This is insane... High density living provides a whole childhood of activities, both formal and informal.
I grew up in a midsized city, when I was a kid I could walk, bus, or ride my bike literally anywhere I wanted to go without really any notable restrictions, including parks with sandpits. My parents kept a draw full of bus schedules. The best part is there were literally kids everywhere, so you were never lonely even if you left the house alone. We'd organize pick-up games of soccer or baseball or kickball, etc. I even went ice skating by myself. Sometimes I'd just walk outside during the summer just to see which of the "neighborhood kids" were out. I'd spend hours just exploring the city on foot or bike, so much so that I'd come home with sore legs. All snow storms were followed by sledding in the park. I spent very little time with my parents.
When we got older it was mall and movies, record stores, arcades.
We also had a back yard, shared between six families.
Sometimes my parents would even send me on errands for them.
I had an after school job starting at 16 and I'd never be able to if I had to be driven there, my dad was always home, but without a car. I'd take the bus there.
I was rarely home, it was amazing.
Compare that to the suburbs or rural areas where the only way to get anywhere is a parent driving a kid somewhere. Sounds stifling. My parents would never shuffle me around everywhere. (In fact, I didn't even care for it as an adult, sometimes I just wanted to go for a walk! But leaving required a car, no sidewalks, traffic much too fast for a bike)
Wow, thanks for sharing your actual experience. When I made my sibling comment (about being jealous of city kids as a burbs kid) I admittedly thought it was probably at least a bit of a "grass is greener" thing, but "great" to have confirmation that the burbs really are as relatively bad as I thought. :|
I grew up in the suburbs. All my friends where within walking or biking distance, as was the local library. There was a small forest less than 5 minutes walk from our house we could explore, as well a nice sledding hill. There was a small field at the end of the road that had a couple of soccer goals. The 'big city' was ~30 minutes away by bus. When I got a bit older they even opened a mall within 20 minute bike ride of where we lived.
Basically whether a place is "good for kids" is entirely orthogonal to if its urban or suburban.
I grew up in a midsized city, when I was a kid I could walk, bus, or ride my bike literally anywhere I wanted to go without really any notable restrictions, including parks with sandpits. My parents kept a draw full of bus schedules. The best part is there were literally kids everywhere, so you were never lonely even if you left the house alone. We'd organize pick-up games of soccer or baseball or kickball, etc. I even went ice skating by myself. Sometimes I'd just walk outside during the summer just to see which of the "neighborhood kids" were out. I'd spend hours just exploring the city on foot or bike, so much so that I'd come home with sore legs. All snow storms were followed by sledding in the park. I spent very little time with my parents.
When we got older it was mall and movies, record stores, arcades.
We also had a back yard, shared between six families.
Sometimes my parents would even send me on errands for them.
I had an after school job starting at 16 and I'd never be able to if I had to be driven there, my dad was always home, but without a car. I'd take the bus there.
I was rarely home, it was amazing.
Compare that to the suburbs or rural areas where the only way to get anywhere is a parent driving a kid somewhere. Sounds stifling. My parents would never shuffle me around everywhere. (In fact, I didn't even care for it as an adult, sometimes I just wanted to go for a walk! But leaving required a car, no sidewalks, traffic much too fast for a bike)