To ask you what the area you live in is actually like?

[Lilypad789]

I have young children (8,9) I do not allow them to play out with friends yet as this would usually entail crossing a busy road. So I walk them to the park, sometimes arranging to meet a school friend etc. I sometimes stay and scroll my phone for a bit and watch from a distance while they play or occasionally I will do a small 10 minute walk and circle back round before watching them for a while.

Even if I (and more adults sometimes) are sat watching our kids most of the other kids are awful and it’s so depressing. Swearing snd screaming and just being absolutely stupid. I dread to think what they’re like if there's no adults there to be honest. I don’t want mine around it anymore (not naive, 100% know they would join in a bit but my youngest has moved away from them before because she doesn’t like it and they’re her school friends!) and I’m considering moving house. We do live in an underprivileged area but to be honest in the villages and towns around us I can’t imagine it being any different.

What is it like where you live? Other countries / counties.

At this point I’m considering the Highlands!

I live in zone 3 leafy part of SW London. I lived in a different part of the same area when my kids were young and the kids in the playground were fine, though I think by 8/9 they’d outgrown the park and it was more taking them out to ride bikes/scooters and they did more organised sport. Where I live now there’s a primary school on my street and two more within walking distance so loads of kids about. Halloween is just like that scene in ET - literally dozens and dozens of kids running around the streets with parents trailing behind - I get around 150-200 kids at the door! All very jolly. I’d be totally happy bringing up my kids here.

Sad isn’t it?

I was thinking that, it's wonderful to see. Maybe we should send this thread to the media - and to Elon Musk!

We live in a very rural spot. Only 5 houses down a country lane surrounded by fields and sheep. My kids go out walking round the countryside or hang out in the garden. Their friends come round all the time. It’s great!

Suburb of a fairly large city. We live in a new build development that has natural boundaries and fairly quiet traffic wise with a shop a cafe and some small parks, cycle paths and open grassy areas where they can play football. Kids round here play out a lot so I do let my 8 year old go out within the vicinity of our house. He has to cross one quiet road. My 12 year old goes everywhere within the development and walks to a nearby retail park. We border an area that isn’t so “nice” and we do get some low level crime and anti social behaviour - sometimes from local kids - but it doesn’t feel unsafe for kids playing out in the day. We’ve got quite a vigilant community so ASB is reported and dealt with pretty well. They don’t have as much freedom as I did but I also grew up on a suburban housing estate and it has a similar vibe. We used to live in a more urban area and kids didn’t play out much because the roads were too busy and there were no open spaces.

Far north coast (Scottish Highlands). A fabulous place to bring up children and now grandchild. I could not think of living anywhere else in the UK now (moved up here 20 years ago from further south (Scotland)). My son was 7 and my daughter 13.

Crime is very low, but our infrastructure and services are neglected, but to be honest, the safety outweighs all of it.

We used to live outer west London, and it was awful, so I feel your pain. We usedto go to the park and get racist abuse, kids pushing mine, general rudeness, boy racers etc

We moved 20 miles out to South Bucks village and we love it. It's quite a large village - 2 good primaries, 4 pubs, sainsburys local, Costa and a variety of independent shops, but still retains a village feel. Only 5 mins from M40, but feels very rural.

Even the way you type back raise my eye brow.

Ironically there is another post on MN where someone is complaining about her lovely suburb and wishing it was edgier.

I live in a nice suburb on the edge of the city. Great schools, quick ride into the city but close to lots of parks and walks.

Outskirts of a city in North Yorkshire. It’s very nice and I haven’t witnessed any anti social behaviour at the local playground.

what are your interests? Your kids interests? What sort of environment and facilities would you like in a new area?

Why? You’re weird.

I’m in Frome in Somerset. I moved here 18 months ago from z3 north London. Frome appears to be a Marmite town but we like it. I like the sense of community and the quirkiness about it. I like being walking distance from the town centre but equally close to the countryside. I miss TfL and the diversity of London though.

Market town in the NW. The kids here seem mostly very polite, and I’ve worked in a local school. There’s lots of sporting activities to do here, and we’re equidistant between two small cities for cultural stuff. . The countryside is on our doorstep, and there’s a canal and river running through the town.

I don't think it's okay, I'm sorry that you do. Perhaps that's part of the problem?
Good grief. Do you feel better about yourself for having been rude to a stranger?

it’s littering, graffiti, vile words, constant shouting and screaming and being horrible to one another
Okay yes, that sounds tough, unpleasant, and over the line. But it wasn't detailed in the OP or replies - You only described swearing/shouting, which is what I was discussing.

I grew up on a council estate, I am not a prude
So did I, and now I live somewhere very nice. I'd tell you where, your highness, but it's obviously beneath you.

My children love being outdoors. They love playing board games, drawing, riding their bikes etc. I feel
like I’ve tried really hard to keep their childhood quite simple but now they’re reaching an age where their friends will call for them and I don’t want them to
olah out and listen to the vitriol that’s coming out of the moths of the children around here. It isn’t all of them, there are 2/3 other children on their class that are brought up similarly to what I’m trying to achieve but that’s not many is it? I’m quite lucky in that my home is paid off but if I were to move somewhere more expensive (would most likely be) then I would need to return to work full time so would need to be near primary schools (teacher) OH is able to do his work remotely.

Ideally I would like to be somewhere where there is more community spirit, more outdoor space and more ambition to be successful. And by being successful I only mean contributing to society, I’m not expecting surgeons or financiers lol! Rather than a life of Universal Credits which seems to be the norm and aspired to around here. Somewhere that my children can play out with friends and I’m not worried that they’re going to know things that are way beyond things children their age should know. I understand that children will be children but I don’t want them in classrooms with children who shout abuse at teachers and leave the classroom because they have been told by their parents that it’s okay to be disrespectful.

I’m tired excuse the SPaG errors.

In the 'nice' bit of a home county town that's got a bit of a reputation for not being nice. I love it.

There's a playground at the end of our street, I often see the year 6s of the local school there without parents but instead of being anti social they will actually play with my reception child and her friends. It's very cute.

That does happen around here sometimes. There are exceptions. I always make an effort to talk to the kids and lots of them are polite but I feel like it’s gotten so much worse lately.

Crikey, I disagree with you wholeheartedly in that I think you were the first to be rude and I did make it quite clear that I meant more than just swearing in the original post to be honest.

It's rude to say I don't think swearing is a huge deal? You could have just clarified it was more than that rather than attacking.

Ilkley West Yorkshire very nice very safe and very expensive!

Lovely town in East Scotland.
Kids play out from age 6/7.
All the schools in our town are good schools.
Loads of extra curricular activities - scouts, guides, dance, every sport going. Lots of nice parks.
Very low crime.
Good quality of life.
Good feeling of community.

NHS is a shit show though.

Village on outskirts of London. It's very safe, quiet, clean, lots of green space. Friendly. Lively. Very expensive now but wasn't when we first moved here.

Semi rural NW village. Really beautiful and safe. A five minute walk one way there is nothing but fields. It's safe. My DS played out (he's 22 now), the kids on the street play out riding bikes and kicking a ball. The son opposite has just got his first GF (he's about 14) and they sit snogging in the bench down the road! From 11/12 DS and his mates would walk the 10 minutes to the local park with no major roads to cross.

South London/ Kent suburb. Very family friendly and all amenities within walking distance, yet when I look out my front window I can see fields.