although, you don't have traffic to contend with, if it makes you feel any better we're probably in our cars for the same amount of time not getting as far!) you can do most, if not all, of the things we do here. Without the hassle of finding parking!! LOL

[Fire Fly]

Yeah i hear ya Jennifer. Your lifestlye sounds great to me actually but im sure living in suburbia would eventually get to me. And like you say, we just step outside and its all there where you have to drive to it.
Not sure how things will go when they start getting friends as im not sending them to the local school so the mates they will have wont be close by. Then theres the fact that we do live away from things so when they get there license..... oh man when does it end. I suppose that fear is there whether you live close or not hey.

I think our concerns were, if we sold we wouldnt get acreage again (couldnt afford it), we would be out every weekend doing stuff if we moved to a small block, the agistment for the horse would send us broke, the kids walking the streets at night scare me.

I think we will just stay. No regrets then.

[*Efjay*]

I would like the best of both worlds. I like being close to things. I would go batty if I lived up near you Kerrie. It was bad enough when we lived up north in the "burbs" but still needed to drive 40 mins to Cairns to go shopping etc.
I think if given the choice of Suburbs of sydney or suburbs of Nth QLD or Acreage, teh size & location you have. I would chose the suburbs of Nth QLD. Your still close to things but not in the hussle & bussle of it all KWIM.
When we look at places when we have moved, we avoid places that you have to weave down the street around cars that are parked on the rd. Houses that are so close together you could jump from roof to roof with ease. Places like Glenmore park, Bligh Park for example.
I like Nth Richmond because I can walk to 3 different parks, I can walk to the shops including, video ezy, Bilo, post office, fruit & vege etc. It has everythign I need in walking distance. I woud like a different street as I am on a busy one. But I don't think I would live anywhere in sydney other then the Hawkesbury. if we moved away from the Hawkesbury to would be to th QLD.

[Krisvee]

Well just thought I'd add that we've just decided to move to the country!!! Probably in about 12m when we can afford too but we will buy a bit of land and build so will be in the same situation!! We're really excited about it as dh's parents are up there and so he'll have work organised with them before we go and the most important thing - I won't have to work! So I can just enjoy the time and the fresh country air and my beautiful bubbas!!!!!

[Adnil]

I've grown up on farms & a long way out of town As a kid I sometimes complained about it, but really it was great!!!

We are now on 2.5 acres, 5km from town so to me it's like the best of both worlds.

I get the feeling from your post that you really want to stay in the country - so that's what I think you should do.

[juliec]

I sort of know where you're coming from, Kerrie. We live on 40 acres with a half finished strawbale house that we've built ourselves. It is nice and warm, but the ceilings not finished and it only has 2 rooms (plus the laundry). But we love it here and would NEVER want to go back to the city. I think the country is a great place to raise kids. And besides, there are many families around the world who would think what we live in is a mansion.

Anyway, crunch time came for us, too, and John is leaving his job in a couple of weeks to work on the house.

But, as you say, money is always in the picture! We are learning to cut down. As long as you are happy, healthy, and have most of the creature comforts...

Good luck with it all!

And good luck with finding a place, Krisvee. That's exciting news! What sort of house are you looking to build?

Julie

[Krisvee]

Hi!

Julie, you're strawbale house sounds fantastic!! I would love to build one but I think we'll go for a plain old brick veneer.....Dh has decided he wants to look at what existing houses are already up for sale but I'm pretty sure we'll end up building as what we'd want would be out of our price range.....

I'm just so excited - we'll have boating, motorbikes, Mt buller in winter, some animals a big veggie garden and of course just the general lifestyle!

Yep, we'll have to travel about 20-30min for the shops and schools and things but I think if you go into it open to that then it won't be a problem. I'm also open to travelling back to Melb regularly to get anything we need (and to visit my family) I think it will be so exciting for Louis as he grows up!!!!

[SuzL]

Oh Julie a strawbale house sounds fab! I've seen a few of those built on some reno shows and always thought they looked fab!

[juliec]

They are great because the walls are so thick and keep in the heat in winter and the heat out in summer. And they have that old sort of look because the walls are not completely straight. (Well, you can render them straight if you want to, but we've put the render on so that it is still a bit curvy).