We buy a house because we love the kitchen or the yard butwe stay because we love our community.Many of us dream of living in a neighborhood where our kids have friendson the block and people welcome new neighbors with banana bread and bringchicken soup when someone is sick. Asmuch as this idyllic neighborhood sounds appealing, I had never lived in thiskind of place, until through carpool we created it.
When we decided to choice into a new Denver charter school Iwas a little concerned because it was a couple of miles from our home and wouldrequire some creative transportation solutions.Through the school I found three families living close to us and shotoff an email, hoping not to sound too desperate to find someone who could pickmy daughter up from school. And socarpool was born.
As the school year progressed so did our friendships: westarted having carpool parties and over apple juice for the kids and beer forthe parents we began to form lasting friendships. At first we would chat about PTO meetings andbake sales, we discussed the merits of œvillage parenting where we could relyon each other if someone had a late meeting, or if our kids needed somecoaching about how to deal with the play ground bully. As we got to know each other better webroached more serious topics like parenting our children when it comes identityor the death of a grandparent.
Now if we have an emergency babysitting need, or my kids testme with a new behavior and I need some parenting advice or I just want a friendto go on a walk with, I call the families in my community.
What have you and your neighbors done to create a closecommunity?
Socials