kids and places

Italy, morning

I am not thinking of getting pregnant. This is not what this blog is about. For that, I am not even sure what my position is. I like to interact with kids, but not that much when they are younger than 2 years old. I can't get enthusiastic about the idea of having to take care so much about somebody, to have someone who needs me even for basic needs....I am probably too egotistic for that. I probably like my spaces too much. On the other hand, once a kid is a bit older, let's say starting from 3 on, it is actually nice to interact with him/her. Now that my friends' kids are around that age or older, I enjoy to spend time with them, especially if they are curious about the world. I guess that my rejection for kids younger than 3 is also due to their parents' behavior. I have some problem when I see people completely changing their behavior because they got kids and not have anything else to talk about beside kids...I think I am really too independent with my space, time and things I like.........

So, in principle I am not against having kids and I consider the option that I may have one kid or more in the future, but for sure that should happen when my life is in a different place than now. Beside this, since Scott recently became uncle and he just spent his week end with his nephew, yesterday we briefly talked about places where to grow up kids. And I said that considering the few places that I got to know well in the USA, I wouldn't like my kids to grow up in those places. Probably I was born in a place which is ideal for kids and old people. I walked to my primary and secondary school, I biked to the high school. I was able to spend a lot of time outside, in the garden of some friend, walking or running around free. Of course, now things are changing and things are not so ideal here too, but I still see my friends biking around with their kids on their bikes. And even if also here now there is this strong "group"trend, based on which to feel accepted you have to belong to a group, thus look as much as possible all the same, I don't feel that it is already so strong as in the USA. I would like a place where kids could feel safe, where they can walk, run or bike around without too much fear, where they learn to appreciate simple things, where you don't need to go to a mall to do shopping, where you can grow up with your friends and still have them when you get older. Probably the West Coast of the USA is good for kids too. I don't want to say that USA is bad for kids, but I don't think that New Haven or New York are places for kids. Scott said that the place where he grew up it was lovely and he was always playing outside freely, but now it is changing there too. Maybe the more we go on with time, the more difficult will be to find these simple places where kids could have a simple, light life as they should have.
For sure something that I would like my kids (if I will have them) to have is the support of the family around them. I grew up with my grandparents around and even with my great grandmother. It was wonderful. My parents could work, and I would stay anyway with some member of my family telling me stories about their past. It was really wonderful. I had a true happy youth.