I understand and was a city mouse most of my life. The rural life fits me much better now. I understand everything you are saying and experienced it mainly in the larger cities I lived in. Green Acres is the place to be, at least for me.
Tell me about it. I was at the gym the other day, and there was a group of toddlers going down the hall from the Montessori school (which is contained in the building). One nice lady stopped to talk with them, as the children happily responded---only to be rebuked by the woman who served more as their prison guard than their caregiver or their teacher. "Now, do we talk to strangers in the hall?" she asked, in a nasty artificial voice, as she worked to desocialize them. I put a comment card in the box, describing what I saw, and saying she should be fired, and I later bumped into the school director, with whom I had a "friendly" chat, as we crossed paths. Although she plainly has no problem saying no to parents in all sorts of ways, this specimen said that I should understand that some of the parents do not want their children speaking to strangers--those being the friendly and healthy residents of our community who use the YMCA. It's amazing that any of these children grow up right, as society works non-stop to desocialize them. It's a world away from the neighborhoods we grew up in, where we knew everyone, whether we liked them or not, and we all played together---even if we got into the occasional fistfight!
Also, back in the day, not every child in a family got their own car. Familial sharing (and fighting) over the car was part of the fun!
For 22 years I lived in the same house, on a pretty quiet street with almost no family turnover, not a planned community. I waved to the neighbors, but never really knew them. Now, in our rural area where we're more spread out, I know ten families up and down our main road. We give eggs and bags of goat poop (great garden fertilizer) to some, but there's quite a bit of chatting between everyone. Now one of the neighbor's is rather crazy, so everyone keeps an eye on him, but all in all it's been a nice surprise.
I understand and was a city mouse most of my life. The rural life fits me much better now. I understand everything you are saying and experienced it mainly in the larger cities I lived in. Green Acres is the place to be, at least for me.
I did not know your husband had been targeted at one time. I'm grateful to know he is healing. I'm grateful for people like you. Take it easy Sharine!
Tell me about it. I was at the gym the other day, and there was a group of toddlers going down the hall from the Montessori school (which is contained in the building). One nice lady stopped to talk with them, as the children happily responded---only to be rebuked by the woman who served more as their prison guard than their caregiver or their teacher. "Now, do we talk to strangers in the hall?" she asked, in a nasty artificial voice, as she worked to desocialize them. I put a comment card in the box, describing what I saw, and saying she should be fired, and I later bumped into the school director, with whom I had a "friendly" chat, as we crossed paths. Although she plainly has no problem saying no to parents in all sorts of ways, this specimen said that I should understand that some of the parents do not want their children speaking to strangers--those being the friendly and healthy residents of our community who use the YMCA. It's amazing that any of these children grow up right, as society works non-stop to desocialize them. It's a world away from the neighborhoods we grew up in, where we knew everyone, whether we liked them or not, and we all played together---even if we got into the occasional fistfight!
Also, back in the day, not every child in a family got their own car. Familial sharing (and fighting) over the car was part of the fun!
For 22 years I lived in the same house, on a pretty quiet street with almost no family turnover, not a planned community. I waved to the neighbors, but never really knew them. Now, in our rural area where we're more spread out, I know ten families up and down our main road. We give eggs and bags of goat poop (great garden fertilizer) to some, but there's quite a bit of chatting between everyone. Now one of the neighbor's is rather crazy, so everyone keeps an eye on him, but all in all it's been a nice surprise.